2025-10-09 20:29

Oct 9 (Reuters) - The United States purchased Argentine pesos and finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina's central bank after a meeting between the two countries' top finance officials in Washington this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday. The market for Argentine pesos was closed when the news came out but the peso strengthened right before trading stopped at 2:00 pm ET/1800 GMT and was last quoted at 1,418 per dollar. Argentine dollar bonds also rose sharply. Sign up here. Argentina's markets are closed on Friday. COMMENTS: MARC CHANDLER, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BANNOCKBURN CAPITAL MARKETS, NEW YORK "We're not just giving them dollars. we're getting an asset in exchange for that. What we're trying to do is give them enough money so it can stabilize the peso until after this month's elections. And then after the elections, they'll adjust policy. So we're protecting somebody, not because the U.S. has a national security interest in Argentina. We're helping them for ideological reasons, and we're trying to influence the outcome of their election. The US is doing this to try to influence the election in Argentina, because the person that the Trump administration likes is under a lot of pressure now having lost a Buenos Aires municipal elections earlier last month." "It looks like it's a relatively modest amount of money from the US Treasury's point of view. I think the economic impact on the US is if we're giving them dollars they're giving us pesos and down the road we're going to swap back. The way this is structured I'm afraid it might be a long time before we get the dollars back because the peso, by most people's reckoning, is overvalued. The government does not want to let the peso sink .. if it would sink, it would make Argentine inflation go up." "What are they going to do with the money we give them? Part of it's going to be used to buy back government bonds, but part of it, like the money that the IMF gave Argentina, could be used to try to support an overvalued currency. If you support an overvalued currency when the music's over the peso is likely to be weaker than it is now, and that's going to make it harder for them to pay us back the dollars they owe us." JUAN PEREZ, DIRECTOR OF TRADING, MONEX USA, WASHINGTON: "It makes sense for the Argentinian peso to jump as it has after a currency swap of $20 billion to alleviate the financial crisis Argentina is going through. And this goes along with the U.S. administration's policy of aiding those who are aligning with its agenda on trade, diplomacy, and other American interests. It seems some headlines are suggesting though that Argentina may not see a direct impact on the real economy. There are also doubts regarding the Argentine President Milei's ability to get things accomplished regardless of the aid as his popularity and effectiveness seem to be waning." EDUARDO ORDONEZ BUESO, EMERGING MARKETS DEBT PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BANKINVEST "If they hadn't come through with a promise they made … we would be talking about a complete collapse of Argentina. When they first announced it markets rallied initially. But since then people were hungry for the details. We're just waiting for all the little dotting of the I’s and crossing of the T’s to get all the final details for people to feel comfortable and calm and stop challenging the exchange rates. "You can see less volatility every day and something more normal. The Argentinian authorities have been traveling to the U.S. the last few days, they much camped in Washington to finalize their conversations. So it's been the only driver of the of the valuations the last few days." JIM CRAIGE, CO-CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AND HEAD OF EMERGING MARKETS, STONE HARBOR INVESTMENT PARTNERS "It matches pretty closely with expectations. I didn't think the US Treasury would be directly buying pesos, but the peso is responding accordingly. (Bessent) said he was going to do something and do something significant, and they really have. All very positive from a pricing standpoint." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/view-us-purchased-argentine-pesos-after-finance-officials-meet-bessent-says-2025-10-09/

2025-10-09 20:29

TSX ends down 0.8% at 30,269.98 Posts lowest closing level since last Thursday Materials sector loses 2.8% as gold pulls back Consumer discretionary ends 1.2% lower TORONTO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell to a one-week low on Thursday as a pullback in the price of gold weighed on metal mining stocks and ahead of domestic jobs data that could offer clues on prospects for additional interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada. The S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended down 232.01 points, or 0.8%, at 30,269.98, its lowest closing level since last Thursday and its biggest decline since August 1. Sign up here. Still, the index has advanced 22.4% since the start of the year and posted a record closing high as recently as Monday. Wall Street also ended lower as the market consolidated some recent gains ahead of third-quarter earnings season. The Toronto market's materials sector (.GSPTTMT) , opens new tab, which includes fertilizer companies and metal mining shares, lost 2.8% as gold dipped below the $4,000/oz milestone breached for the first time in the previous session. "Keep in mind, the materials sector has driven a good chunk of the outperformance of the TSX this year," said Devin Cattelan, a portfolio manager at Verecan Capital Management. "So it is temporary ... Our philosophy is you can't ever really ever take too much away from a couple of days of market movements." Industrials (.GSPTTIN) , opens new tab fell 1.1% and consumer discretionary (.GSPTTCD) , opens new tab was down 1.2%. Shares of auto parts manufacturer Magna International (MG.TO) , opens new tab declined 3.1%. Among the sectors that gained ground was technology (.SPTTTK) , opens new tab. It rose 0.8%, adding to the previous session's strong gains. Canada's employment report for September, due on Friday, is expected to show the economy adding 5,000 jobs and the unemployment rate increasing to 7.2%. Investors are leaning toward an interest rate cut at the BoC's next policy announcement on October 29, after the central bank eased rates last month for the first time since March to support the economy. 0#CADIRPR , opens new tab https://www.reuters.com/business/tsx-futures-flat-investors-await-powells-comments-2025-10-09/

2025-10-09 20:25

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Citi said on Thursday it was going long into Argentina's BONTE 30 bonds following intervention by the U.S. Treasury to shore up the country's currency, adding it saw room for local assets to continue gains ahead of a key legislative vote. "Markets rally not only on the possible future announcement, but on the news that U.S. Treasury intervention has begun," Citi's Ivan Riveros said in a note to clients, noting that the upcoming midterm elections on October 26 still pose a risk. Sign up here. Citi was betting on Argentina's BONTE 30s, the note said, referring to a 30-month note denominated in pesos but subscribed in U.S. dollars. "While local markets will remain vulnerable to the mid-term election risk, the U.S. Treasury intervention means there will be room for local assets to continue decompressing risk prior to October’s elections," Citi said. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/citi-is-going-long-argentina-bonte-30-after-us-treasury-intervention-2025-10-09/

2025-10-09 20:23

Shell completed marine survey in Q2 to determine drilling locations, pipeline design First stage of new license allows parties to negotiate through April 2026 US companies must be included in the project Oct 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has granted an authorization for energy major Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab and Trinidad and Tobago to develop an offshore gas field in Venezuela close to the maritime border, Trinidad's attorney general said on Thursday. The prominent project, aimed to supply Trinidad with Venezuelan gas, has progressed slowly in recent years amid frequent U.S. policy changes towards Venezuela, which has remained under U.S. energy sanctions since 2019. Sign up here. Because Venezuela and state company PDVSA are under U.S. sanctions, foreign companies abiding by the measures need authorizations or licenses to negotiate and develop energy projects there. The Trump administration in April terminated previous licenses granted by former President Joe Biden's government to the Dragon project by Shell and Trinidad's National Gas Company (NGCTT.UL) and to a similar development by BP (BP.L) , opens new tab. The plans are considered essential for securing gas for Trinidad's liquefied natural gas plants and other industries. Shell in the second quarter completed a marine survey at Dragon before a U.S.-set deadline to wind down the license. The exploration work is expected to help determine drilling locations and pipeline design. The new authorization, granted on Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury, is structured in three stages, with the first stage allowing Trinidad and Shell to negotiate the project with Venezuela and PDVSA (PDVSA.UL) through April 2026, but making mandatory the inclusion of U.S. companies in the development. "You have to hit commercial targets for U.S. companies. We don't think those targets are hard to meet. They are reasonable," Attorney General John Jeremie said at a press conference. He declined to disclose the license's financial terms. Previous U.S. authorizations to Dragon have banned any cash payments to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government. BP did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Shell said Trinidad was the license holder, so it referred questions to the government. The U.S. State Department in late September said Washington supported Trinidad's Dragon gas proposal and would make sure it would not provide significant benefit to Maduro's administration. Dragon has proven reserves of some 4.2 trillion cubic feet, making it one of the largest deposits of natural gas in Venezuela and a possible future source of income. With insufficient reserves and output, Trinidad needs the gas to feed its revenue-generating industries, from LNG to petrochemicals. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-grants-license-shell-trinidad-develop-venezuelan-gas-field-official-says-2025-10-09/

2025-10-09 19:26

Oct 9 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab said an outage of its suite of productivity software has been resolved on Thursday. "We identified that a portion of network infrastructure in North America was misconfigured, resulting in impact," Microsoft 365 said on its status page on X. Sign up here. Initial reports had showed issues accessing Microsoft Teams and Exchange Online, it said earlier. The number of users reporting issues with Microsoft 365 had fallen to 136 as of 5.38 p.m. ET, compared with 17,000 earlier, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources. Downdetector's numbers are based on user-submitted reports. The actual number of affected users may vary. https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-365-down-thousands-users-downdetector-shows-2025-10-09/

2025-10-09 16:44

MEXICO CITY, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The Bank of Mexico cited stable inflation, a sluggish economy and an easing U.S. Federal Reserve policy in signaling further interest rate cuts, according to minutes from its latest policy meeting released on Thursday. The minutes highlight the stances of the five-member board during its September 25 decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.5%, its lowest level since May 2022. Sign up here. Banxico, as the central bank is known, said it also weighed the behavior of the exchange rate and the possible effects of shifts in global trade policies. Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath, the sole member of the board to vote against cutting the interest rate, highlighted the inflationary risks that could result from Mexico's proposed tariffs on Chinese imports, according to the minutes. The proposed tariffs include a 50% duty on cars from China and other Asian countries, as well as a 35% tariff on steel, toys and motorcycles. "I call once again to proceed with caution," Heath said. While core inflation remains above the bank's target range of 3% plus or minus a percentage point, most Banxico members said it was relatively stable. "Most members highlighted that, in recent readings, inflation has remained below its historical average and has shown a stable behavior," according to the minutes. Mexico's statistics agency released new inflationary data on Thursday, showing that annual headline inflation climbed to 3.76% in the year through September, from 3.57% in August. Core inflation, which is considered a more reliable gauge of price trends because it strips out volatile food and energy prices, also quickened in September, reaching 4.28%. In an updated forecast released on Oct. 1, private sector analysts polled by Banxico raised their projection for year-end core inflation to 4.18%, up from 4.11%. However, the analysts lowered their forecast for headline inflation to 3.85%, down from 3.97%. Banxico is facing a dual challenge as it seeks to keep inflation down, while also spurring economic growth through lower interest rates. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has expressed support for Banxico's interest rate cuts. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bank-mexico-says-it-will-consider-further-cuts-interest-rate-2025-10-09/