2024-11-12 05:31
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee With President-elect Donald Trump's Republican Party looking likely to claim a majority in both chambers of Congress, the so-called Trump trades are showing no signs of easing. Bitcoin's blistering rally rages on as the world's best known cryptocurrency scaled yet another record peak close to $90K while the dollar rose to a four-month high against major rivals. Data provider DDHQ projected that the Republican Party had won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Edison Research has not yet projected House control. Republicans had already secured a U.S. Senate majority of at least 52-46, Edison Research projected. The control of both houses will provide the incoming administration the tools to pass legislation and follow through on fiscal policies, with investors anticipating tax cuts and looser regulations. Optimism around friendlier regulations and victories for pro-crypto lawmakers into the Congress has sent cryptocurrencies skyrocketing in the past week. Lurking below the surface is the worry of tariffs being implemented by the Trump administration, keeping stocks outside the U.S., the euro, China's yuan and chip shares in general under pressure. Futures indicate the European bourses are due for a lower open, while the euro remained rooted near its lowest level since April. China's yuan skidded to a 3-1/2 month low against the dollar on Tuesday. Stocks in Asia were on the back foot mainly as tech-heavy Taiwan and South Korea shares took a beating. Reuters reported earlier in the week that the U.S. ordered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW) , opens new tab to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers that are often used in AI applications. Meanwhile, investors will focus on the macro side, especially with U.S. inflation data due on Wednesday. Traders have not fully priced in a 25 basis point cut from the Fed next month but the data in the coming days will dictate the rate path. British labour data will likely sway the sterling, with the pound trudging towards a three-month low. It was last down 0.25% at $1.2838. In the corporate world, AstraZeneca (AZN.L) , opens new tab results will likely take the spotlight as investors will watch out for comments on the drugmakers' issues in China. AstraZeneca said last week its China President Leon Wang had been detained by Chinese authorities and, although it did not know the reason, it did not believe it was linked to a large health insurance fraud case involving the company. Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday: Economic events: Germany CPI for October, UK labour data Earnings: Bayer AG, AstraZeneca and Vodafone Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/global-markets-view-europe-2024-11-12/
2024-11-12 05:27
Dollar index rises to 6-1/2-month high Bitcoin hits record high on Trump tariff promise Euro sinks to lowest since November 2023 NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose to a 6-1/2-month high against major peers on Tuesday, while bitcoin pared gains after earlier hitting a record high amid expectations of inflationary import tariffs from Republican President-elect Donald Trump Bitcoin gained 1.88% to $89,683.00, slightly below a new all-time peak of $89,982. Trump has vowed to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the planet". Higher tariffs are expected to push up prices, leaving the Federal Reserve less scope to cut interest rates. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 13.1 basis points to 4.439%. "It's still an extension of the post-election moves; the economic calendar has been relatively light although it's picking up later in the week but for now the market is focusing on the implications of a second Trump term, particularly policies that would be positive for the dollar such as potential higher tariffs," said Vassili Serebriakov, an FX strategist at UBS in New York. The U.S. dollar index , which measures the currency against six peers, rose 0.51% to 105.96 after rising to as high as 106.17 - its highest level since early May. With Trump's Republican Party looking poised to take control of the House of Representatives, according to Decision Desk HQ, it will hold a slim majority in both houses of Congress, allowing the president-elect to push his agenda of cutting taxes and regulation after he takes office in January. "There's been a broad move in the dollar that started before the election and it probably got an added boost because it looks like we're moving to a red sweep scenario, which is broadly seen as positive for the dollar," Serebriakov added. Trump has warned that the euro bloc will "pay a big price" for not buying enough American exports, with cars a particular target. He has threatened China with blanket 60% tariffs. Since his election last week, the euro has languished at a seven-month trough and the yuan slumped to its lowest in more than three months, with Europe and China both targets of potential Trump tariffs. The euro is feeling additional pressure from political uncertainty. Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, is set to hold elections on Feb. 23, which will be 11 weeks after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition. The euro sank to $1.0596 on Tuesday, the lowest since November 2023, and was last down 0.32% at $1.06215. Sterling dropped 0.99% to $1.2742 after data showed regular UK wage growth slowed and unemployment rose, with the pound also feeling the heat from the dollar's rally. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose 0.6% to 154.63 yen . The Japanese currency dropped to a three-month low of 154.715 per dollar last week. The onshore yuan finished the domestic session at 7.2378 per dollar, its lowest close since Aug. 1. The Aussie dollar - which tends to be swayed by the economic outlook for China, Australia's top trading partner - weakened 0.61% versus the greenback to $0.6534. "There's definitely a herd mentality building up here and sometimes it's nice to find a contrarian approach to it," said Amarjit Sahota, executive director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. "But other than getting some exhaustion in this (Trump) trade, which has really been carrying now for a little while because it's not just the election cycle, the market has also been pairing back its dovishness on the Federal Reserve." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/dollar-soars-with-bitcoin-trump-trade-ramps-up-euro-yuan-battered-2024-11-12/
2024-11-12 05:19
NEW DELHI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) , opens new tab said on Tuesday a fire at its Gujarat refinery had been fully extinguished and refinery operations were back to normal, even as the death toll rose to two. Officials had earlier said that one person was killed and two others injured in the fire that broke out on Monday in a benzene storage tank at the company's integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in the western state of Gujarat. The blaze later spread to a second tank. "The second victim was a canteen worker in the refinery and received severe injuries...He died last night," AB Mori, the inspector of the Jawaharnagar police station, told Reuters on Tuesday. The company, in a statement, also confirmed the rise in the death toll and said remaining personnel, plant, and machinery were safe. "Expert teams are reaching site for assessment," it said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-oil-says-fire-refinery-has-been-fully-extinguished-2024-11-12/
2024-11-12 05:14
JAKARTA, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to offer to international investors opportunities to build 75 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power in the country in the next 15 years, its climate envoy said on the sidelines of the COP29 summit. The plan is a commitment by Prabowo Subianto, who took office last month as the president of Indonesia, said Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo's brother and Indonesia's envoy to the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Indonesia, one the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, including by phasing out coal-fired power plants and replacing them with renewables. "There will be 100 GW of new energy that will be implemented in the new administration in the next 15 years, of which 75%, or 75 GW will be renewable energy," Hashim said in a livestreamed speech on Monday in Baku. The renewable projects would include solar, hydro, geothermal and nuclear power, Hashim said, without explaining plans for the remaining 25 GW. Indonesia's current installed power capacity is more than 90 GW, with more than half of that powered by coal and less than 15% by renewables. It currently has no nuclear capacity, a controversial topic in a country prone to earthquakes. Indonesia's state-power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara is designing a new green transmission line spanning 70,000 km (43,500 miles), its chief executive Darmawan Prasodjo said from Baku, according to a company statement. Indonesian authorities have often promoted the country's potential in renewables, but it has not developed much renewable capacity due to subsidies for coal that make renewable tariffs unattractive for investors, analysts have said. In his speech, Hashim also said Indonesia plans to offer carbon offset projects that could remove hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon emission from the atmosphere. He did not elaborate on these projects. Prabowo will also embark on a years-long project of reforesting 12.7 million hectares of severely degraded forests with funding that includes foreign sources, Hashim said, adding Bezos Earth Fund, Jeff Bezos's $10 billion green funding project, was already interested. Bezos Earth Fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indonesia-build-75-gw-renewable-energy-next-15-years-cop29-envoy-says-2024-11-12/
2024-11-12 05:07
BURJASSOT/ALDAIA, Spain, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A mud-covered frame holding a wet, disintegrating photo was one of the most precious things that Ana Piedra Carbonell managed to salvage when floodwaters swept away her mother's house in the eastern Spanish town of Algemesi. The picture showing Carbonell with her mother, her late father and her sister from decades back was the only family photo in the house to survive the deluge, the worst floods in Spain's modern history. Given the state of the print, there is a risk that memento could also disappear. So she joined scores of survivors turning up to see if experts from a project run by the University of Valencia could do anything to save their memories. "It's the only keepsake my mother can have because my father passed away when he was 36, and my mother is now 74," said Carbonell, at one of the collection points set up by the new "Save the Pictures" scheme. "Furniture and cars can be replaced... (Pictures) are material things but they reach an incalculable sentimental level," the 44-year-old added. The scheme aims to restore and safeguard damaged photographic heritage and return it to flood-hit communities. One of the main challenges is the fact that so many of the photos are stuck together, said Marisa Vazquez de Agredos, head of the university's heritage department. More than 220 people died after torrential rains on Oct. 29 triggered the flash floods that ravaged the suburbs of Valencia. The waters also caused untold damage to buildings and property, and to the countless photos and other mementoes that make up family history. Some like Carbonell brought in single shots. Pilar Jimenez turned up with her whole family archive, with so much material that a soldier working on the clean-up effort had to use a wheelbarrow to help her bring it in. "I bring my whole life - my daughters when they were little, my wedding, I don't know, everything," said the 65-year-old from Valencia's suburb of Aldaia. She told staff to make a selection, rather than take the time to save everything. "My father was very fond of photography, so I also have many photos of myself as a child. So it's a lot." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spains-flood-survivors-strive-save-their-photos-memories-2024-11-11/
2024-11-12 04:44
MUMBAI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The Indian central bank was likely selling dollars to support the rupee after the local currency hit its all-time low on Tuesday, pressured by a Chinese yuan-led decline in Asian currencies, four traders told Reuters. The rupee weakened to a low of 84.40 per dollar in early trading, eclipsing its previous record low of 84.3925 hit in the previous session. The currency was last flat at 84.3925. State-run banks were spotted offering dollars near 84.40 levels, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India, said the traders, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. The dollar index was up 0.1% at 105.6, hovering close to its four-month high hit on Monday. Asian currencies were down between 0.1% and 0.6%, with the offshore Chinese yuan weakening to an over three-month low. The RBI is "likely to defend 84.40 in the near-term but it (USD/INR) should gradually move higher to 84.50," a trader at a mid-sized private bank said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/indian-cenbank-likely-selling-dollars-support-rupee-amid-asian-currencies-slide-2024-11-12/
