2025-04-24 03:04

MUMBAI, April 24 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to remain under pressure on Thursday, pegged back by a dollar that is finding support from expectations of thawing U.S.-China trade frictions and a calming of nerves around the Federal Reserve's independence. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open at 85.52-85.54 to the U.S. dollar, compared to its previous close of 85.42. The Indian currency dropped 0.3% on Wednesday, logging its worst day in two weeks. Sign up here. With the dollar "extended an helping hand" from the positive news flow on the tariff and Fed front, the attitude towards rupee long positions has soured, a currency trader at a bank said. "This week's price action has put in place a near-term bottom (for USD/INR pair) at the 85 level." The developments in Kashmir are not helping the rupee's cause, he added. The dollar index is inching back to the psychologically important 100 mark, driven by improving sentiment towards U.S. assets amid positive signals on both trade policy and Fed autonomy. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the White House is considering rolling back tariffs on Chinese goods to help dial down tensions with Beijing. This followed recent comments from U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, both of whom hinted at a potential de-escalation in trade frictions and suggested any future deal with China could involve tariff cuts. "The dollar is enjoying support thanks to a recovery in U.S. market sentiment. At the moment, no other G10 currency has a higher beta than the dollar to U.S. trade news,” ING Bank said in a note. Adding to the dollar's support was a shift in tone from the White House regarding the Fed, with Trump backing away from earlier threats to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 85.70; onshore one-month forward premium at 17.5 paisa ** Dollar index at 99.64 ** Brent crude futures at $66.1 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.36% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $230.9 million worth of Indian shares on April 22 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors sold a net $93.5 million worth of Indian bonds on April 22 https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-likely-weaken-further-with-dollars-downtrend-hold-2025-04-24/

2025-04-24 01:20

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko on Wednesday and stressed the need to sign an economic partnership between the two countries as soon as possible, the U.S. Treasury Department said. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Washington has said it will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine unless there are clear signs of progress soon. Sign up here. After the U.S. and Ukraine reached a memo of understanding on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected to sign a minerals deal with Kyiv this week. An attempt in February fell apart following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's Oval Office clash with Trump. KEY QUOTES "Secretary Bessent reaffirmed the United States' support for Ukrainian sovereignty and emphasized the United States' dedication to secure a lasting, durable peace for the people of both Ukraine and Russia," the Treasury Department said in a statement. "Secretary Bessent emphasized the need to conclude technical talks and sign the economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine as soon as possible." CONTEXT Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its NATO ambitions, permanently cede to Russia the four regions it has lost and limit the size of its army. Kyiv says those demands are tantamount to demanding its capitulation. Trump and Zelenskiy clashed again on Wednesday on efforts to end the war in Ukraine, with Trump chiding Zelenskiy for refusing to recognize Russia's occupation of Crimea. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-wants-sign-economic-partnership-with-ukraine-as-soon-possible-2025-04-24/

2025-04-24 01:17

Trump invites top buyers of meme coin to dinner at golf club $TRUMP has generated $350 million in fees, Chainalysis says White House eases enforcement as Trump family pivots to crypto NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's meme coin surged more than 60% on Wednesday after a post announcing "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world" promised the top 220 buyers of $TRUMP a private gala dinner with the president on May 22. In addition to the dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., the top 25 holders would get "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President" as well as a "Special Tour," according to the announcement. Sign up here. The post on a website promoting the $TRUMP coin is the latest in a flurry of cryptocurrency-related forays undertaken by Trump and his family that have garnered them hundreds of millions of dollars in fees alone. Trump family ventures include a new crypto exchange, World Liberty Financial, as well as a pivot to crypto finance by Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O) , opens new tab, the social media company in which the president holds a $3 billion stake. Trump has promised to be America's first "crypto president," and his administration has moved swiftly to scale back crypto enforcement and ease the industry's regulatory framework. The family's push into crypto at the same time the president is overseeing a new oversight regime has fueled concerns about potential conflicts of interest and influence peddling. Trump's planned dinner with $TRUMP coin holders is "a race to the bottom for presidential grifting," said Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, a nonpartisan government ethics watchdog group. "There has never been a clearer case of a president using their office to put money in their pocket, or greater potential for special interests to buy an administration's favor that could threaten the public interest," Carrk said. Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary, said: "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest." The $TRUMP coin, launched before the president's January 20 inauguration, reached as high as $74.59 before falling to a low of $7.14 on April 7. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis found that as of March 12 the coin had generated at least $350 million in fees for entities connected to the president. As recently as last week, crypto watchers were expecting the $TRUMP coin to collapse as 40 million new tokens were set to unlock. The coin's account on X said on Wednesday, though, that the unlock would be delayed for 90 more days. The terms of the $TRUMP dinner offer state that "President Trump may not be able to attend" but that winners would receive a limited edition TRUMP NFT "in lieu thereof." https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/dinner-with-president-trump-meme-coin-surges-offer-top-buyers-2025-04-24/

2025-04-24 00:44

Thiam was removed from electoral over French nationality Says hopes reason will prevail so he can run in October vote Party won't put forward other candidate PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast opposition leader Tidjane Thiam said on Wednesday he would fight on to run in the West African nation's presidential election due in October despite having been removed from the electoral roll. A court in Ivory Coast ruled on Tuesday that Thiam, 62, a former Credit Suisse chief executive, should be removed from the electoral roll because he was a French national when he registered. Sign up here. The decision, which cannot be appealed, could end the Ivorian-born Thiam's ambition to run in the world's top cocoa-producing nation's presidential election. Speaking in an interview with Reuters in Paris, Thiam said his party PDCI would not put up an alternative candidate and they would use their political weight nationally and internationally so that "reason prevailed". "I'm a business person. I'm not a warrior, I'm not a rebel. I don't carry a Kalashnikov. I've been speaking in a very moderate tone, asking for reconciliation and peace, and this has only been met with aggression," he said. "It's only met with aggression, vitriol, toxicity. But, you know, I intend to stick to the course and try to take the country in a different direction." Elected leader of the PDCI in 2023, Thiam was a leading contender for the election, though 83-year-old incumbent Alassane Ouattara has yet to say whether he will run again. Thiam renounced his French citizenship in February in order to meet eligibility conditions for the election. Ivory Coast law states that candidates must be Ivorian citizens and cannot hold another nationality. Last month a decision published in France's official journal showed that Thiam had been relieved of his French citizenship. "The Ivorian authorities have never objected to this, and now we are given a 1961 law that is 64 years old and that has never been used for anybody. So suddenly it's pulled out of a drawer and applied to me," he said. AFRICAN VOTERS SHOULD DECIDE Thiam served as a minister in Ivory Coast until the ouster of former President Henri Konan Bedie in a 1999 military coup. He then left the country, working for consultancy firm McKinsey and insurers Aviva and Prudential before his 2015 appointment as CEO of Credit Suisse, where he was ousted five years later. "Africans need to have the right and the possibility to choose freely who should lead them. That's all we're asking for. And if people think I was away too long they can express that in the ballot box," he said. "It's not for the government to decide who runs opposition parties or who gets to run against them." Ivory Coast suffered more than a decade of civil war in the early 2000s, in which some 3,000 civilians were killed, but it emerged to reclaim its spot as a West African powerhouse, with one of the continent's fastest growing economies. However, Thiam said he was worried that interference by the authorities with who could run in elections might fuel violence. "There was a huge conflict in 2010 so it was a very, very painful process and you would have expected that lessons would have been learned from it," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-opposition-leader-thiam-says-he-wont-drop-presidential-bid-2025-04-23/

2025-04-24 00:40

Dollar falls against major pairs China says no negotiations ongoing with US Yen rises against dollar above 142 level NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - The dollar staged a broad retreat on Thursday, as investor gloom over the lack of progress toward defusing the U.S.-China trade war reasserted itself following an interlude of optimism the previous day. U.S. assets, including the dollar, rallied on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump backed down from threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and appeared to soften his stance on China. Sign up here. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said separately that the de facto embargo on U.S.-China trade was unsustainable, but that the U.S. would not move first in lowering its levies of more than 100% on Chinese goods. By Thursday, those dollar gains had unravelled. China said no negotiations had been held on the economy and trade and it urged the U.S. to lift all unilateral tariff measures if it really wished to resolve the issue, leaving investors roughly where they were earlier in the week in terms of clarity. However, Trump maintained on Thursday that trade talks with China are underway. "They had a meeting this morning," he told reporters, declining to say to whom he was referring. "It seems like there's a gulf as wide as the Pacific Ocean between how the U.S. and China are viewing trade," said Matt Weller, head of market research at StoneX. "And I think as long as that gulf remains, the rallies in the dollar might be short-lived." The yen led the charge higher, leaving the dollar down 0.54% on the day at 142.700, but still above the 140-mark breached last week. The dollar has been the biggest casualty of Trump's on-off tariffs, dropping 4.8% so far in April, which would mark its largest monthly decline since November 2022. Investors had been shaken over the last few days when Trump made a series of verbal attacks on Powell over his reluctance to cut interest rates until justified by economic data. Such has been the investor pullback from the dollar that it is on course for its worst start to the year against a basket of currencies since the 1970s, according to LSEG data. "There were hopes of a thaw in the U.S.-driven trade dispute with absolutely everyone," said Trade Nation strategist David Morrison. "(Trump) softened his tone towards China, calling on them to come and negotiate. But it turns out it takes two to tango, and for now, the Chinese leadership has decided to let the Trump administration stew in its own mess," he added. The Swiss franc , which is around its strongest against the dollar in more than a decade as a result of hefty safe-haven flows this month, rose, leaving the U.S. currency down 0.33% on the day at 0.82795 francs. The pound rose 0.55% to $1.3325. UK finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Thursday she was confident Britain could reach a trade deal with the United States. Bitcoin tracked the dollar lower, falling 0.23% on the day to $93,469. Meanwhile, Trump's meme coin surged 33% overnight after the online promotion of a gala dinner with the president for the top 220 buyers of the $TRUMP coin. It is still only worth roughly a quarter of what it was at its launch in January. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dollar-rebound-loses-steam-with-trade-focus-2025-04-24/

2025-04-23 23:44

Inflation to converge to BOJ target in 2027, IMF official says Risks to Japan's growth, inflation skewed to downside IMF opposed to sales tax cut, energy subsidies Global lender still sees yen as safe-haven currency IMF supports Japan's commitment to flexible foreign-exchange regime WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is likely to push back the timing of further interest rate hikes as uncertainty triggered by U.S. tariffs has heightened downside risks to growth and inflation, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Wednesday. The huge uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs and the response of other countries could dampen business sentiment and discourage some firms from sustaining wage hikes, said Nada Choueiri, deputy director of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department. Sign up here. The IMF still expects inflation will converge to the BOJ's 2% target, though that will happen in 2027 rather than in 2026, as previously expected, said Choueiri, who is also the global lender's mission chief for Japan. "A lot of companies are likely now on the fence, not carrying out their investment plans and waiting for clarity on what's going to happen. This is postponing investment decisions as well," Choueiri told Reuters in an interview. "We do see that if our reference scenario materializes, the BOJ interest rate increases will be pushed backwards in time," she said. "Under a scenario where growth is dampened, the accommodation may need to be sustained for longer." Analysts polled by Reuters in April said they expected the BOJ would hold rates steady through June, with a 25-basis-point hike expected next quarter by a slight majority of respondents. In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said this week it expects Japan's economy to expand 0.6% in 2025, down half a percentage point from January. It expects growth of 0.6% in 2026, down two-tenths of a percentage point from January. "The balance of risks is on the downside for growth and for inflation," as global uncertainty caused by higher U.S. tariffs could cool consumption and discourage firms from sustaining bumper pay hikes in next year's wage talks, Choueiri said. The BOJ, which ended a decade-long massive stimulus programme last year, raised its short-term interest rate to 0.5% in January in the belief the economy was on the cusp of sustainably achieving the central bank's 2% inflation target. While Governor Kazuo Ueda has signalled the BOJ's readiness to keep raising rates, U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have complicated its decision on when and how far it can hike. "If there is a big shock to domestic demand that threatens the chances of achieving sustainable 2% inflation, then countering that risk may require increasing the level of accommodation," Choueiri said, when asked what it would take for the BOJ to contemplate cutting - rather than hiking - rates. SAFE-HAVEN CURRENCY Trump has hit Japan with 24% tariffs on its exports to the U.S. although, like most of his levies, they have been paused until early July. A 10% universal rate remains in place, as does a 25% duty on cars, which is expected to hit Japan's economy. With rising living costs and the potential hit from tariffs clouding the economic outlook, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday announced plans to cut gasoline prices and offer subsidies to curb electricity bills. Some lawmakers are also calling for the government to temporarily cut Japan's sales tax to ease the pain on households. Choueiri said the IMF was against such spending or tax cuts as they would heighten challenges for Japan in getting its fiscal house in order. "If the economy is going to suffer a lot from the tariffs, there may be a need for some support. But the support will have to be time-bound and very well-targeted," she said. Japan must raise the sales tax rate at some point over the medium term to rein in its huge public debt, she said. "If there is a cut today, then the effort that will be needed later is going to be bigger, and it's not going to be helpful," she said. Choueiri added that the yen, which has rebounded recently against the dollar, "remains a safe-haven currency given the strength of the economy, as well as the predictability and stability of the economy." "The authorities are committed to a flexible exchange-rate regime. It serves the country well. It helps absorb shocks," she said. "We support their commitment to this regime, and it helps the economy to adjust." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/imf-expects-boj-delay-further-rate-hikes-due-tariff-uncertainty-2025-04-23/