2025-12-22 22:35

Japan ready to take action in yen market, Katayama warns Yen rises after Katayama's comments raise intervention risk BOJ's rate hike fails to lift yen as Governor Ueda in no rush to tighten further TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Japan has a free hand in dealing with excessive moves in the yen, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Tuesday, issuing the strongest warning to date on Tokyo's readiness to intervene in the currency market to arrest sharp declines in the currency. "They absolutely do not reflect fundamentals," Katayama told a news conference on the yen's declines after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's news conference last week. Sign up here. "I don't believe they would have gone that far unless there were speculative moves. The government will take appropriate action against excessive moves," based on Japan's agreement with the U.S. in September on exchange-rate policy, she said. The remarks mostly echo those she made in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. The yen rose to around 156 per U.S. dollar on Katayama's remarks on Tuesday, though it wasn't too far from the 11-month low of 157.78 touched on Friday. In a joint statement issued in September, Japan and the U.S. reaffirmed their commitment to "market-determined" currency rates, while agreeing that foreign exchange interventions should be reserved for combating excess volatility. Japanese policymakers have cited the statement as giving them the right to intervene when yen moves deviate from economic fundamentals and make excessively big swings. Tokyo last stepped into the foreign exchange market in July 2024, buying yen after the currency hit a 38-year low of 161.96 per dollar. "If the dollar climbs past the post-BOJ press conference highs into 158 yen and beyond, the government would conduct intervention at some point for sure," Hiroyuki Machida, director of Japan FX and commodities sales at ANZ, said. A weak yen has become a source of headache for Japanese policymakers as it pushes up import prices and broader inflation, thereby increasing households' cost of living. Tuesday's remarks contrasted with those Katayama made on Monday, when she said Japan will take appropriate action but did not define recent yen moves as out of line with fundamentals. The BOJ raised interest rates to 0.75% on Friday, taking them to levels unseen in 30 years in another landmark step in ending decades of huge monetary support. While the move helped narrow the interest rate gap with the U.S., the yen fell as markets interpreted comments from Ueda's post-meeting press conference as signaling the BOJ was in no rush to raise rates further. ANZ's Machida said the yen's recent weakness reflects both the government's reflationary fiscal policies and the BOJ's still-easy monetary policy. With Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration preparing an expansionary budget for the next fiscal year, the market needs to see further monetary tightening for a correction in the yen's weakness, he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-has-free-hand-dealing-with-excessive-yen-moves-finance-minister-tells-2025-12-22/

2025-12-22 22:06

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Spot gold hit a record high in early Asia hours trade on Tuesday, propelled by rate cut bets, geopolitical and economic uncertainty, and central bank and ETF buying. The yellow metal hit a record high of $4,445.69 per ounce. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/spot-gold-hits-record-high-2025-12-22/

2025-12-22 21:37

TSX ends up 0.8% at 32,000.01 Eclipses Friday's record closing high Gold rises 2.4% to a record high Oil settles 2.6% higher Dec 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose to another record high on Monday as soaring precious metal prices fed optimism the index's rally could carry over into 2026. The S&P/TSX Composite Index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended up 244.33 points, or 0.8%, at 32,000.10 to begin the holiday-shortened week, surpassing Friday's record closing high. Sign up here. The commodity-linked index has advanced 29.4% since the start of the year, putting it on track for its biggest gain since 2009. "If you are looking for something that has really characterized the TSX this year it's been the outperformance of the financials and materials sectors," said Bipan Rai, head of ETF and alternatives strategy at BMO Global Asset Management. "You can tie what's been going on in the materials sector with the outperformance of the metals, especially precious metals this year." Gold jumped 2.4% to an all-time peak, powered by safe-haven flows as U.S.-Venezuela tensions flared, while silver also touched a record high. "It tells us, at least as the Canadian market is concerned, we're set up for a decent year next year as well," Rai said. U.S. stocks also rose on Monday as technology stocks extended their recent gains on renewed interest in AI-related companies. The Toronto market's materials group (.GSPTTMT) , opens new tab, which includes metal mining shares, added 2.4%, with Discovery Silver Corp (DSV.TO) , opens new tab up nearly 8%. Energy (.SPTTEN) , opens new tab gained 0.9% as the price of oil settled 2.6% higher at $58.01 a barrel. Just three of ten major sectors ended lower, including consumer discretionary. Shares of auto parts supplier Magna International (MG.TO) , opens new tab lost 2%, giving back some of its recent gains. https://www.reuters.com/business/tsx-futures-rise-commodity-strength-holiday-week-begins-2025-12-22/

2025-12-22 21:06

Inspector General report tracked USDA departures from January to June Attrition varied across sub-agencies, some losing up to 67% of staff USDA plans to relocate many Washington area employees WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - More than 20,300 employees left the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the first five months of the administration of President Donald Trump, about a fifth of staff, according to a report from the agency's inspector general. About three-quarters of those employees left the USDA through a financial incentive program offered as part of the Trump administration's effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce, said the report from the USDA's Office of Inspector General. Sign up here. The rest left through resignation, retirement, termination or other pathways, said the report, which used pay-period and other data to track departures from January 12 to June 14. At the start of the year, the USDA had more than 110,300 employees, the report said. Attrition ranged from below 10% in some sub-agencies to as much as 67% in others, said the report. More than 30% of staff left the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the agency's rural development arm. More than 5,800 employees left the Forest Service (16% of staff), 2,673 left the Natural Resources Conservation Service (22%), 2,105 left the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (25%) and 806 left the Farm Service Agency (24%). "Losing nearly 20% of all USDA staff weakens the department's ability to respond to challenges facing our farmers, leaves our food supply chains more vulnerable to threats like New World Screwworm and avian flu, and undermines efforts to drive the rural economy forward," said Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, in a statement. A USDA spokesperson said the agency is "being transparent about plans to optimize and reduce our workforce and to return the department to a customer-service focused, farmer first agency." The agency plans to relocate about half of its remaining Washington-area staff next year to five hubs across the country. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/us-farm-agency-lost-20000-staff-first-five-months-trump-administration-2025-12-22/

2025-12-22 20:48

SAO PAULO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian oil workers union FUP said on Monday it plans to accept a counteroffer from state-run company Petrobras (PETR3.SA) , opens new tab for a labor deal, paving the way to end a week-long strike. In a statement published on social media, FUP said a majority of its board had approved signaling it would accept the oil firm's counteroffer, which still requires approval from workers. It did not provide further details. Sign up here. Petrobras in a separate statement confirmed it had made "adjustments" to its latest collective labor proposal, "including advances on key union demands," and added the strike has not affected production or market supply. The strike stems from an ongoing dispute over a deficit in the company's pension fund and proposed changes to employee compensation, among other issues. It hit oil platforms, refineries and biodiesel plants, according to unions. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/brazil-oil-union-set-accept-petrobras-labor-offer-end-strike-2025-12-22/

2025-12-22 20:06

US tried to intercept two more ships over the weekend China and Venezuela condemn US actions as violations of international law Panama says vessel under its flag did not respect maritime rules Dec 22 (Reuters) - Tanker loading in Venezuela dwindled on Monday, with most ships moving oil cargoes only between domestic ports following U.S. action against two more ships and as state-run energy company PDVSA struggles to recover from a cyberattack, according to tracking data and sources. The U.S. Coast Guard this month seized a supertanker under sanctions carrying Venezuelan oil and tried to intercept two more Venezuela-related ships over the weekend, U.S. authorities said. One of them is an empty ship under U.S. sanctions, and the other is an unsanctioned, fully loaded tanker bound for China. Sign up here. Washington has not provided updated information on the ships. However, U.S. President Donald Trump's announced blockade of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela has kept vessel owners on alert. Later on Monday, Trump said Washington would maybe keep or maybe sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, adding the United States would also keep the seized ships. Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said in a TV interview on Monday that supertanker Centuries, which was flying Panama's flag when intercepted on Saturday, did not respect the country's maritime rules and had altered its name and disconnected its transponder while carrying an oil cargo out of Venezuela. A country that provides its flag to a vessel in its official registry can cancel the ship's registration if an investigation determines it did not follow maritime rules. Trump's pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels the U.S. alleges are transporting drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation. At least 100 people have been killed. On Monday, Trump was asked what his endgame with Maduro was. "If he plays tough, it'll be the last time he's ever able to play tough," Trump said. OIL PRICES RISE The vessel interceptions have dealt the toughest blow to PDVSA since the U.S. Treasury Department in 2020 imposed sanctions on the company's former oil trading firms, two units of Russia's Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab, which forced output and export cuts. Brent crude futures rose 2.4% to $61.94 a barrel on Monday afternoon, while U.S. WTI crude also climbed 2.4% to $57.89 following the U.S. actions and amid Russia's war against Ukraine, with both developments raising fears of supply disruptions. As of Monday, PDVSA had delivered a 1.9 million-barrel cargo of heavy crude to the Aruba-flagged sanctioned vessel Azure Voyager at the Jose port, but no other supertanker bound for Asia was scheduled to load soon, internal company documents showed. The number of loaded tankers that have not departed has increased in recent days, leaving millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck in ships, while customers demand deeper discounts and contract changes to take risky voyages beyond the country's waters. Some tankers approaching Venezuela's coast, either to load oil for export or to deliver imported naphtha, have also made U-turns or suspended navigation recently until instructions from owners to load are clarified, LSEG monitoring data showed on Monday. PDVSA is slowly restoring some online systems and resorting to written records after a cyberattack last week. The company has been unable to fully re-establish its centralized administrative system, and many workers have not received their salaries on time, sources said. PDVSA and Venezuela's Oil Ministry have not replied to requests for comment. The country's Foreign Affairs Minister, Yvan Gil, said on Monday the U.S. seizures are against international law and constitute "acts of piracy." China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday the recent U.S. interceptions were a serious violation of international law. PDVSA's main joint-venture partner Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab exported a 500,000-barrel cargo of Venezuelan oil on Sunday, bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast on one of its tankers under its U.S. authorization, LSEG ship data showed. Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez said on Sunday Venezuela had not interrupted deliveries to Chevron. Chevron has exported seven cargoes of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. this month, each carrying between 300,000 and 500,000 barrels, according to monitoring data. PURSUED BY THE U.S. The empty supertanker Bella 1, which the U.S. Coast Guard tried to intercept on Sunday when the ship approached Venezuela, was drifting on Monday northeast of Bermuda in the Caribbean, a satellite image obtained by TankerTrackers.com showed. A U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday the tanker had not been boarded and that interceptions could take different forms - including by sailing or flying close to vessels of concern. The loaded vessel Skipper, the first seized by the U.S. this month, on Sunday reached an area near the Galveston, Texas, port for transferring oil cargoes, maritime sources said. Guyana said last week the tanker had falsely used its flag. Collectively, Skipper, Centuries and Bella 1 have exported 41 million barrels of crude oil and fuel oil out of Iran and Venezuela in recent years, TankerTrackers.com said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-loading-venezuela-slows-more-ships-make-u-turns-after-new-us-interceptions-2025-12-22/