2025-10-31 00:41

Tokyo Oct core CPI rises 2.8% yr/yr vs f'cast +2.6% Index excluding fresh food, fuel rises 2.8% yr/yr in Oct Data keeps alive expectations of near-term BOJ rate hike Factory output rises 2.2% in September, beats forecast TOKYO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Core inflation in Japan's capital accelerated in October and stayed above the central bank's 2% target, data showed on Friday, keeping alive market expectations for a near-term interest rate hike. But the increase was driven mostly by stubbornly high food costs with service-sector inflation staying modest, a sign companies were slow in passing through rising labour costs. Sign up here. The data followed the Bank of Japan's decision on Thursday to keep interest rates steady at 0.5% that drew two dissenters from the board fretting about broadening inflationary pressure. The Tokyo core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose 2.8% in October from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, exceeding market forecasts for a 2.6% gain and accelerating from a 2.5% gain in September. A separate index for Tokyo that strips away both fresh food and fuel costs - closely watched by the BOJ as a measure of domestic demand-driven prices - rose 2.8% in October from a year earlier after a 2.5% increase in September. The increase was driven partly by a 38.4% rise in the price of Japan's staple rice and an end to subsidies for water fees. Food inflation, excluding prices for volatile fresh food, stood at 6.7% in October, slowing from 6.9% in September, the data showed. Services inflation, at 1.6% in October, was roughly steady from 1.5% in September and much slower than a 4.1% gain in goods prices, the data showed. "Core consumer inflation is expected to slow as the effects of food price rises dissipate," said Masato Koike, senior economist at Sompo Institute Plus. "While we expect the BOJ to raise interest rates in January, further hikes could become difficult," he said. The BOJ has stressed the need to see inflation driven more by solid demand and wage gains, rather than the push from raw material costs, to resume interest rate hikes. The BOJ exited a decade-long, radical stimulus programme last year and raised short-term interest rates to 0.5% in January on the view Japan was on the cusp of sustainably hitting its 2% inflation target. While consumer inflation has exceeded the BOJ's 2% target for well over three years, Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the need to tread cautiously in further rate hikes on uncertainty over the impact of U.S. tariffs on Japan's economy. In a sign companies are weathering the hit from tariffs for now, separate data released on Friday showed Japan's factory output rose 2.2% in September from the previous month, exceeding market forecasts for a 1.6% gain. The jobless rate in September was unchanged from the previous month at 2.6%, government data showed. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/core-consumer-prices-japans-capital-rise-faster-than-expected-2025-10-30/

2025-10-31 00:33

Trump issues denial on social media that U.S. plans to attack Venezuela News media reports say U.S. plans air strikes on Venezuela Brent, WTI set to fall about 2.6% and 2% in October OPEC+ lean towards modest output boost ahead of Sunday meeting, sources say HOUSTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled slightly higher after a wild trading session on Friday, popping up as media reports said U.S. air strikes on Venezuela could begin within hours and then retreating after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a denial on social media. Brent crude futures settled at $65.07 a barrel, up 7 cents, or 0.11. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $60.98 a barrel, up 41 cents, or 0.68%. Sign up here. "Is this Donald Trump's trick or treat?" said Phil Flynn, senior analyst for Price Futures Group. He noted that earlier this year, Trump denied reports of a planned attack on Iran before carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic Republic. "There definitely was an impact on the market when the first report of a planned attack on Venezuela came out," Flynn said. "If there is an attack over the weekend, prices will spike on Monday." The U.S. has deployed a task force centered around the nation's largest aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford, off the coast of Venezuela, far beyond the needs of attacking drug traffickers on small boats, the focus of U.S. naval activity in the Caribbean in recent weeks. "It's pretty clear something is afoot there," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital LLC. "For oil traders, it's a classic situation of buy now and ask questions later." The U.S. dollar was near three-month highs against major currencies, making purchases of dollar-denominated commodities such as oil more expensive. Meanwhile, sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, may reduce its December crude price for Asian buyers to multi-month lows, sounding a bearish note. Oil slipped after an official survey showed China's factory activity shrank for a seventh month in October. Brent and WTI are set to fall 2.6% and 2%, respectively, in October with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and major non-OPEC producers ramping up output. More supply will also cushion the impact of Western sanctions disrupting Russian oil exports to its top buyers China and India. A Reuters survey forecast Brent will average $67.99 per barrel in 2025, about 38 cents above last month's estimate. WTI is expected to average $64.83, slightly above September's estimate of $64.39. OPEC+ is leaning toward a modest output boost in December, people familiar with the talks said ahead of the group's meeting on Sunday. Kilduff said most of the OPEC+ members except for Saudi Arabia were unable to add much to their production. "Pretty much there is nothing they can add that is going to be meaningful beyond what the Saudis can do," Kilduff said. In August, Saudi Arabia's crude exports hit a six-month high of 6.407 million bpd, data from the Joint Organization Data Initiative showed. A U.S. Energy Information Administration report also showed record production of 13.6 million bpd last week. Trump said on Thursday that China has agreed to begin the process of purchasing U.S. energy and that a very large-scale transaction may take place involving the purchase of oil and gas from Alaska. However, analysts remained skeptical as to whether the U.S.-China trade deal will boost Chinese demand for U.S. energy. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-heads-third-monthly-decline-strong-dollar-ample-supply-weigh-2025-10-31/

2025-10-30 23:21

Oct 30 (Reuters) - First Solar (FSLR.O) , opens new tab, the biggest U.S.-based solar panel maker, beat expectations for third-quarter sales on Thursday, driven by robust demand for its products, sending its shares up more than 5% in extended trading. Solar-generated electricity is one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. energy industry, driven by strong demand from corporations and governments to adopt cleaner sources of power and combat climate change. Sign up here. First Solar said it would establish a new 3.7 GW manufacturing facility in the U.S., with production expected to start at the end of 2026 and ramp up through the first half of 2027. The factory will finish products started at the company's overseas facilities, helping First Solar products achieve President Donald Trump's goal of reducing U.S. reliance on foreign-made goods. "This activity places us uniquely at the intersection of several of the administration's key priorities, including those related to domestic manufacturing job creation, American energy and energy affordability, and serving among the generation solutions that enable the U.S. to win the artificial intelligence race against China," CEO Mark Widmar said on a conference call with investors. The company reported a profit of $455.9 million, or $4.24 per share, for the third quarter, up from $341.87 million, or $3.18 per share, a year earlier. However First Solar lowered its current-year sales forecast. It now expects annual sales to be between $4.95 billion and $5.2 billion in 2025, compared with its prior view of $4.9 billion to $5.7 billion. The change in forecast reflects "reduced international volumes sold due to customer terminations, partially offset by termination payments", the company said on a conference call. The company sued a solar division of Great Britain's BP last month for breach of contract, according to executives and court documents. This reduced First Solar's backlog of solar modules by 6.6 gigawatts (GW) at a total transaction price of $1.9 billion. First Solar also lowered the top end of its forecast range for volumes sold to 17.4 GW from 19.3 GW, while keeping the low end unchanged at 16.7 GW. The company reported net sales of $1.6 billion for the three months ended September 30, above analysts' estimates of $1.56 billion, as per data compiled by LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/first-solar-beats-expectations-third-quarter-sales-robust-demand-2025-10-30/

2025-10-30 23:08

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Tianyu Jiang took a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) road trip this month during China's national holiday week, driving in his electric vehicle from the southwestern Sichuan basin to Beijing for the first time. "I used to drive a petrol car and had never taken an EV for such a big trip, but long-distance driving for an EV doesn’t feel like a problem anymore," Jiang said. Sign up here. He is among tens of millions of Chinese increasingly taking to EV vehicles, who benefited from expanded charging infrastructure to reverse the usual boom in gasoline use during the October holiday known as "Golden Week". Far from a peak, China's gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the year to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September, according to Chinese consultancy Sublime China Information (SCI). The sagging holiday demand is symptomatic of the broader decline in Chinese fuel use stemming from wider EV adoption, heralding the approaching end of its decades-long role as the main driving force of new global oil demand. Gasoline consumption in the world's biggest importer of crude peaked in 2023 and the research unit of state oil company Sinopec expects demand to fall more than 4% this year from 2024. During the first nine months of the year, EVs and hybrids made up almost half of all new car sales. A fifth of the 63.5 million car trips during the eight-day holiday break were in electric or hybrid vehicles, the transport ministry says. Daily use of electricity by charging stations, a proxy for EV use, rose 45.73% during Golden Week this year, versus 2024. EV adoption has benefited from China's push to build charging infrastructure, with some 18 million charging ports by the end of September, up 54.5% on the year. "During travel peaks, both charging and refuelling mean waiting," said Jiang. "If you really need a charge, exit the highway and you will find charging stations within 10 km (6 miles), and it's cheap." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/evs-put-an-end-chinas-usual-holiday-surge-gasoline-use-2025-10-30/

2025-10-30 22:03

Oct 30 (Reuters) - Weyerhaeuser (WY.N) , opens new tab reported an increase in third-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by higher sales and a recovery in its timberlands and real estate segments. Housing activity has been recovering amid hopes that easing mortgage rates would stimulate demand for new construction, boosting sales at companies such as Weyerhaeuser, which sells timber and other wood products. Sign up here. The company's net sales rose more than 2% to $1.72 billion during the third quarter. Adjusted core profit from its timberlands segment came in at $148 million, compared with $122 million a year earlier, while that of the real estate unit jumped more than 18% to $91 million. The results come after the Trump administration imposed tariffs of 10% on imported timber and lumber. Weyerhaeuser owns or controls about 10.5 million acres of timberlands in the U.S., primarily in the West, South and Northeast. The company said it completed two acquisitions totaling $459 million during the third quarter, while also advancing three divestiture packages of non-core timberlands worth $410 million. It posted a profit of $80 million, or 11 cents per share, for the quarter ended September 30, compared with $28 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier. https://www.reuters.com/business/timber-firm-weyerhaeusers-quarterly-profit-rises-higher-sales-2025-10-30/

2025-10-30 21:43

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Australia's Origin Energy (ORG.AX) , opens new tab on Friday posted a sequential first-quarter revenue drop from its LNG joint venture in Queensland, weighed down by lower volumes and prices, which sent shares lower. Shares of Sydney-based company fell as much as 6.3% to A$11.81, marking its weakest trading session since early April. The stock also fell to its lowest level in more than two months. Sign up here. The power producer reported revenue from the APLNG project — a joint venture with U.S. oil and gas major ConocoPhillips (COP.N) , opens new tab and China's state-owned Sinopec (600028.SS) , opens new tab — of A$482 million ($313.20 million) for the three months ended September 30, compared with A$547 million in the June quarter. Overall revenue of the joint venture has also dipped 5% sequentially in the September quarter, largely guided by lower sales volumes due to LNG inventory movements and timing of contracted cargoes, with lagging realised oil prices. Liquefied natural gas prices hit multi-week lows over the quarter as lackluster demand across Asia persisted, especially from major LNG consumer and Australia's largest trading partner, China, while production remained healthy alongside ample stockpiles. Origin realised $10.08 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the quarter for its LNG product from the APLNG project in Queensland, compared with $10.26 per mmBtu in the June quarter. The energy retailer's total production share from the project remained stable in the three months compared to the previous quarter, while total sales slipped 1% sequentially to 44.4 petajoules. ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-origin-energy-logs-12-sequential-fall-first-quarter-aplng-revenue-2025-10-30/