2025-03-28 15:25
JOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand slipped on Friday, as concerns lingered over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and an impasse between the ruling coalition's two biggest parties over the state budget. At 1507 GMT, the rand traded at 18.3975 against the dollar , about 0.8% weaker than its previous close. Sign up here. The markets have remained on tenterhooks for further clarity from Trump after his announcement of tariffs on automotive imports, which will take effect from midnight on April 3. Domestically, government partners the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance have been at loggerheads for weeks over a VAT hike proposal in the national budget, which is yet to be passed. Local news website news24 reported on Friday that the ANC rejected the DA's , opens new tab request that the two parties reach a deal on the shared management of economic policy. It said the DA had pinned its support for the budget on securing such an agreement. On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI) , opens new tab index closed about 0.4% lower. South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was marginally weaker, with the yield up 0.5 basis point to 9.155%. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/south-african-rand-strengthens-trump-tariff-worries-linger-2025-03-28/
2025-03-28 15:04
OTTAWA, March 28 (Reuters) - Canada recorded a marginally higher C$26.85 billion ($18.77 billion) budget deficit for the first ten months of the 2024/25 fiscal year as government expenditures grew slightly faster than revenues, the finance ministry said on Friday. By comparison, the deficit in the same period a year earlier was C$25.67 billion, it said in a statement. Sign up here. Program expenses rose 10.9% on increases across all major categories of spending except elderly and child benefits, employment insurance and COVID-19 support. Public debt charges increased by 16.2% largely because of an increase in the stock of marketable bonds. Year-to-date revenues grew by 10.9%, largely reflecting higher personal income tax revenue and revenue from other taxes and duties. On a monthly basis, Canada posted a deficit of C$5.13 billion in January, compared to a C$2.06 billion deficit in January 2024. ($1 = 1.4307 Canadian dollars) ((Reuters Ottawa bureau; [email protected] , opens new tab)) Keywords: CANADA BUDGET/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-budget-deficit-over-first-ten-months-202425-increases-c2685-billion-2025-03-28/
2025-03-28 12:40
Statscan expects GDP to remain unchanged in February December GDP was revised upwards to 0.3% from 0.2% BoC, economists see growth falling in coming months OTTAWA, March 28 (Reuters) - Canada's Gross Domestic Product grew by 0.4% on a monthly basis in January as economic activity continued the momentum of the last few of months, data showed on Friday. Economists said part of the growth was helped by an increase in demand for cross-border trade by companies seeking to avoid the impact of U.S. tariffs. Sign up here. Canada's economic activity has grown at a brisk pace in the last two quarters, registering an annualized growth of well over 2%, indicating that seven rounds of interest rate cuts has helped boost consumer spending and investment. But the Bank of Canada has warned that there was a significant gap between the robust hard data seen so far and a survey data of businesses and consumers. With U.S. tariffs coming on a wide range of products and retaliatory tariffs, spending and investments in Canada could dip considerably, hurting economic growth, the BoC and economists have said. Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated January growth to be 0.3% from an upwardly revised 0.3% growth in December from an initial 0.2% growth. A flash estimate from Statscan showed that growth in February was likely to be unchanged. The flat February growth was probably due to the offseting impacts of growth in manufacturing, finance and insurance and contraction in real estate rental, leasing, oil and gas extraction and retail trade, Statscan said. The Canadian dollar pared some losses after the data and was trading down 0.1% to 1.4318 against the U.S. dollar, or 69.84 U.S. cents. Yields on the two-year government bond fell 3.6 basis points to 2.521%. January's economic activity was boosted by both goods and services sectors, with expansion seen in 13 out of 20 areas, the statistics agency said. Goods-producing industries grew by 1.1%, its largest growth since October 2021. The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction and manufacturing sectors were the largest contributors to growth. The oil and gas extraction subsector registered the biggest growth amongst them with 2.6% expansion in January. The manufacturing sector was up 0.8% in January after contracting for two consecutive months. Construction activity continued to expand in January, led by residential construction, which hit its highest level since November 2023. Retail trade was the only major dampener for January, data showed. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this month and on Wednesday slapped 25% tariffs on auto parts and car imports. He has vowed more import duties from next month. This is likely to wipe off almost all growth projected by the central bank, the BoC has said. It had forecast 2025 growth at 1.8%. Currency swap markets are seeing a 62% chance of a pause in rate cuts on April 16 after the BoC slashed rates by 225 basis points to 2.75% in the space of nine months. "Given recent developments on the tariff front this is clearly now old news, and the Bank of Canada will be carefully judging downside risks to growth against a stronger near-term profile for inflation as it makes its next policy decisions," said Andrew Grantham, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets. Statscan said that exports to the United States accounted for 16.8% of Canada's GDP and over 2.6 million local jobs. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-gdp-january-expands-by-04-tariff-impact-looms-2025-03-28/
2025-03-28 12:39
March 28 (Reuters) - GE Vernova (GEV.N) , opens new tab has secured an order to supply its aeroderivative gas turbines for Springfield City Utilities' (CU) new power generating station in Missouri, the power equipment maker said on Friday. CU's 100 Megawatt (MW) McCartney Generating Station is expected to start operations in 2027. GE Vernova did not disclose the deal value or the expected delivery date of the turbines. Sign up here. CONTEXT Energy-intensive data centers needed to scale artificial intelligence technologies are expected to push up demand for gas turbines used for large-scale power generation. Aeroderivative gas turbines, adapted from General Electric's (GE.N) , opens new tab aviation technology, can be used to provide about 50 MW of power , opens new tab in a fuel-efficient manner, as per GE Vernova's website. WHY ITS IMPORTANT Rising electricity needs, aging power plants and severe weather are necessitating higher Planning Reserve Margin (PRM). PRM is the extra capacity needed beyond the expected demand to keep the power supply stable during times of peak usage or unexpected outages. The three aeroderivative units are expected to inject an additional 150 MW of reliable and flexible capacity to help ensure grid stability, Vernova said. These turbines can burn up to 100% hydrogen by volume, thereby reducing carbon emissions, the company said. KEY QUOTE "With increasing power generation demand driven by growing electrification needs and more renewables coming online every day, operators and municipalities ... need to ensure grid reliability with high efficiency," said CEO of GE Vernova’s Gas Power Americas region, Dave Ross. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ge-vernova-supply-gas-turbines-new-missouri-power-plant-2025-03-28/
2025-03-28 12:31
OTTAWA, March 28 (Reuters) - The Canadian economy grew by 0.4% in January, on increases in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, as well as manufacturing, Statistics Canada said on Friday. February GDP was most likely unchanged, the agency said in a flash estimate. Sign up here. The goods-producing sector was up 1.1% in January, while the service-producing sector increased by 0.1%. (Changes in percent) Jan Dec(rev) Dec(prev) Jan yr/yr All industries +0.4 +0.3 +0.2 +2.2 Goods +1.1 +0.4 +0.3 +2.4 Services +0.1 +0.3 +0.2 +2.2 NOTE - All figures are seasonally adjusted. Analysts in a Reuters survey had forecast January GDP to be up 0.3%. (([email protected] , opens new tab)) Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/GDP https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-economy-up-04-january-most-likely-unchanged-february-2025-03-28/
2025-03-28 12:21
MOSCOW, March 28 (Reuters) - Russia reserves the right to withdraw from a U.S.-brokered moratorium on Moscow and Kyiv striking each other's energy infrastructure if Ukraine continues to attack such targets, the Kremlin warned on Friday. The United States announced separate agreements with Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday to pause their strikes against each other's energy targets - a potential stepping stone that Washington hopes will lead to a full ceasefire and peace talks to bring a definitive end to the three-year war. Sign up here. But Russia and Ukraine earlier on Friday accused each other of attacking a Russian gas metering station in Russia's western Kursk region, an important facility via which Moscow used to pump its gas to Europe by pipeline until the end of last year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who has previously said the idea that Russia would attack its own energy infrastructure is absurd, suggested Moscow's patience with the moratorium was running out. "Of course, the Russian side reserves the right, in the event that the Kyiv regime fails to observe this moratorium, not to observe it either," he told reporters. "It would be illogical for us to comply and every night face attempts to strike at our energy infrastructure facilities." But for now, Peskov said Russia would continue to respect the moratorium, a deal that Ukraine in turn has accused Moscow of flouting. President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections to be held with the aim of reaching a settlement in the war, an idea Kyiv considers to be outrageous. Peskov said that Putin had not discussed the idea with U.S. President Donald Trump in previous phone conversations which the Kremlin had announced. Putin had floated the idea now because Russia was worried that armed nationalist forces in Ukraine were gaining strength, he said. "No, there have been no discussions on this topic; this is the point of view of the president of the Russian Federation, which is based on irrefutable facts related to the real status quo that we now have in Ukraine," Peskov said. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-it-reserves-right-resume-striking-ukrainian-energy-targets-if-kyiv-2025-03-28/
