2025-04-20 15:43

April 20 (Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Sunday that he hopes the United States is not moving to an environment where the ability of the central bank to set monetary policy independent of political pressure is questioned. Goolsbee, responding to a question on CBS' "Face the Nation" about President Donald Trump's outbursts last week against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said economists agree that central banks that have the ability to conduct monetary policy with no political tampering have better outcomes for their economies. Sign up here. For those that do not have that freedom, though, "The inflation rate is higher, growth is slower and the job market is worse. "I strongly hope that we do not move ourselves into an environment where monetary independence is in question, because that would undermine the credibility of the Fed," he said. (This story has been refiled to fix the misspelling in the name of CBS program, in paragraph 2) https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/feds-goolsbee-hopes-us-not-moving-where-monetary-independence-is-questioned-cbs-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 14:43

CAIRO, April 20 (Reuters) - A ship carrying wheat has arrived in Syria's Latakia port, the first delivery of its kind since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels in December, the government said on Sunday. Officials of the new Islamist-led government say that while imports of wheat and other basics are not subject to U.S. and U.N. sanctions, challenges in securing financing for trade deals have deterred global suppliers from selling to Syria. Sign up here. The Syrian General Authority for Land and Sea Borders said in a statement that the ship carried 6,600 tonnes of wheat. It did not identify the nationality or destination of the boat, but one regional commodity trader told Reuters it was from Russia. "A step that is considered a clear indication of the start of a new phase of economic recovery in the country," the borders authority said of the shipment, adding that it should pave the way for more arrivals of vital supplies. Traders say Syria has this year been largely relying on overland imports from neighbours. Russia and Iran, both major backers of the Assad government, previously provided most of Syria's wheat and oil products but stopped after the rebels triumphed and he fled to Moscow. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government is focused on economic recovery after 14 years of conflict. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/first-wheat-shipment-since-assads-ouster-arrives-syrias-latakia-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 12:59

Tesla, Alphabet first of Magnificent 7 megacaps set to report Boeing, Merck, Intel among other companies due next week Focus also on Fed, after Trump slams chair over rates NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - A heavy slate of U.S. company results in the coming week will test a stock market shaken by a U.S. trade policy overhaul that upended the outlook for the global economy and corporate America. Investors remain on edge after President Donald Trump's sweeping April 2 tariff announcement stunned markets and sparked some of the most volatile trading since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago. Sign up here. After rebounding somewhat last week, the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab stock index fell this week and was down 14% from its February record high. Volatility levels moderated from five-year peaks but remain elevated by historic measures. Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab - two of the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap companies whose shares have faltered after two years of stock leadership - are among those closely watched for financial results as investors seek guidance about the fallout from tariffs that are very much in flux. "The view of the CEOs going forward has never been more important," said JJ Kinahan, CEO of IG North America and president of online broker Tastytrade. Companies and investors are grappling with a tariff landscape poised to keep shifting as the Trump administration negotiates with other countries. While he has paused some of the heftiest levies on imports, the U.S. is also locked in a trade battle with China, the world's second-largest economy. Economists polled by Reuters this week put odds of a recession in the next year at 45%, up from 25% last month. In one corporate report this week that caught the attention of investors, United Airlines (UAL.O) , opens new tab laid out two scenarios for the year, including one warning of a significant hit to revenue and profit if there is a recession. United's dual forecast provided a type of "roadmap" by acknowledging and quantifying risks, said Julian Emanuel, head of equity and derivatives strategy at Evercore ISI. "Putting parameters on what may unfold is how stakeholders ... make decisions in an environment where traditional guidance is bound to be considered relatively unreliable," Emanuel said in a note on Thursday. Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker Tesla, which reports results on April 22, is in the spotlight in part because of the billionaire's close ties to Trump. Alphabet will be watched for any detail on advertising spending and capital expenses tied to artificial intelligence capacity, as investors scrutinize AI project costs. The company was dealt a setback on Thursday, when a judge ruled Google illegally dominates two markets for online advertising technology. All the Magnificent Seven megacap stocks are sharply lower in 2025, with Alphabet down about 20% and Tesla off 40%. The Magnificent Seven "led everything to the upside," Kinahan said. "If they can't continue to perform, I think it gives people a pause overall, especially as we're looking for footing after the last couple of weeks." Boeing's (BA.N) , opens new tab results are also in focus, after China reportedly ordered its airlines not to take further deliveries of the planemaker's jets. IBM (IBM.N) , opens new tab, Merck (MRK.N) , opens new tab, Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab and Procter & Gamble (PG.N) , opens new tab are among the major U.S. companies set to post results in the coming week. Projections for U.S. profit growth have pulled back, with S&P 500 earnings estimated to rise 9.2% in 2025, down from the 14% gain estimated at the start of the year, according to LSEG IBES data. Investors are bracing for even greater contraction as companies report results and account more for the tariffs. The market's attention was also on the Federal Reserve, after Trump on Thursday said Fed Chair Jerome Powell's termination "cannot come fast enough," while calling for the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates. A day earlier, Powell said the Fed would wait for more data on the economy's direction before changing rates. Investors will be hoping that the heart of earnings season can restore more calm to markets. The Cboe Volatility index (.VIX) , opens new tab, an options-based measure of investor anxiety, hit around 60 in the aftermath of Trump's tariff announcement, but has since pulled back to about 30. Still, that level is well above its long-term median level of 17.6, according to LSEG Datastream. Ayako Yoshioka, senior investment strategist at Wealth Enhancement, said the index would need to recede to the "mid-teens in order to say maybe that volatility has subsided a little bit." If it stays around 30, Yoshioka said, "it doesn't mean we're out of the woods." https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/wall-st-week-ahead-busy-us-earnings-week-confronts-market-grappling-with-tariff-2025-04-18/

2025-04-20 12:41

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China's export controls on three metals important across the defence and chip sectors are keeping shipments at historically low levels despite high prices worldwide as Beijing flexes its control over the minerals supply chain. China is the world's largest producer of antimony, germanium and gallium, which have niche but vital roles in clean energy, chipmaking and defence. Since 2023, Beijing has gradually added the metals to its export controls list. In December it banned exports to the U.S. Sign up here. For any item on the control list, exporters must apply for licenses, an opaque process which allows Beijing to exert the dominance it has built for years over the mining and processing of important minerals. Fresh customs data released on Sunday reinforced a pattern building since controls were imposed: exports are down and some buyers, especially in Europe, are cut out of the supply chain. Exports of antimony and germanium products in the first quarter were down 57% and 39%, respectively, compared to a year earlier. March exports of gallium hit their lowest level since October 2023. Quarterly shipments were up on last year, but the current trend is still well below 2022, the last full year before curbs. Minerals that are exported, in the case of antimony, are going to a smaller set of countries. After a five-month hiatus, small shipments of antimony were sent to Belgium and Germany in March, but exports were well below historic levels and former large buyers like the Netherlands haven't received shipments since September. The pattern across the three metals raises questions about how many export licenses China will approve for the seven rare earth elements it added to the control list this month - and how fast. Exporters say they expect to wait months for licenses and even longer if selling to the United States. There have been no antimony exports to the United States since September last year and none since 2023 for germanium and gallium. Fewer exports from China have left overseas consumers scrambling to source material, pushing prices higher, which in turn has supported prices in China. Chinese spot prices of antimony , for example, have jumped by nearly two thirds so far this year to a record high of 230,000 yuan ($31,509) a ton on April 18, LSEG data showed. Note: YTD refers to year-to-date volumes. ($1 = 7.2995 Chinese yuan renminbi) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-export-controls-are-curbing-critical-mineral-shipments-world-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 11:06

KYIV, April 20 (Reuters) - Ukraine may need to import up to 6.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas for the 2025/26 winter season as reserves have fallen to a record low due to war-related damage to some facilities, the former head of its gas transit operator said on Sunday. Ukraine has been forced to ramp up gas withdrawals from storage and increase imports this winter and spring after Russian missile attacks damaged production facilities in the east of the country, Serhiy Makogon said on Telegram messenger. Sign up here. Quoting data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), he said that the storage level was "the lowest ever" at 0.7 bcm - 2.22% of full storage capacity - as of April 16, the end of the winter and spring season. Makogon said the country would need to collect at least 12.8 bcm of gas in reserve, including 4.6 bcm of process - or buffer - gas that is needed to ensure sufficient pressure in storage facilities. "According to my calculations, given the volume of domestic production, this will require imports of at least 5.5 bcm of gas, preferably 6.3 bcm," Makogon said. He noted that Ukraine's state oil and gas firm Naftogaz had announced the required volume of imports at a lower level of 4.6 bcm. Makogon said that even this amount would cost the country up to $3 billion, although existing available funds were enough to purchase only 0.4 bcm. Naftogaz and the government would need to find significant funds to bridge the gap, he said. There was guaranteed capacity to pump gas into storage of about 1.5 bcm per month and the country needs up to four months of imports at full capacity to meet that target, he added. In March, the then head of the transit operator, Dmytro Lyppa, told Reuters that Ukraine needed to import at least 4 bcm of gas for the new heating season, and half of the volume could be liquefied gas, LNG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ukraine-may-need-import-63-bcm-gas-next-winter-reserves-hit-record-low-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 09:41

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China's Shenghe Resources (600392.SS) , opens new tab said on Sunday the suspension of shipments of rare earth raw concentrate from its U.S. partner will not significantly impact production due to the company's diversified supply chain. MP Materials (MP.N) , opens new tab, which owns the only U.S. rare earths mine, said on Thursday it had stopped shipping the critical minerals to China because of the 125% tariffs Beijing has slapped on U.S. imports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by President Donald Trump. Sign up here. Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones and other electronics. China, the world's dominant producer, this month halted exports of seven rare earths added to a retaliatory export control list. While China dominates the refining of rare earths it imports some concentrate mined elsewhere to feed its processors, including large amounts by MP Materials. "We have built a diversified supply channel of rare earth raw materials, with supply from Sichuan and other countries as well as monazite used as alternatives," Shenghe said in a statement. "The supply contract with MP is still valid." Shenghe did not provide details. The company and MP Materials renewed an offtake agreement in January 2024 through Shenghe's subsidiary in Singapore, which will be in effect for in two years and can be extended for another year after expiration. China's imports of rare earth raw materials from the U.S. have been on the decline for two years, by 13.7% in 2023 and 16.9% last year, customs data shows. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinese-rare-earth-processor-shenghe-sees-little-impact-halt-us-feedstock-2025-04-20/