2025-02-21 21:30

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Franklin Templeton (BEN.N) , opens new tab filed for an exchange-traded fund on Friday that will track the spot price of Solana , reflecting the growing interest among asset managers to profit from the popularity of cryptocurrencies beyond bitcoin . As regulatory conditions ease and a crypto-friendly president takes office, investors are increasingly diving into digital assets and ramping up their search for the next breakout token, following Bitcoin's remarkable rally. Investment managers are rolling out new products to capitalize on this increasing interest. In January, Grayscale Investments launched a fund tied to Dogecoin, a token the company said has "transitioned from a memecoin ... to a tool for global financial inclusion and a viable means of payment". Solana has gained more than 60% over the past year. Franklin's ETF, which tracks this cryptocurrency, will be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange. Franklin has chosen Coinbase (COIN.O) , opens new tab as the custodian of its Solana holdings. It declined to comment further. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/franklin-templeton-files-solana-etf-crypto-interest-expands-beyond-bitcoin-2025-02-21/

2025-02-21 21:19

BURITICUPU, Brazil, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The city of Buriticupu, in the northeastern tip of the Brazilian Amazon, is being slowly swallowed by the earth. In recent weeks, huge sinkholes, several meters (feet) deep, have led the municipal government to declare a state of emergency. Some 1,200 people of total 55,000 population are at risk of having their homes tip into the widening abyss. "In the space of the last few months, the dimensions have expanded exponentially, approaching substantially closer to the residences," an emergency decree issued by the city government earlier this month said about the sinkholes. Several buildings have already been destroyed, the decree said. The recent sinkholes are an escalation of a problem that residents of Buriticupu, in Maranhao state, have been watching unfold for the last 30 years, as rains slowly erode soils made vulnerable by their sandy nature, plus a combination of poorly planned building work and deforestation. The large soil erosions are known in Brazil as "voçoroca", a word of indigenous origins that means "to tear the earth" and is the equivalent of sinkholes. The problem becomes worse in periods of heavy rain such as the current one, says Marcelino Farias, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Maranhao. Antonia dos Anjos, who has lived in Buriticupu for 22 years, fears more sinkholes will soon appear. "There's this danger right in front of us, and nobody knows where this hole has been opening up underneath," the 65 year old said. Buriticupu secretary of public works, and an engineer, Lucas Conceicao said the municipality clearly does not have the capacity to find solutions for the complex sinkhole situation. "These problems range from the erosion processes to the removal of people who are in the risk area," he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/massive-sinkholes-put-hundreds-amazonian-town-risk-2025-02-21/

2025-02-21 21:00

Indexes post steep weekly percentage losses Consumer sentiment sours, inflation expectations rise UnitedHealth drops after report of DOJ investigation Indexes down: Dow 1.69%, S&P 500 1.71%, Nasdaq 2.20% NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday, extending their selloff in the wake of dour economic reports and closing the book on a holiday-shortened week fraught with new tariff threats and worries of softening consumer demand. All three major U.S. stock indexes moved decisively lower on the heels of the data, and continued their slide into afternoon trading. The S&P 500 suffered its largest single-day percentage drop since December 18, as did the small cap Russell 2000. For the week, all three indexes lost ground, with the Dow registering its steepest Friday-to-Friday plunge since mid-October. "I don't like all this red on a Friday," said Greg Bassuk, CEO at AXS Investments in New York. "We're seeing consumer sentiment, tariffs and corporate earnings having leap-frogged AI and technology as the primary drivers of market direction." Economic data showed U.S. business activity decelerating and consumer sentiment deteriorating, with survey participants expressing an increasingly gloomy outlook in the face of economic unknowns. The data comes on the heels of Walmart's (WMT.N) , opens new tab disappointing guidance on Thursday, which sparked fears of dampening consumer demand. U.S. businesses' optimism has "evaporated," according to PMI commentary provided by S&P Global's chief economist Chris Williamson, amid "a darkening picture of heightened uncertainty." "Uncertainty is the new investor narrative," Bassuk added. "It's sparking the volatility that we've seen this week." "We're anticipating that the uncertainty and the volatility is going to remain at least through the end of this first quarter." Economically sensitive sectors, such as Dow Transports (.DJT) , opens new tab, chips (.SOX) , opens new tab, smallcaps (.RUT) , opens new tab, housing (.HGX) , opens new tab, and consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab slid more than 2%. Megacap momentum stocks (.NYFANG) , opens new tab dropped 2.9%, and every stock in the "Magnificent Seven" ended in negative territory, with Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, due to report earnings next week, tumbling 4.1%. The CBOE volatility index (.VIX) , opens new tab closed at its highest level since February 3. This week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he will soon announce new tariffs covering lumber and forest products, in addition to previously announced plans to impose duties on imported cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 748.63 points, or 1.69%, to 43,428.02, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 104.39 points, or 1.71%, to 6,013.13 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab lost 438.36 points, or 2.20%, to 19,524.01. Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, all but consumer staples (.SPLRCS) , opens new tab ended lower, with consumer discretionary and tech (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab suffering the steepest percentage losses. Fourth-quarter earnings season is in its final stretch. Some 425 of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported, with 76% of them beating Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG. Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab and Rivian (RIVN.O) , opens new tab each dropped 4.7% after both electric vehicle makers announced recalls. Analysts now see aggregate fourth-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 15.7% year-on-year, a significant improvement over the 7.8% annual growth prediction as on January 1, per LSEG. Shares of UnitedHealth (UNH.N) , opens new tab tumbled 7.2% following a Wall Street Journal report that the Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the health insurer's Medicare billing practices. Block (XYZ.N) , opens new tab tumbled 17.7% after the payment firm's fourth-quarter profit fell short of estimates. Akamai Technologies (AKAM.O) , opens new tab dropped 21.7% as the cybersecurity company forecast annual 2025 revenue below estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.64-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 102 new highs and 119 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,087 stocks rose and 3,301 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.04-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 135 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.06 billion shares, compared with the 15.30 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-flat-after-thursdays-fall-markets-await-fed-tariff-cues-2025-02-21/

2025-02-21 20:12

QT pause could be mildly bullish for bonds Bessent's remarks encouraging for near-term debt supply But investors remain cautious due to upcoming tax deal Long-term debt hikes seen happening in next fiscal year NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A potential slowdown of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet drawdown and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's assurance against imminent long-term debt hikes could offer relief in the near term to bond market jitters as fiscal concerns linger. Fed minutes from the January 28-29 rate-setting meeting released this week showed officials weighed a possible pause or slowdown of the Fed's balance sheet reduction, known as quantitative tightening (QT), as a binding government debt cap could complicate the central bank's ability to gauge market liquidity. Meanwhile, Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday that, for now, expanding long-dated government debt issuance is not on the table. Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, declined after the Fed minutes on Wednesday and Bessent's interview injected further optimism pushing yields lower on Thursday. Still, his remarks did not disrupt market expectations of increased government debt, as investors and analysts anticipate the Treasury will eventually need to borrow more to offset a drop in government revenues from President Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts. Brij Khurana, a fixed-income portfolio manager at Wellington Management, said it was encouraging to have a Treasury Secretary "who is mindful of the funding costs." Bessent said earlier this month the focus of the Trump administration was to contain the benchmark 10-year Treasury yields. "At the same time, if yields are materially lower, then they're probably going to do more tax cuts ... if yields go a lot lower, I think Bessent would try to push to longer-dated bonds," said Khurana. Analysts at JPMorgan said in a note on Thursday bond market concerns over excessive debt supply could recede into the background over the next months, given the focus of the administration on long-term yields. But they said they still expected large government borrowing needs in the next fiscal year will lead to increases in long-dated debt sales. Trump plans to renew and expand tax cuts he signed into law during his first presidency in 2017, which are set to expire at the end of this year. This could increase deficits by over $4 trillion over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated. Federal spending cuts driven by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with potential revenue from Trump’s planned tariffs on imports, could help curb deficit growth, though the extent of their impact is uncertain. "The push and pull here is that on one side you have what looks to be a meaningful increase in deficit spending from the tax deal, and on the other side there's potentially ... some savings to be found from DOGE, maybe some budget cuts," said Brian Kennedy, a portfolio manager at Loomis, Sayles & Company. "I don't think this changes our opinion that the long end of the Treasury curve is going to continue to struggle to perform," Kennedy said. "Is DOGE going to be that effective that you're going to save a meaningful amount of money to offset these tax cuts? I'm a little skeptical of that." Musk has pledged to find $1 trillion in savings through his efforts to identify fraud and waste in the government. DOGE said on its website on Thursday it had saved $55 billion since Trump took office on January 20, but Musk's government cost-cutting effort has so far pared hundreds of relatively small contracts it says have saved U.S. taxpayers $8.5 billion, according to a Reuters analysis this week of partial data published by his team. Potentially the market's ability to absorb higher government debt supply could, to some extent, benefit from an unwinding of QT, as the central bank would start reinvesting maturing bonds instead of letting them roll off. The Fed minutes showed officials are also considering a shift to a bond portfolio that mirrors the maturity of the outstanding Treasury market. The Fed's Treasury holdings are currently skewed towards long-dated debt, so this suggests it could, over time, reinvest more in shorter-dated securities. "On the margin, this will reduce (but certainly not eliminate) any future auction size increases in 2s and 3s," BMO Capital Markets analysts said in a Thursday note, referring to two- or three-year Treasuries. "That being said, the more relevant impact on any eventual auction size increases will come from the budget process as well as the performance of tax revenues," they said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/feds-qt-pause-treasurys-debt-plans-may-offer-fleeting-relief-us-bonds-2025-02-21/

2025-02-21 19:53

Canadian dollar weakens 0.4% against the greenback Loonie trades in a range of 1.4169 to 1.4235 Price of U.S. oil settles 2.9% lower Canadian bond yields fall across the curve TORONTO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as the greenback notched broad-based gains and the Bank of Canada provided a clearer signal it would cut interest rates to support the economy in the event of a trade war. The loonie was trading 0.4% lower at 1.4230 to the U.S. dollar, or 70.27 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.4169 to 1.4235. For the week, the currency was down 0.3%. The Bank of Canada's 2% inflation target should be maintained in a review set for 2026 as the central bank needs to focus on risks such as the imposition of U.S. tariffs, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said. "Provided the inflationary impact of tariffs is not too big, monetary policy can help smooth the (economy's) adjustment by supporting demand so it doesn't weaken too much more than supply," Macklem added. "Governor Macklem is finally saying the quiet part out loud," Royce Mendes, managing director and head of macro strategy at Desjardins, said in a note. "After having been non-committal about the likely monetary policy response to U.S. tariffs, he's now being clearer that the central bank would likely cut rates more than it would have otherwise if a trade war erupts." Investors see a 43% chance of a March rate cut by the BoC, up from 33% before Macklem's speech. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) , opens new tab clawed back some recent declines against a basket of major currencies, while the price of oil , one of Canada's major exports, settled 2.9% lower at $70.40 a barrel. Canadian retail sales grew by 2.5% in December from November as a sales tax holiday bumped up spending on food and beverages. A preliminary estimate showed sales slipping 0.4% in January. Canadian bond yields moved lower across the curve. The 10-year was down 11.7 basis points at 3.094%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-weakens-boc-signals-likely-tariff-response-2025-02-21/

2025-02-21 19:50

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she removed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley for her handling of the wildfires in January that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures, charring an area bigger than Paris. Bass said Crowley sent home 1,000 firefighters on the day the fires erupted and that Crowley had refused to do a required after-action report on the blazes. “These require her removal. The heroism of our firefighters – during the Palisades fire and every single day – is without question. Bringing new leadership to the fire department is what our city needs," Bass said in a prepared statement. The mayor and the fire chief have sparred publicly since the fires broke out January 7, with Crowley criticizing the mayor for budget cuts to the department which she said hurt its ability to provide service. Bass, who also has faced criticism for traveling when the fires began, said on Friday at a press conference that she did not cut the fire department's budget. The mayor named Ronnie Villanueva the city's interim fire chief, and said they are starting a new search for a permanent leader for the department. Villanueva recently retired from the fire department after 41 years, most recently serving as chief deputy of emergency operations. Bass said the president of the city's fire commission told Crowley to complete an after-action report as part of an investigation of the fires, and that it is required by the city. Crowley was asked to do the report this week, Bass said. "She refused," Bass said, adding that during a brief meeting on Friday she had removed Crowley from her job. Bass said she did not know Crowley's justification for not doing the report, or for sending home 1,000 firefighters the first day of the blaze. Bass said Los Angeles is no longer in a state of emergency. She did not want to take any action such as removing Crowley while the city was fighting the fires, or during the damaging rains that came after. Los Angeles is now recovering from the blazes that devastated homes and businesses, with workers removing toxic debris as part of the clean-up. Bass said the clean-up has moved forward "way ahead of time." "The city is not in upheaval," the mayor said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/los-angeles-mayor-removes-fire-chief-over-handling-wildfires-2025-02-21/