2025-03-06 17:08

SAO PAULO, March 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian fintech Meliuz (CASH3.SA) , opens new tab has launched a new strategy allowing it to allocate part of its cash reserves in bitcoin and could eventually make the cryptocurrency the main asset of its treasury, it said on Thursday. The company's Sao Paulo-traded shares jumped more than 25%. Meliuz said it was aiming to capture "long-term returns" through the bitcoin investments, taking inspiration from firms such as U.S.-based Strategy (MSTR.O) , opens new tab, the biggest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, and Japan's Metaplanet (3350.T) , opens new tab. Up to 10% of Meliuz's cash can be allocated in bitcoin , the firm said in a securities filing, adding it had already purchased 45.72 bitcoin for about $4.1 million. Founded in 2011, Meliuz initially offered cashback payments at online stores, expanding into physical retail and app usage, and now also offers free digital accounts and credit cards. The company went public in late 2020 but its stock collapsed in recent years amid Brazil's high interest rates. It currently has net cash of more than 240 million reais ($41.72 million), according to the filing. "Allocating a significant amount of our capital to fixed income investments may seem like a prudent strategy, but in practice we believe it represents a significant opportunity cost," Chairman Israel Salmen said in a statement. "This (new) strategy will not only protect and strengthen Meliuz's financial position, but also has the potential to position us as pioneers in a financial transformation that is already underway globally." Meliuz will also conduct a detailed analysis, including on "the adoption of bitcoin as the main strategic asset of our treasury," it said. Analysts at UBS BB said that although fairly new among Brazilian companies, Meliuz's strategy aligns with a growing global trend of seeking alternative stores of value and potential returns. "If successful, the strategy might set Meliuz apart in attracting investors interested in crypto exposure," they said in a note to clients. "On the other side, it could create more volatility to the results." ($1 = 5.7533 reais) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/brazilian-fintech-meliuz-adopts-new-treasury-strategy-invest-bitcoin-2025-03-06/

2025-03-06 16:39

FRANKFURT, March 6 (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymakers see a growing chance of a pause in their easing cycle at their next meeting before rates come down again, once they have greater clarity about trade and fiscal policy, four sources told Reuters. The ECB cut interest rates as expected on Thursday but President Christine Lagarde refused to repeat her past message that the direction of travel towards lower rates is clear, causing some confusion among investors. The sources who spoke to Reuters after the meeting said they saw an April pause as a distinct possibility, which some of them discussed informally during the breaks of their two-day meeting. But the sources, who represent both the dovish and hawkish camps in the Governing Council, agreed that the ECB was unlikely to leave its deposit rate at 2.5% and more cuts were warranted, at least based on information available today. An ECB spokesperson declined to comment. Key variables included trade policy. If the United States imposed tariffs on the European Union, that raised the chances of more cuts, potentially even starting in April, some of the sources said. On the other hand, retaliation by the EU would blur the picture, raising the risk of stagflation. On the flipside, if Germany were to push through with its proposed military and infrastructure spending plans, that would raise growth and inflation and make a cut in April less likely. The sources added that the final wording of the ECB's new guidance, that rates were "meaningfully less restrictive" was a result of a compromise in the lead-up to the meeting. Some had wanted to maintain a previous reference to policy being "restrictive", meaning that rates were high enough to curb economic growth. Others argued for removing that word. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/ecb-governors-see-growing-chance-april-pause-before-cutting-resumes-sources-say-2025-03-06/

2025-03-06 16:36

January trade surplus at C$3.97 billion, double of December Exports up 5.5% to a record level, up four months in a row Trade surplus with U.S. at record C$14.4 billion Services imports drops as less Canadians travel to U.S. OTTAWA, March 6 (Reuters) - Canada's trade surplus in January exceeded expectations by a wide margin posting a 32-month record as fears of tariffs from the U.S. pushed exports of cars and energy products higher, especially south of its border, data showed on Thursday. The trade surplus rose to C$3.97 billion ($2.78 billion), more than double the upwardly revised C$1.69 billion seen in December, Statistics Canada said, including a record surplus with top trading partner the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a 25% tariff on almost all Canadian imports and after retaliation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he has threatened to stack up more tariffs on them. On Thursday, Trump agreed to suspend the tariffs for a month provided the products imported into the U.S. comply with the terms of the Canada-U.S.- Mexico free trade agreement. Canada also rolled back a plan to slap a second round of retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Its 25% tariff on C$30 billion of goods imported from the U.S. are still in place. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast Canada's trade surplus to be at C$1.28 billion and have said that trade balances would benefit from companies front-loading orders in January. "This uncertainty is creating major swings in the data, and we are just getting started," Andrew DiCapua, Principal Economist, Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Total exports increased 5.5% in January to a record of C$74.5 billion, following a 6% increase in December. A 1% decline in the value of the Canadian dollar to its U.S. counterpart in January also led to an increase in export value, it said. In volume terms, total exports rose 4.5% in January, following an increase of 2.6% in December. The jump in exports was led by an over 12% jump in motor vehicles and parts, followed by a 4.8% increase in exports of energy products, data showed. The Canadian dollar was largely stable after the data with the local currency trading weaker by 0.18% to 1.4361 to the U.S. dollar, or 69.63 U.S. cents. Yields on the two-year government bond dropped by 1.1 basis points to 2.544%. U.S. TRADE Canada's trade surplus with the U.S. clocked a record of C$14.4 billion in January, from C$12.3 billion in December. This was led by historically high exports of C$58.2 billion to the U.S. Imports from the United States increased 4.7%, Statscan said. The trade surplus with the U.S. increased for the third month in a row. Trump has often indicated that he is unhappy that his country imports more from Canada than it exports and analysts have said that tariffs are also a tool for Trump to reverse this deficit. However, data shows that its deficit with Canada, which is its second biggest trading partner, is much smaller than its other two top trading partners - Mexico and China. According to U.S. government data the deficit with Mexico is almost 2.5 times that of Canada, while it is just a fifth of what the U.S. has with China. Stuart Bergman, chief economist with Export Development Canada said Canada's surplus with the U.S. shrinks when services trade is taken into account. In services trade, Canada runs a deficit with the U.S. Services imports for January were down 0.4% on a monthly basis led by a slump in travel services of 5.3%, mainly on lower spending by Canadians traveling to the US, he said. "This is clear evidence that the current situation is impacting consumer choices," Bergman said. ($1 = 1.4279 Canadian dollars) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/canadas-trade-surplus-january-jumps-c4-billion-tariff-threat-sales-2025-03-06/

2025-03-06 16:34

JOHANNESBURG, March 6 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab will invest an additional 5.4 billion rand ($296.81 million) by the end of 2027 to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in South Africa to meet the growing demand for the company's Azure services in the region. Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said at an event in Johannesburg on Thursday that the world's biggest software maker would pay for technical certification exams for 50,000 individuals in high-demand digital skills. The certification will be for cloud architecture, AI and cybersecurity, he added. Microsoft has already spent 20.4 billion rand to set up South Africa's first enterprise-grade data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The country has become a major hub for data centres to handle the high computational demands of AI as companies seek to integrate the technology into various products and services. Microsoft plans to invest about $80 billion globally in fiscal 2025 on developing data centres to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications. ($1 = 18.1936 rand) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-invest-additional-54-billion-rand-south-africa-ai-infrastructure-2025-03-06/

2025-03-06 16:20

COPENHAGEN, March 6 (Reuters) - Denmark's central bank cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.10% on Thursday, following the European Central Bank's decision earlier in the day to cut euro zone rates. "The interest rate reduction is a consequence of the reduction by the European Central Bank of its main monetary policy rate, the deposit facility rate, by 0.25 percentage point," the Danish central bank said in a statement. "Thereby, the monetary policy spread vis-a-vis the euro area will remain unchanged," it said. The European Central Bank cut interest rates earlier on Thursday and kept the door ajar to more, even as a looming trade war with the U.S. and plans to boost military spending drive Europe's biggest economic policy upheaval in decades. The primary mandate of the Danish central bank is to keep the crown currency stable versus the euro, an objective it upholds through currency interventions and interest rate moves. Denmark's benchmark current account interest rate and the certificate of deposit rate were each cut by 25 basis points to 2.10% from 2.35%, while the so-called lending rate was cut by 25 basis points to 2.25% from 2.50%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/denmarks-central-bank-cuts-key-interest-rate-by-25-basis-points-2025-03-06/

2025-03-06 16:03

Crude utilization was 93% in 2024, in line with 2023 numbers Year-end liquidity declined to $3.8 bln from $4 bln in 2023 Trading expanded to South Africa, Japan and China HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum (PDVSAC.UL) reported on Thursday a $305 million net income last year, below the $2 billion profit of 2023, following a $146 million loss in the fourth quarter, the company said in a release. Ownership of the U.S. seventh-largest refiner could change this year if a successful bid for the shares of its parent company is selected through a court-organized auction in Delaware set to compensate 18 creditors for debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela. A "deteriorating pricing environment" combined with lower volumes of oil processed earlier in the year led to lower profitability in 2024. In the fourth quarter, weak refining margins contributed to the loss. The refiner's total throughput last year was 811,000 barrels per day (bpd), of which crude runs were 753,000 bpd for a utilization rate of 93%. The numbers were in line with the previous year's results. The 463,000-bpd Lake Charles refinery in Louisiana reached its third highest quarterly crude processing rate with 98% in the fourth quarter, while the 167,000-bpd Corpus Christi refinery in Texas increased crude utilization to 96% in the last quarter after completing turnaround and maintenance activities. The 177,000-bpd Lemont refinery in Illinois, which mostly processes Canadian crude, registered a crude utilization of 98% in the last quarter. "We finished the year with strong reliability and our highest quarterly overall average crude utilization rate and throughput for the year, but it was not enough to offset the impact of low fourth quarter refining margins," Citgo's chief executive Carlos Jordá, said in the release. "We battled a challenging market all year, while we continued to execute on our strategic initiatives," he added. Citgo's marketing sales volume for the year was 421,000 bpd. The firm's trading activities expanded to new markets, including South Africa, Japan and China, and it registered stronger sales of jet fuel to airlines. Year-end liquidity, a key metric investors are looking at to consider bids in the court-organized auction, declined to $3.8 billion from $4 billion at the end of 2023, including a securitization facility and secured notes. The company redeemed all of its $1.125 billion outstanding senior secured notes due June 2025 with cash on hand. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/citgo-petroleums-profit-plummeted-305-mln-2024-2025-03-06/