2025-05-26 06:03
MORRISTOWN, New Jersey, May 25 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States will have control over U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab as part of the company's partnership with Japanese firm Nippon Steel (5401.T) , opens new tab. As part of the deal announced , opens new tab on Friday, Nippon Steel plans to invest $14 billion into U.S. Steel's operations, including up to $4 billion in a new steel mill. Trump said on Friday the merger would create 70,000 jobs. Sign up here. Pressed for more details of the agreement, Trump said on Sunday: "It will be controlled by the United States, otherwise I wouldn't make the deal." Speaking to reporters as he left for Washington after a weekend at his New Jersey golf club, Trump said relevant lawmakers had pressed him to make the deal. "It's an investment and it's a partial ownership, but it will be controlled by the USA," he said. The merger would create the world's third-largest steel producer by volume, following China's Baowu Steel Group and Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal (MT.LU) , opens new tab, according to World Steel Association data. While no details were released, investors have expressed confidence that terms will be similar to those agreed in 2023. Investors have said that eventually U.S. Steel will no longer be publicly traded and they will receive a cash payout for their shares. The deal has been one of the most highly anticipated on Wall Street after it morphed into the political arena with fears that foreign ownership would mean job losses in Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered. https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-says-us-will-control-us-steel-part-nippon-deal-2025-05-26/
2025-05-26 05:47
LAGOS, May 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria is set to commission two major lithium processing plants this year, the country's mining minister announced on Sunday, marking a shift from raw mineral exports towards adding value domestically. The facilities, largely funded by Chinese investors, could help transform Nigeria's vast mineral wealth into jobs, technology, and manufacturing growth within the country. Mining Minister Dele Alake said a $600 million lithium processing plant near the Kaduna-Niger border is slated for commissioning this quarter, while a $200 million lithium refinery on the outskirts of Abuja is nearing completion. Two additional processing plants are expected in Nasarawa state, which borders the capital Abuja, before the third quarter of 2025, the minister said. "We are now focused on turning our mineral wealth into domestic economic value - jobs, technology, and manufacturing," Alake said. Over 80% of the funding for the four facilities has been provided by Chinese firms, including Jiuling Lithium Mining Company and Canmax Technologies (300390.SZ) , opens new tab, according to separate announcements by governors of the states where the plants are located. Sign up here. The remaining stakes are owned by local investor Three Crown Mines. The Chinese firms did not immediately provide comment. The push for domestic processing follows a 2022 study by Nigeria's Geological Survey Agency, which discovered significant deposits of high-grade lithium across half a dozen Nigerian states, attracting considerable international interest. These developments are part of Nigeria's broader reforms to its underdeveloped mining sector, which currently contributes less than 1% to the nation's gross domestic product. Other reforms undertaken include restricting the export of unprocessed minerals, formalising artisanal mining operations, which account for much of the current extraction, and establishing a state mining firm where investors can own up to a 75% stake. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nigeria-open-two-chinese-backed-lithium-processing-plants-this-year-2025-05-26/
2025-05-26 05:28
Trump extends EU trade talk deadline to July 9 Citi upgrades its zero-to-three month gold price target Markets in the United States and Britain closed May 26 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell nearly 1% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump dropped his threat to impose 50% tariffs on goods from the European Union from June 1, reducing demand for the safe-haven asset. Spot gold slipped 0.8% at $3,332.04 an ounce by 1250 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 1% to $3,331.90. Sign up here. "I would call it a range-trading day," said Giovanni Staunovo, UBS analyst, attributing the modest drop in prices to Trump's decision to delay the imposition of higher tariffs on the EU. "With U.S. Memorial Day, activity is likely to be on the lower end today." Markets in the United States and Britain were closed on Monday due to public holidays. Trump on Sunday restored a July 9 deadline to allow for talks between Washington and the European Union to produce a deal. On Friday, gold prices recorded their best week in six last week, after Trump renewed tariff threats on EU goods and said he was considering a 25% tariff on any Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab iPhones that are sold in the U.S. but not made there. "We still look for higher prices over the coming months, expecting the yellow metal to retest the level of $3,500/oz," Staunovo said. Meanwhile, China's net gold imports via Hong Kong more than doubled in April from March, and were the highest since March 2024, data showed. Citi on Sunday upgraded its zero-to-three month price target for gold back to $3,500/oz - from $3,150 - amid U.S. tariff policies, geopolitical risks and concerns around the U.S. budget. The bank expects gold prices to consolidate between $3,100/oz and $3,500/oz. Geopolitical risks include the war in Ukraine. Russia attacked Ukraine for a third night in a row, Ukrainian regional officials and emergency services said, a day after the biggest aerial attack of the war so far. Spot silver eased 0.3% to $33.38, platinum fell 0.6% to $1,088.53 and palladium lost 0.6% to $987.27. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-edges-lower-trump-extends-eu-tariff-deadline-2025-05-26/
2025-05-26 05:15
MUMBAI, May 26 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee and other Asian currencies extended their recent rallies on Monday, as abrupt shifts in U.S. trade policy and concerns over fiscal health kept the dollar under pressure. The rupee rose past the 85 per U.S. dollar mark for the first time in two weeks on Monday, extending its 0.9% surge seen on Friday. The currency was last quoted up 0.4% at 84.82. Sign up here. The dollar index was hovering at an over one-month low of 98.8, down 0.3% on day, after U.S. President Donald Trump set a July 9 deadline for a trade deal with the European Union after threatening a 50% tariff from June 1. Meanwhile, the Chinese yuan's rise to a 7-month high, following provided another tailwind to regional currencies. Asian currencies have risen by as much as 7% on the month so far but the rupee has remained a laggard with a 0.3% decline. "Markets have also seemingly perceived that President Trump is looking for a weaker US dollar versus several Asian currencies as part of bilateral trade negotiations," MUFG Bank said in a note. "Any signs of FX discussion with the US could still be an upside risk to Asian currencies in the near term," the note added. Meanwhile, dollar-rupee forward premiums fell on Monday as the rupee extended its recent rally and near-tenor U.S. bond yields nudged higher. The 1-year dollar-rupee implied yield dipped below the 2% handle for the first time in two months and was last quoted at 1.99%. Uncertainty about future path of Federal Reserve policy rates alongside firm expectations of rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India may continue to weigh on dollar-rupee forward premiums in the near-term, a trader at a bank said. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-rises-above-85usd-hoisted-by-fragile-dollar-stronger-yuan-2025-05-26/
2025-05-26 04:35
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Vidya Ranganathan. Donald Trump and the European markets have come full circle again. Sign up here. The euro and European stocks tumbled on Friday when the U.S. president decided abruptly he would impose 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union since trade talks were not moving quickly enough. By Sunday, Trump had delayed the tariffs again after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asked for time, and markets , are back up this morning. The euro is at its highest since April 30 against the dollar . Von der Leyen said in a post on X on Sunday that she had a "good" phone call with Trump. Markets may have recovered, but not sentiment. The weekend's back-and-forth only served to remind investors how chaotic, impulsive and unpredictable Trump can be, even when dealing with his biggest trading partners. Germany was the EU's biggest exporter to the U.S. last year. In early April, Trump set a 90-day window for trade talks between the EU and the U.S., which was to end on July 9. Trump's latest trade tantrum came just hours after European Central Bank policymaker Joachim Nagel, who heads Germany's Bundesbank, said markets were close to nuclear meltdown after Trump's April 2 reciprocal tariff announcements, and that had helped to discipline the U.S. administration. Apparently not. The slow exit of investors from that chaos - and from their outsized exposures to the world's biggest economy and stock markets - continues. European equity exchange-traded funds have pulled in 34 billion euros ($38.6 billion) of cash over the year to May 16, four times the 8.2 billion euros put into U.S. equity funds, Morningstar data shows. By comparison, in 2024 net flows into U.S. equity funds in Europe had dominated by a ratio of more than 8:1 over locally focused products. Market holidays in the United States and Britain should keep trading relatively muted on Monday. It's also relatively quiet on the data front, with the notable releases this week including the Fed's targeted inflation metric, Personal Consumption Expenditures, for April, due on May 30. That could paint a clearer picture of the impact of U.S. tariffs. April was a volatile month in the markets after Trump's tariff onslaught on April 2, but recent consumer and producer prices data has not flashed inflationary warning signs just yet. The euro zone's biggest economies - France and Germany - report consumer prices data on Tuesday and Friday, and bloc-wide figures follow the week after. Key developments that could influence markets on Monday: SPEAKERS: ECB President Christine Lagarde, Riksbank executive board meeting COMPANIES: NTS Ackermans & Van Haaren NV Annual Shareholders Meeting, Leonardo SpA Annual Shareholders Meeting DEBT AUCTIONS: Reopening of French 3-month, 6-month and 1-year government debt auctions 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/world/europe/global-markets-view-europe-2025-05-26/
2025-05-26 03:03
MUMBAI, May 26 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is poised to kick off the week on a positive note, extending Friday’s rally, buoyed by a strength in Asian currencies which included the Chinese yuan’s surge to a seven-month high. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open in the 84.98-85.02 range per U.S. dollar on Monday, from its Friday close of 85.2125. The currency had surged 0.92% on Friday, its best single-day performance in over two years. Sign up here. Friday marked an unexpected turnaround in the rupee’s performance. Until then, the Indian currency had largely missed out on the rally enjoyed by its Asian peers. "Difficult to pinpoint what exactly changed on Friday. In hindsight, it may have been the lack of dollar payments that had been plaguing the rupee, the relentless up move in Asia and finally the collective wisdom that a short (on dollar/rupee) offers value, " a currency trader at a Mumbai-based bank said. However, despite Friday's rally, the rupee remains an underperformer among Asian FX this month. While the rupee is down 0.8% in May, the Korean won, Thai baht, and Indonesian rupiah have climbed between 2.5% and 5.5%. Meanwhile, the offshore Chinese yuan has strengthened 1.5% to 7.1650 against the dollar. BROAD LOSSES ON DOLLAR The dollar weakened against its major peers and Asian currencies on Monday, with the dollar index (=USD) slipping 0.3% to 98.76 — not far from its year-to-date low. Expectations of FX revaluation have supported Asian currencies, while U.S. fiscal concerns continue to weigh on the dollar. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday backed off his threat to speed up 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, agreeing to extend his deadline for trade talks until July 9. The rapid de-escalation — just two days after the initial threat — underscores the unpredictability and volatility of U.S. trade policy. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 85.14; onshore one-month forward premium at 13.5 paisa ** Dollar index down at 98.72 ** Brent crude futures up 0.1% at $64.8 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.51% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $634.6 million worth of Indian shares on May 22 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors sold a net $53.4 million worth of Indian bonds on May 22 https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-set-extend-rally-riding-momentum-asia-fx-2025-05-26/
