2025-02-07 20:25
Major U.S. stock indexes register weekly losses Consumer data shows jump in inflation expectations Nonfarm payrolls rose 143,000 in January vs 307,000 in December Trump will announce new reciprocal tariffs next week NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended sharply lower and benchmark Treasury yields jumped on Friday in the wake of a mixed U.S. payrolls report, weak consumer sentiment data and revived trade war jitters. All three major U.S. stock indexes finished steeply lower in a broad selloff that accelerated after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump will shortly announce new tariffs. The indexes all notched losses on the week. The much-anticipated employment report showed the U.S. added 143,000 jobs in January, 53.4% fewer than December's upwardly revised 307,000. The report, distorted by annual benchmark revisions, along with California wildfires and unusually cold weather, also showed hotter-than-expected wage growth and a surprise dip in the unemployment rate, to 4.0% from 4.1%. "It's a mixed bag" of data to digest, said Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory Services in Austin, Texas. "It was a miss on the headline, but the revisions over the last two months were positive, and hourly earnings were also up." A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment has darkened unexpectedly this month as inflation expectations spiked. The major indexes extended losses after Trump said he will announce a new round of reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week. "Anytime you play a game of chicken which is very clearly what Trump is doing," said Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management in Philadelphia, "What if somebody decides to go too far and we end up with a car crash?" "Ultimately, what Trump is taking advantage of is a very unbalanced negotiation at the end of the day, the customer is always right," Green added. "And for the vast majority of the world, the U.S. is the primary customer." Late Thursday, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab reported disappointing growth in its cloud computing segment and lower-than-expected first quarter revenue and profit. Similar disappointments from Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab earlier in the week fueled suspicions the megacap tech and tech-adjacent stocks are losing momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 444.23 points, or 0.99%, to 44,303.40, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab fell 57.58 points, or 0.95%, to 6,025.99 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab fell 268.59 points, or 1.36%, to 19,523.40. European shares followed U.S. stocks lower as investors grew increasingly skittish over the possibility of an escalating trade war, while a dire profit warning forecast from Porsche (P911_p.DE) , opens new tab further dampened risk appetite. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab fell 6.14 points, or 0.70%, to 869.20. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX) , opens new tab index fell 0.38%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3) , opens new tab fell 8.54 points, or 0.39% Emerging market stocks (.MSCIEF) , opens new tab rose 4.06 points, or 0.37%, to 1,106.31. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab closed higher by 0.39%, to 582.30, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab fell 279.51 points, or 0.72%, to 38,787.02. U.S. Treasury yields rose on the strength of upward revisions to previous-month job adds and a surprise decline in the unemployment rate, despite the job report's disappointing headline number. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 4.7 basis points to 4.485%, from 4.438% late on Thursday. The 30-year bond yield rose 3.9 basis points to 4.6856% from 4.647% late on Thursday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 7.7 basis points to 4.285%, from 4.208% late on Thursday. The dollar gained ground in choppy trading in the wake of the jobs report, which appeared to support the U.S. Federal Reserve's rationale for holding off on rate cuts for the time being. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.36% to 108.05, with the euro down 0.51% at $1.0328. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.12% against the greenback to 151.27 per dollar. Sterling weakened 0.24% to $1.2404. The Mexican peso < MXN=> weakened 0.28% versus the dollar at 20.529. The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.23% versus the greenback to C$1.43 per dollar. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 0.86% to $95,986.52. Ethereum declined 3.73% to $2,607.61. Oil prices advanced after new sanctions were imposed on Iran's crude exports, but remained on track for their third consecutive weekly decline due to tariff worries. U.S. crude rose 0.55% to settle at $71.00 per barrel, while Brent settled at $74.66 per barrel, up 0.50% on the day. Gold resumed its uphill climb as renewed trade jitters added luster to the safe-haven metal. Spot gold rose 0.13% to $2,860.18 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.26% to $2,863.50 an ounce. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-wrapup-2025-02-07/
2025-02-07 20:23
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Friday Japan was looking at an investment in U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab instead of an acquisition. Japanese firm Nippon Steel's (5401.T) , opens new tab bid to buy U.S. Steel was blocked last month by former President Joe Biden. A White House official said that Trump, in the news conference, had mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as "Nissan". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trump-japanese-pm-say-japan-is-looking-investment-us-steel-instead-purchase-2025-02-07/
2025-02-07 20:07
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Japan will soon begin importing a record amount of new shipments of American liquefied natural gas, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday. Trump, speaking at a White House press conference after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also said the two nations were working on a joint venture linked to Alaska oil and gas. "We've opened the sale of LNG immediately ... Japan in particular, we're very happy that they're going to start immediately," he said. Ishiba, speaking through an interpreter, said Japan was also interested in importing bio ethanol, ammonia and other resources at what he called a stable price. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-says-japan-will-soon-begin-importing-new-shipments-us-lng-2025-02-07/
2025-02-07 20:03
Feb 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday that grantees of the Food for Progress aid program could resume their operations for agreements made in fiscal year 2024 or earlier, according to an email seen by Reuters. On Wednesday, Reuters reported the program and other U.S. food aid programs had been halted as part of the Trump administration's pause on international assistance, despite a waiver for life-saving aid. The aid freeze and waiver have led to mass confusion among food and other emergency aid groups about whether their operations can continue. "I am pleased to inform you that the new Administration has provided approval for continued implementation/execution of work within existing Food for Progress agreements that were signed in fiscal year 2024 and earlier," said an email from a USDA official to the program's grantees on Friday. Food for Progress is administered by the USDA and sends U.S. commodities abroad for agricultural, economic or infrastructure development, according to the agency. The program's halt had compromised grants to purchase tens of thousands of metric tons of U.S. soy and wheat, along with other commodities, trade groups said this week. The organization's 2024 projects include a $25-million rice project in Benin, a $35-million wheat project in Madagascar, and a $25-million soybean project in Tunisia. USDA later on Friday said the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is continuing activities for projects funded by the Food for Progress program as well as for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Childhood Nutrition Program, which works to improve education, child development and food security in low-income countries. "Projects supported by McGovern-Dole and Food for Progress help feed people around the globe while showcasing the abilities of U.S. farmers and creating demand for U.S. agricultural goods," FAS administrator Daniel Whitley said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/usda-says-much-food-progress-aid-program-can-resume-email-shows-2025-02-07/
2025-02-07 19:48
MOSCOW, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service may initiate a one-month ban on gasoline exports by large producers in order to stabilise wholesale prices ahead of the crop-sowing season, state news agency TASS reported on Friday. But it quoted the service's deputy head, Vitaly Korolyov, as saying an export ban was only one of several possible solutions. At the moment, major oil companies are allowed to export gasoline but traders and re-sellers are banned from doing so, under a measure originally implemented last March. Korolyov said wholesale gasoline prices had been recovering lately, which he described as a correction after a long decline. But he said growth in retail prices did not exceed the general level of inflation. TASS quoted him as saying an alternative strategy to stabilise the wholesale market might be to create a forward market in order to partially reduce seasonal demand. Russia's energy ministry issued a statement saying it continuously monitors the domestic fuel market and, if necessary, could decide ban exports to ensure an ample domestic supply. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-may-ban-gasoline-exports-month-stabilise-prices-tass-reports-2025-02-07/
2025-02-07 19:38
Suspends plan to build H2-powered commercial aircraft by 2035 European planemaker had led efforts to introduce alternative to SAF Boeing more sceptical about switch to hydrogen any time soon PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) , opens new tab said on Friday it is delaying plans to develop a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by the middle of next decade, citing slower than expected developments in technology. The delay marks a setback to the European aerospace group's ambitions to pioneer the adoption of hydrogen fuel , opens new tab as aviation strives to curtail emissions, a goal strongly championed by CEO Guillaume Faury since it was first introduced five years ago. Airbus did not give a new timeline for the project, but the Force Ouvriere union said that staff had been told earlier this week that the technology was running five to 10 years behind the pace needed to support the original 2035 target. The delay was first reported by French news agency AFP. "Hydrogen has the potential to be a transformative energy source for aviation," Airbus said in an emailed statement. "However, we recognise that developing a hydrogen ecosystem - including infrastructure, production, distribution and regulatory frameworks - is a huge challenge requiring global collaboration and investment." Airbus officials have acknowledged the plan to produce a hydrogen-powered plane - most likely a turboprop - for 100 people was only ever expected to make a marginal contribution to the sector's goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050, but argued it would pave the way for greater adoption in future. The aviation industry is instead relying mainly on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for its environmental efforts, while arguing that supplies from energy firms remain scarce. Analysts have also credited the eye-catching project with helping to allay political concerns over the impact of aviation on emissions in some European countries, while unlocking much-needed funding for the sector during the COVID-19 crisis. Airbus' Faury has consistently maintained, however, that hydrogen will work its way into the aviation ecosystem in some form in coming decades and that Europe should take a lead. The initiative contrasts with a more sceptical approach from Boeing (BA.N) , opens new tab, which voiced concerns about safety implications and technical readiness at last year's Farnborough Airshow. Some environmental groups argue hydrogen would still come at an environmental cost because of the energy used to produce it. The decision to suspend the hydrogen project, dubbed ZEROe, comes a week after Airbus Helicopters scrapped plans to build an urban mobility vehicle called CityAirbus NextGen due to uncertainty over developments in battery technology. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-postpones-development-new-hydrogen-aircraft-2025-02-07/
