2024-12-01 15:07

Dec 1 (Reuters) - The United States is not considering returning to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday. Sullivan made his remarks when questioned about a New York Times article last month that said some unidentified Western officials had suggested U.S. President Joe Biden could give Ukraine the arms before he leaves office. "That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not (giving them) nuclear capability," he told ABC. Last week, Russia said the idea was "absolute insanity" and that preventing such a scenario was one of the reasons why Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Kyiv inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-will-not-return-nuclear-weapons-ukraine-2024-12-01/

2024-12-01 13:59

US nonfarm payrolls report for Nov due on Dec 6 Market bets for Dec Fed meeting lean to 25 bp cut S&P 500 hovers at records, P/E ratio at over 3-yr highs NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The coming week will give investors a fresh view into the health of the U.S. economy with the release of a closely watched employment report that could help determine the trajectory of interest rates in the months ahead. Stocks are heading into December with the benchmark S&P 500 near record highs following an over 25% year-to-date gain. Part of that performance has been fueled by expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates into next year, after reducing borrowing costs by 75 basis points in 2024. But uncertainty over the Fed’s rate trajectory has increased in recent months as a spate of robust economic data - including a blowout jobs report for September - stirs concerns that inflation could rebound if the central bank lowers rates too far, undoing two years of progress in tamping down prices. While investors have largely welcomed evidence of economic strength, another round of strong jobs data on Dec. 6 could further erode expectations for Fed cuts and fuel wariness over inflation, investors said. The jobs data "is going to provide a more clear picture of the underlying trend, which is important as there's a lot of debate and uncertainty around the path for interest rates by the Fed,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. Wall Street has already tempered expectations for cuts over the coming year. Fed funds futures show investors betting the rate will fall to 3.8% by the end of next year, from its current 4.5% to 4.75% range. That is more than 100 points higher than what they had priced in September. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this month that the central bank does not need to rush to lower rates, citing a solid job market and inflation that remains above its 2% target. The Fed is "starting to question out loud how much more easing the economy, especially the labor market, really needs," said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Futures late on Wednesday were pricing a roughly 70% chance that the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points at its Dec 17-18 meeting, according to CME Fedwatch. Economists polled by Reuters expect payrolls to have climbed by 183,000 jobs in November, and a report that far exceeds those forecasts could shake confidence in a December move and bruise stocks, said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial. "There might be a little bit of a sell off here if you see the jobs report come in stronger than expected," he said. Equities have gotten a boost from the view that President-elect Donald Trump’s policies such as tax cuts and deregulation could spur growth despite their inflationary potential. Stocks in recent days largely shrugged off Trump's pledge to impose big tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, America’s three largest trading partners. More optimism was reflected in the Conference Board’s survey released on Tuesday, which showed a record 56.4% of consumers expect stock prices to increase over the next year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is trading at more than 22 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months, its highest P/E valuation in more than three years, according to LSEG Datastream. To strategists at Yardeni Research, the mounting optimism could be a worrisome signal. "A more immediate risk to the stock market rally than tariffs is that investors are getting too bullish," Yardeni Research said in a note on Thursday. "From a contrarian perspective, this suggests that a pullback is likely." text_section_type="notes">Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. For the daily stock market report, please click Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/wall-st-week-ahead-jobs-data-set-pave-way-rates-path-stocks-2024-11-29/

2024-12-01 12:07

ACCRA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ghana's parliament is unlikely to pass a provisional budget before the Dec. 7 general election, former officials and experts say, which risks triggering an unprecedented government shutdown early next year. The West African nation is set to elect a successor to President Nana Akufo-Addo whose two-term mandate ends in January. Typically, a provisional budget is passed in November during election years to cover the gap until the president-elect takes office. "We risk a government shutdown or at best, lean government spending from January," Seth Terkper, former finance minister from 2013-17, said in an interview. The government might have to cut back on interest payments and funding for the transition, he added, unless a budget is passed in December. The failure to pass a budget would be a first in over 30 years for Ghana, the world's number two cocoa producer. Ghana's parliament has been on an indefinite break since Oct. 23 over an impasse on which of the two main parties has majority of seats. The Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 12 that Parliament Speaker Alban Bagbin's declaration was unconstitutional. Bagbin has since refused requests to recall parliament, saying it would interrupt the election campaign. "There is nothing like this before," Patrick Yaw Boamah, chairman of parliament's finance committee told Reuters. The Finance Ministry didn't respond to a request for comment. Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam had set a Nov. 15 deadline for presenting the provisional budget. Parliament now has a few weeks to pass the provisional budget to avert cuts and a potential shutdown. Ghana's labour unions have been hoping for parliament to work on a solution before it impacts workers. "It's a big problem ... We hope they resolve it before January so it doesn't affect salaries," Joshua Ansah, head of Trades Union Congress, told Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ghana-risks-government-shutdown-if-no-budget-passed-before-election-2024-12-01/

2024-12-01 09:52

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had gained control over two settlements, Illinka and Petrivka, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. It also said that Russian air defence shot down 55 Ukrainian drones for the past 24 hours. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side. Russian forces hold a little less than 20% of Ukraine's territory and have advanced through Donetsk region over the past two months at their fastest rate since March 2022, according to open source data. They are approaching Kurakhove and the town of Pokrovsk to the north, site of the sole colliery that supplies Ukraine's steel industry with coking coal. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-its-forces-capture-two-settlements-ukraines-east-2024-12-01/

2024-12-01 08:47

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Peru's consumer price inflation rate rose 0.09% in November, according to data published on Sunday by national statistics agency INEI. By comparison, consumer prices fell by 0.09% in October. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peru-consumer-prices-up-009-november-month-2024-12-01/

2024-12-01 08:28

NEW DELHI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Cyclone Fengal killed at least 19 people in India and Sri Lanka and caused flooding in Tamil Nadu state and the Puducherry region after crossing India's southern coast from the Bay of Bengal on Saturday. Puducherry had been hit by the heaviest 24-hour rainfall in 30 years, India's weather office said on social media on Sunday. The cyclone left parts of the southern city of Chennai inundated. Flights from the city were temporarily suspended on Saturday, but had resumed as of early Sunday morning, India's airport authority said. Visuals on local media showed gusty winds and heavy rainfall with roads submerged and boats being used to rescue people. The Indian army was running relief operations in Puducherry for people in the eye of the storm, while rainfall eased in Chennai. In Sri Lanka, 16 people were killed, with heavy rains affecting a total of 138,944 families, the latest data from the Disaster Management Centre in Colombo showed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/cyclone-fengal-kills-19-india-sri-lanka-2024-12-01/