2025-05-27 05:52

Toyota to transfer production of North America-bound GR Corolla from Japan To spend $56 million on dedicated line, dispatch engineers from Japan Move is aimed at using excess capacity in Britain TOKYO, May 27 (Reuters) - Toyota (7203.T) , opens new tab is moving some production of its GR Corolla sports car to Britain and will spend around $56 million on a dedicated line there to build exports for North America, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. By shifting some production from Japan, Toyota aims to use excess capacity in Britain to help it cut delivery wait times for the car, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The move was not in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on automobile imports, they said. Sign up here. The Trump administration agreed this month to reduce tariffs on auto imports from Britain to 10% on up to 100,000 vehicles a year. Japan is seeking to have repealed the 25% tariffs that the U.S. has imposed on all auto imports. For global automakers, the tariffs mean an additional challenge on top of differing emissions standards, and customer demands, across major markets. Toyota produces the GR Corolla in Japan for the Japanese market and for export to North America and other markets. But it hasn't been able to keep up with North American demand, given keen interest in the gasoline-powered car from engine enthusiasts, the people said. It will set up a production line at the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire and invest around 8 billion yen ($56 million) to produce 10,000 cars annually for export to North America from the middle of 2026, according to the people. Burnaston began operations in 1992 and possesses advanced production technology. It has suffered a decline in production since Brexit, said the people. The plant already produces the Corolla GR's base model, the Corolla hatchback, making it a natural choice, one of the people said. Engineers will be temporarily dispatched from Japan to share production technology and other expertise, the people said. In response to Reuters questions, Toyota said it was always looking for ways to optimise production. The report was not something the company had publicly announced, it said. HIGH-PERFORMANCE CAR The GR Corolla is one of three high-performance vehicles built on a dedicated line at the Motomachi Plant in Toyota City, where production is already at full capacity, the people said. Around 25,000 cars were produced on the line last year, with GR Corollas accounting for 8,000 of those. Toyota's U.S. plants are also dealing with strong demand for hybrids and other vehicles, making it difficult for the automaker to shift production there, the people said. Whether exporting from Japan or Britain, Toyota plans to absorb any cost increases from tariffs through cost-cutting and other measures and will not raise prices, the people said. The GR series, which includes the GR Corolla and the GR Yaris, is a brand born out of Chairman Akio Toyoda's well-known love of racing and includes technology from motorsports in commercial cars. The price of the GR Corolla is around 6 million yen, or twice that of the standard model. While more customers move to electric and hybrid cars, sports cars still have a die-hard band of followers. While sales are not large in terms of numbers, the cars themselves are higher-margin, said one of the people. The GR series requires more time and effort to produce than a standard model because of the many manual processes involved and takes several months to be delivered to North America. After the transfer of the North America-bound production to Britain, the Motomachi plant will continue to produce vehicles for Japan and for other overseas markets, the people said. ($1 = 142.4100 yen) https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-move-some-gr-corolla-production-britain-sources-say-2025-05-27/

2025-05-27 05:39

MUMBAI, May 27 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee weakened modestly on Tuesday, weighed down by month-end dollar demand from local companies and foreign banks, likely on behalf of custodial clients, while a fall in equities also dented sentiment. The rupee was down 0.2% at 85.27 as of 10:30 a.m. IST. Sign up here. India's benchmark equity indexes fell about 0.6% in early trading, tracking losses in Asian stocks with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab slightly in the red. Importers have been covering dollar liabilities regularly as there is some concern that a modest reversal in the dollar's trajectory could push the rupee towards 86, a trader at a Mumbai-based bank said. The dollar-rupee daily fix, meanwhile, was quoting at a slight discount, the trader said, signalling heightened appetite to sell dollars at the daily reference rate published by the country's central bank. Asian currencies were mixed with the offshore Chinese yuan down 0.1% at 7.1839 while the Korean won rose 0.2%. The dollar index was a tad higher at 99.1. Persistent weakness in the dollar - to the tune of about 9% against major peers over 2025 so far - has been a tailwind for emerging market currencies across the board. Worries over U.S. trade policies and fiscal health have dented investor appetite for U.S. assets with analysts pointing out a broad pickup in hedging against dollar weakness. While the rupee has underperformed its regional peers over May, traders reckon that the currency should hold a slight upward bias in the near term. "We see USD/INR trading in the 84-86 range in the near term as markets await the India-U.S. trade deal," Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a note. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-slips-month-end-importer-dollar-bids-weak-equities-2025-05-27/

2025-05-27 05:30

Sony to hold investor day on Thursday setting out financial business strategy Company took full control of financial unit just four years ago Focus on entertainment has received plaudits from investors TOKYO, May 27 Reuters) - Sony (6758.T) , opens new tab will on Thursday lay out the growth strategy for its financial arm set for a spin-off that has been welcomed by investors as marking the latest chapter in the company's transformation. The Japanese conglomerate, once best known for household electronics, has received plaudits for shifting its focus to entertainment, which totals more than 60% of sales. Sign up here. The financial spin-off reflects the tangled path Sony has taken, coming just four years after it took full control of the business in a $3.7 billion deal. Sony executives will address the spin-off and the financial unit's growth strategy at an investor day on Thursday. The company plans to distribute just over 80% of its shares in Sony Financial Group, which includes banking and insurance, to shareholders through dividends in kind. It is the first partial spin-off in Japan taking advantage of a 2023 tax change and the first direct listing - set for September 29 - in more than two decades. In a direct listing a company lists on the stock market without a traditional initial public offering. The spin-off will separate the balance sheets of the non-financial businesses, which seek capital and asset efficiency, and the financial business, which expands by accumulating capital, helping investors understand their aims, Sony said in response to questions from Reuters. Compared with an IPO, the spin-off will allow a large-scale separation in a relatively short time with low risk, Sony said. "The partial spin-off has finally become tax-free, aligning with Western practices and giving an option for large Japanese companies... to shrink their conglomerate discount," said Hideki Somemiya, chief financial officer of materials maker Resonac (4004.T) , opens new tab, which aims to spin off its petrochemicals business in two years. Sony will retain a stake of just under 20% with the financial business licensing its brand. THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT The Japanese company aims to expand its presence in entertainment, spanning from games to movies and music, and maintain its position as the leading manufacturer of image sensors, a type of semiconductor, for smartphones. "It is necessary to invest in the manufacturing process," Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki said of its chips business this month. "Whether we do this 100% by ourselves, bring in investment partners or adopt a fab-light type of strategy, there are a number of options," he said. In addition to manufacturing image sensors, Sony has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Co Ltd (2330.TW) , opens new tab on the contract chipmaker's Japan venture. "Outsourcing some production to TSMC would be the most natural choice to bring down the cost burden and improve efficiency," said David Dai, an analyst at Bernstein. Sony said this month it sees flat operating profit this financial year after factoring in a 100 billion yen ($701.16 million) hit from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. The conglomerate, which booked record operating cashflow last year, has allocated 1.7 trillion yen to capital investments and 1.8 trillion yen to strategic investments in the three years to March 2027. Sony is widely seen as looking to do deals to extend its access to intellectual property to fuel its entertainment business, with Japan one focus. It bought a stake in Kadokawa (9468.T) , opens new tab after considering an acquisition of the media powerhouse and also considered bidding for Paramount Global (PARA.O) , opens new tab last year, Reuters has reported. Sony is a rising force in anime with planning company Aniplex, which is under its Japan music arm, and the Crunchyroll streaming service, which is part of the pictures segment. "It is still early days for us and the opportunity is massive, both because of the current size of the market and... the audience continues to grow," Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini said. While growing rapidly, anime is yet to rival the scale of Sony's games, movies and music businesses, and the company does not break it out at earnings. "It's not only profitable, it's lucrative," said Bernstein's Dai, who estimates anime will contribute 35% to 40% of the pictures business's profit in two to three years. ($1 = 142.6200 yen) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sony-make-case-finance-arm-spin-off-latest-corporate-transformation-2025-05-27/

2025-05-27 05:12

Wall Street stocks advance, European shares gain Yields on 30-year US Treasury fall Tokyo mulls cutting super-long bond issuance, Reuters reports Investors focus on Nvidia earnings, Fed speeches NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - Global shares rose on Tuesday, buoyed by signs of easing trade tensions, even as longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields were set for their biggest one-day drop in more than a month. U.S. President Donald Trump paused his threatened tariffs until July 9 on U.S. imports of European goods following a weekend call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Sign up here. Data showed on Tuesday that U.S. consumer confidence snapped five straight months of decline and improved in May amid a truce in the trade war between Washington and Beijing. All three Wall Street indexes finished higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq adding more than 2% following Monday's Memorial Day holiday. The S&P 500's 11 subsectors all gained, led by consumer discretionary and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 1.78% to 42,343.65, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 2.05% to 5,921.54 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab climbed 2.47% to 19,199.16. European shares (.STOXX) , opens new tab rose 0.33%, with the defence subindex reaching a record high. UK shares (.FTSE) , opens new tab climbed 0.69% following a holiday at the start of the week. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab rose 1.21% to 880.84. "We are seeing a relief rally as more and more there's confirmation that all this (tariff threat) basically is negotiation tactics that have real teeth although not a bluff, meaning that Trump is not trying to drive us over the cliff but he's taken us to the edge," said Daniel Genter, president and chief investment officer at Genter Capital Management in Los Angeles. "I think people are getting more confident that we are not going to have massive tariffs that are going to significantly interrupt the U.S. economy or business flow, and have a reversal of modest GDP growth." The yield on 30-year U.S. Treasuries fell 8 basis points to 4.9572%, on track for the biggest one-day decline since mid-April. The 30-year yields - at the epicentre of the market selloff in April following Trump's initial raft of tariffs - are still just below 5%, near their highest since October 2023. The move mirrored a near-20-basis-point fall in yields for Japanese 30-year debt that came after a Reuters report on Tuesday that Tokyo will consider trimming issuance of the super-long bonds, after recent sharp rises in yields. "It was good news over the weekend, at least for the market, with the 30-day extra time frame for the EU trade tariff negotiation deadline. I guess the market was happy about that," said Wasif Latif, chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners in New Jersey. "Then the Bank of Japan said it was not going to issue as many bonds and so the yield story looked a little bit better." Investors will focus on results from Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab on Wednesday, with the chipmaker expected to report a 66% jump in first-quarter revenue. Speeches from a slew of Federal Reserve policymakers and Friday's U.S. core PCE price index are also due, which could provide clues on the outlook for U.S. rates. The U.S. dollar advanced against major peers including the yen, euro and Swiss franc following the decision of the Japanese authorities to curb bond issuance and improvement in U.S. consumer confidence. The dollar strengthened 1.09% to 144.39 against the Japanese yen. Against the Swiss franc , the dollar strengthened 0.82% to 0.82745. The euro was down 0.51% at $1.132725. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.66% to 99.608. Gold prices fell as the U.S. dollar advanced. Spot gold dropped 1.15% to $3,304.52 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled 1.9% lower at $3,300.40. Oil prices eased, spurred by worries of a supply glut after Iranian and U.S. delegations made progress on their talks and on expectations that OPEC+ will decide to increase output at a meeting later this week. Brent crude futures closed down 1% at $64.09 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell around 1.04% to $60.89 a barrel. (This story has been refiled to remove extraneous quotation marks in paragraph 8) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-1-2025-05-27/

2025-05-27 04:35

Yen weakens as Japanese bond yields slump Dollar extends gains as US consumer confidence improves Trump drops EU tariff threat, boosting risk appetite NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - The dollar strengthened on Tuesday as the yen came under pressure from a sharp fall in Japan's long-dated bond yields, while the greenback was boosted by data improving U.S. consumer confidence. "It's very much being driven by global bond markets, and most recently what we've seen in Japan," said Eric Theoret, FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto. "Market participants are reading into the fact that the Ministry of Finance sent out a questionnaire to their primary dealers about issuance." Sign up here. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Finance sent a questionnaire to market participants regarding issuance and current market issues. Japan will consider trimming issuance of super-long bonds in the wake of recent sharp rises in yields for the notes, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The plan comes amid a recent spike in super-long bond yields to record levels due to dwindling demand from traditional buyers such as life insurers and global market jitters over steadily rising debt levels. The dollar was last up 1% at 144.28 Japanese yen . The euro fell 0.46% to $1.1335. The greenback added to gains after data showed U.S. consumer confidence in May was much better than economists had expected. Data this week will include personal consumption expenditures for April, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, on Friday. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Tuesday called for keeping interest rates steady until there is more clarity on how higher tariffs affect inflation, warning against "looking through" the impact of such supply price shocks. The euro, meanwhile, was dented by data showing that French inflation fell to its lowest level since December 2020 in May. U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday dropped his threat to impose 50% tariffs on European Union imports from next month, which boosted risk appetite on Tuesday. European Union policymakers have asked the EU's leading companies and CEOs to swiftly provide detail of their U.S. investment plans, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as Brussels prepares for trade talks with Washington. Investors are concerned that tariffs will hurt growth and potentially reignite inflation, though traders have become less pessimistic on the U.S. economic outlook since the United States and China earlier this month reached a deal to slash tariffs they had imposed on each other. Longer-term, the more protectionist stance of the United States is expected to continue to hurt the greenback. "We're still in an environment of medium to longer term U.S. dollar weakness," said Theoret. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday that the euro could become a viable alternative to the dollar if governments could only strengthen the bloc's financial and security architecture. Investors are also watching the passage of a spending and tax bill through the U.S. Congress that is expected to add trillions of dollars of debt. "Our first take on the House budget is it's not too bad, but could be better. It will reduce the deficit-to-GDP ratio, though probably not enough to put the budget on a sustainable path," Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial said in a note. Low noted, however, that "no one is happy" with the bill, with right-wing commentators upset that it didn't further DOGE spending cuts, while left wing pundits are mainly opposed to the size of cuts to social spending. U.S. Senate Republicans said on Thursday they will seek substantial changes to the spending bill after it narrowly won approval in the House of Representatives. Elsewhere the dollar strengthened 0.77% to 0.827 Swiss franc . Swiss inflation could enter negative territory in the coming months, but this will not necessarily trigger a reaction by the Swiss National Bank, SNB Chairman Martin Schlegel said on Tuesday. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/dollar-stutters-us-tax-debate-grinds-yen-gains-2025-05-27/

2025-05-27 04:35

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Rae Wee Markets in Britain will likely return from the long weekend with a bang on Tuesday after Donald Trump's backflip over his threatened 50% tariff on the European Union, although worries about his erratic policy shifts could make the lift short-lived. Sign up here. FTSE futures were up sharply in Asia and Wall Street futures similarly pointed to a strong open, after the cash market was closed for a holiday in the previous session. Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday, however, suggesting that investors remain hesitant. The U.S. president's latest U-turn on EU tariffs reinforces how unpredictable his trade policies can be and undermines already fragile investor confidence in the U.S. economy. The temporary trade reprieve did little to help the dollar, which remained stuck near its lowest in a month on Tuesday and was set for a fifth monthly decline against a basket of major currencies . That would mark its longest losing streak since 2017. There is little on the data calendar on Tuesday, leaving investors focused on events later in the week, including Nvidia's (NVDA.O) , opens new tab earnings. The AI bellwether is expected to report a 65.9% jump in first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, and Wall Street will be watching closely for clues on the impact of tighter U.S. export curbs on its AI chip sales to China. Sources told Reuters that Nvidia will launch a new artificial intelligence chipset for China at a significantly lower price than its recently restricted H20 model and plans to start mass production as early as June. Also on deck this week are speeches by Federal Reserve policymakers, alongside Friday's U.S. core PCE price index data, which could offer clues on the rate outlook. A two-day annual conference hosted by the Bank of Japan and an affiliated think-tank kicked off on Tuesday, with the gathering of global central bankers in Tokyo set to focus on two uncomfortable realities: flagging economic growth and sticky inflation. Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday: - 2025 BOJ-IMES conference in Tokyo - Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas - French preliminary inflation (May) Trying to keep up with the latest tariff news? Our new daily news digest offers a rundown of the top market-moving headlines impacting global trade. Sign up for Tariff Watch here. https://www.reuters.com/business/global-markets-view-europe-2025-05-27/