2025-03-14 21:23
COPENHAGEN, March 14 (Reuters) - Greenland's political parties must set aside disagreements and swiftly form a broad coalition government to show unity in the face of a U.S. campaign to annex the island, the Democrats said on Friday after winning this week's election. Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the pro-business party which favours gradual independence from Denmark, expressed the urgency of the situation in a Facebook post following an initial round of coalition discussions. Sign up here. "This is not the time for political tactics and internal disagreements. The situation for our country is far too serious for that," he said, adding, "When someone threatens us, looks down on us or speaks badly of us, we stand together." On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. needed control of Greenland to enhance international security, adding when asked directly about the prospect of annexation: "I think that will happen." The leaders of the five parties in Greenland's Inatsisartut parliament on Friday rejected Trump's comments. "We - all party leaders - cannot accept the repeated comments about annexation and control of Greenland," they said in a joint statement. "We find this behaviour unacceptable towards friends and allies in a defence alliance," they said, adding they strongly condemned attempts to create division. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Friday that the Danish government fully supported the Greenlandic party leaders. "It shouldn't need repeating, but Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. We have a clear expectation that other nations respect our territorial integrity," Frederiksen said in an emailed comment. Greenland's Democrats, who more than tripled their seats to 10 in the 31-seat chamber, have advocated for a responsible extraction of Greenland's vast but largely untapped mineral resources, as a means to develop its economy as the semi-autonomous territory transitions to full independence from Denmark. The strongly pro-independence Naleraq party came second in Tuesday's election, doubling its seats to eight. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greenland-must-quickly-form-broad-coalition-show-unity-face-trump-pressure-2025-03-14/
2025-03-14 20:50
Fed expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday Markets expect more easing later in 2025 Tariff news expected to stay at forefront for stocks NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. stock market rocked by President Donald Trump's back-and-forth on foreign import tariffs faces a Federal Reserve meeting in the coming week, as investors look for hints about further interest rate cuts that could restore some calm to markets. A weeks-long slide in stocks accelerated in recent days with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab on Thursday confirming it was in a correction, ending down over 10% from its February 19 record high. While stocks ended the week on a positive note, with the S&P 500 rebounding sharply on Friday, the decline had wiped off more than $4 trillion in market value, with some of Wall Street's highest fliers such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab getting pummeled. Sign up here. The Fed's latest monetary policy meeting comes as Wall Street is increasingly worried about an economic slowdown, with concerns exacerbated by Trump ramping up his tariff war. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, but investors are anticipating cuts later in the year and will be looking for signs the Fed may be preparing to move. "The stock market is trying to get any type of insight as to when the Fed will be comfortable enough to implement their next rate cut," said Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth. "I don't think the onslaught of headlines and new policies coming from the White House is going to stop anytime soon." Prospects for rate cuts won a boost this week with tame consumer price data that brought some relief about inflation. The pace of inflation has cooled since 2022 when the Fed started its rate-hiking cycle, and while it remains above the central bank's 2% annual target, recent disappointing economic data could start to take more prominence. "The first step that the stock market would like to see from (the Fed) is them signaling that focus is shifting back to supporting economic activity away from the inflation fight," Pappalardo said. Investors over the past month have increased bets on more easing this year, with fed funds futures indicating nearly three quarter-point cuts expected through 2025, compared to the current rate of 4.25%-4.5%, according to LSEG data. Crucial will be comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in his press conference after the monetary policy decision is announced. "The market has repriced the Fed" over the last few weeks, said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital. "If he pushes back hard against that re-pricing that we've had in the futures market, then that could be problematic." In the meantime, some prominent strategists have become more downbeat on the outlook for the economy and for U.S. stocks. Goldman Sachs dropped its 2025 year-end target for the S&P 500 to 6,200 from 6,500, while Yardeni Research lowered its "best-case" target for the index to 6,400 from 7,000. The S&P 500 ended on Friday at 5,638.94. Volatility has been rising with the Cboe Volatility index (.VIX) , opens new tab this week hitting its highest level since August before receding somewhat. Tariff news is still likely to be at the forefront for markets in the coming week, with analysts saying the levies could bite into corporate profits and drive up consumer prices. In the latest salvo, Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products from Europe. A day earlier, the European Commission said it will impose counter tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to blanket U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. While the Fed has been the "centerpiece" for markets in recent years, other policy dynamics are likely to drive markets in the next couple of months, said Nathan Thooft, chief investment officer for equity and multi-asset solutions at Manulife Investment Management. "The bigger story is still going to likely be the back and forth that we continue to see on the tariff front," Thooft said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/wall-st-week-ahead-fed-tap-tariff-jolted-market-investors-look-calm-2025-03-16/
2025-03-14 20:37
PANAMA CITY, March 14 (Reuters) - First Quantum's (FM.TO) , opens new tab shuttered Cobre Panama mine has instructed its lawyers to start work to suspend arbitration against Panama, the company said in an internal memo on Friday. On Thursday, Panama's President said his government will allow the export of 120,000 metric tons of copper concentrate that has been stuck in the shuttered mine since November 2023 and also allow restart of the power plant used to run the mine. Sign up here. Later, the country's commerce ministry said any negotiations with the miner could only happen if the arbitration case against Panama was dropped. "We have instructed our lawyers to meet with the government's legal team to work on suspending the arbitrations ... leading to a solution that benefits workers, communities, suppliers and all Panamanians," Manuel Aizpurua, manager of Cobre Panama said in a memo viewed by Reuters. First Quantum confirmed the authenticity of the memo. Shares of the Canadian miner were up 1% on Friday afternoon at the Toronto Stock Exchange after hitting a two-month high on Thursday, up 15% after news of the authorization of copper export. Panama's government, under Mulino's predecessor, ordered First Quantum to shut down the open-pit Cobre Panama mine in late 2023 following protests over environmental concerns. The move led to questions about maintenance of the massive site and 120,000 metric tons of stockpiled copper concentrate. Before its shutdown, the mine was one of the world's top sources of copper, accounting for 1% of global output. Mulino told a weekly press conference on Thursday morning that he had authorized removing stranded copper products from the mine, arguing it was being wasted and that Panama would need to be reimbursed once the products are processed outside of the country. The president said he would review the future of the mine more broadly as soon as next week. "The issue of the mine will be approached with great responsibility and taking into account at all times the national interest," Mulino said. "We'll start as of next week." (This story has been refiled to say that the copper concentrate was stuck since November 2023, instead of 'two years,' in paragraph 2) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/cobre-panama-ready-start-suspending-arbitration-against-panama-2025-03-14/
2025-03-14 20:36
ORLANDO, Florida, March 14 (Reuters) - TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets Sign up here. World markets on Friday ended another choppy week on an upbeat note as investors pushed aside growing concerns over the global trade war and bought back beaten down stocks, although few will be confident a definitive market bottom has been reached yet. U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff agenda is very much in place, and markets remain vulnerable to the next escalation in tensions. The lack of any new announcement from Trump on Friday was, for investors, perhaps a classic case of 'no news is good news'. Another dose of good news on Friday came from Germany, where Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz secured support from the Greens to revise the country's debt brake and unleash the biggest fiscal package since 1990, proposals that should deliver a massive boost to German and European growth. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate looks set to pass a stopgap spending bill and avert a partial government shutdown, lifting another cloud hanging over markets. But the broader horizon is filled with dark, ominous clouds, indicated by some key market moves and economic data on Friday - safe-haven demand propelled gold above $3,000 an ounce for the first time, while U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in nearly two and a half years and longer-term inflation expectations hit their highest since 1993. This is also reflected in the latest fund flows data from Bank of America - the last week saw the biggest equity outflow this year, and the biggest inflow into Treasuries since August. Around $3 trillion was wiped off global equity market cap this week, bringing total losses since the February 19 peak to around $7 trillion. Most of that is from the U.S., which still accounts for more than 70% of world market cap. These are big numbers, but won't be bothering policymakers too unduly just yet. A renewed wave of selling though, and that calculus might start to change - investors will be scrutinizing the Fed, Bank of Japan and Bank of England policy meetings next week more closely than ever. I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me with comments at [email protected] , opens new tab. You can also follow me at @ReutersJamie and @reutersjamie.bsky.social. [Latest Market Data segment] This Week's Key Market Moves Chart of the Week Bank of America's weekly 'Flow Show' note on Friday included a remarkable chart showing something we instinctively know to be true, but still scarcely seems believable - the U.S. economy has grown 50% in nominal terms since the pandemic low in 2020. This is remarkable in itself, and helps explain why high household, business and federal debt hasn't been the ticking time-bomb many thought it would be when the Fed began raising interest rates - as a share of GDP, borrowing has not grown much at all, and in many cases, has fallen substantially. What could move markets on Monday? Here are some of the best things I read this week: Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles , opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Trading Day is also sent by email every weekday morning. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-trading-day-2025-03-14/
2025-03-14 20:22
March 14 (Reuters) - British police said on Friday that they have charged the Russian captain of a container ship that crashed into a U.S. tanker earlier this week. The captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong, the 59-year-old Russian Vladimir Motin, has been charged with gross negligence, manslaughter and been remanded in police custody to appear at Hull Magistrates Court on Saturday, the police said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-police-charge-russian-captain-involved-us-tanker-ship-crash-2025-03-14/
2025-03-14 19:52
BUENOS AIRES, March 14 (Reuters) - Argentina's monthly inflation rate accelerated to 2.4% in February, in line with analyst estimates, data from the INDEC statistics agency showed on Friday. This marks an acceleration from the 2.2% recorded in January, as housing and public services expenses rose nearly 4%. Sign up here. Inflation in the 12 months through February hit 66.9%, also slowing from a rate of 84.5% recorded in the previous month but a touch above the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters. Inflation has been showing progress under the government of libertarian President Javier Milei, which has been focused on taming runaway prices, but inflation has stagnated in the past months, consistently growing between 2% and 3%. "We expect March inflation to be close to 2%, although according to high-frequency data the first week of the month showed higher inflation than February," an analyst at investment funds Max Capital said. Under Milei's government, inflation has slowed from eye-watering triple-digits though the administration's tough and divisive austerity measures that have fuelled mass protests. It is now looking to ease capital controls. Annual inflation in South America's No. 2 economy had neared 300% early last year but has since come down into double digits and analysts surveyed by the central bank forecast 2025 year-end inflation slowing down to 23.3%. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-monthly-inflation-edges-back-up-prices-prove-sticky-2025-03-14/
