2025-11-18 14:23

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said he expected the central bank to reduce the British government bonds it holds for monetary policy purposes to "very low" levels, though it could still retain gilts for other reasons. The BoE bought 875 billion pounds ($1.15 trillion) of gilts between 2009 and 2021 to support the economy, and has been reducing its holdings since 2022, in part through active sales. Sign up here. The central bank has not been explicit about how far it will reduce gilt holdings beyond the point when banks no longer have excess reserves with the BoE, which could be reached as soon as next year. Pill indicated that gilt sales were likely to continue for some distance beyond that point. "That doesn't mean we won't have some gilt portfolio, perhaps to back banknotes or for structural reasons, but I would say the expectation at the moment is the QE portfolio held for monetary policy reasons will be run to very low levels," he said at an event hosted by French financial services firm Natixis. The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted in September to reduce its gilt holdings by 70 billion pounds over the next 12 months to 488 billion pounds, but Pill had voted to maintain the previous 100 billion pounds a year pace of reduction. Pill disagreed with a proposal from one participant at the event that the BoE should halt gilt sales when yields rose above a certain point, and said the BoE's commitment not to sell gilts in disorderly markets was enough. "I would be very cautious about putting a kind of cap, especially a pre-announced explicit cap, on yields," Pill said. "I think that is a target for speculation." ($1 = 0.7605 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/bank-englands-pill-expects-qe-gilt-holdings-be-reduced-very-low-level-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 13:23

TORONTO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts fell 17% in October from the previous month, data from the national housing agency showed on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts dropped to 232,765 units from a revised 279,174 units in September, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said. Economists had expected starts to fall to 265,000. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-housing-starts-fall-more-than-expected-october-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 12:34

ROME/GENEVA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The world is facing a deepening hunger crisis with resources falling far short of needs, the United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday, citing sharp declines in humanitarian funding. In its 2026 Global Outlook, the Rome-based WFP said 318 million people were expected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse next year, more than double the number in 2019. Sign up here. But shrinking humanitarian funding means the WFP only plans to assist about 110 million of the most vulnerable people in 2026, at a cost of $13 billion, the agency said. Current forecasts suggest it may receive only about half that amount. "The world is grappling with simultaneous famines, in Gaza and parts of Sudan. This is completely unacceptable in the 21st century," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement. "Hunger is becoming more entrenched. We know early, effective solutions save lives, but we desperately need more support." FOREIGN AID CUTS The WFP's biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in assistance. The WFP said last month that it expected to receive 40% less funding year-on-year for 2025, resulting in a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024. Conflict, extreme weather and economic instability are expected to drive severe food insecurity, WFP said. In 2025, its famine prevention efforts pulled communities back from the brink of starvation, but the overall crisis shows no sign of easing. In Afghanistan, where food programmes have been scaled back substantially this year, around nine out of 10 people including women and children arriving on foot at nutrition centres are being turned away, WFP Director Jean-Martin Bauer told a Geneva press briefing when asked about the impact of less funding. He said that leaving so many without access to support might contribute to conflict or migration. "There could be impacts at the regional level for countries that have nothing to do with this problem, but who are exposed to the consequences of out-of-control hunger in a country nearby." The agency said it would deliver emergency food and nutrition aid, help communities build resilience to food shocks, and provide technical support to strengthen national systems, while leveraging technology to improve efficiency. WFP urged governments and donors to invest in proven solutions to curb hunger and move closer to the goal of zero hunger. https://www.reuters.com/world/un-food-agency-warns-deepening-hunger-crisis-funding-falls-short-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 12:15

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's X was down for thousands of users in the U.S. on Tuesday, according to Downdetector.com. There were more than 5,600 reports of issues with the social media platform, as of 06:51 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources. Sign up here. Cloudflare (NET.N) , opens new tab, a web infrastructure company, was also having issues that impacted other services. It was not immediately clear whether the outages were related. Around 6:40 a.m. ET, Cloudflare said on its status page it was investigating the issue. The company's shares fell 4.1% in premarket trading. "We are working to understand the full impact and mitigate this problem. More updates to follow shortly," it said. X and Cloudflare did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. https://www.reuters.com/business/elon-musks-x-down-thousands-us-users-downdetector-shows-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 12:00

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 18 (Reuters) - African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) (ARIJ.J) , opens new tab is evaluating a substantial copper venture in Papua New Guinea in partnership with U.S. mining giant Newmont Corporation (NEM.N) , opens new tab, Chairman Patrice Motsepe said on Tuesday. "There's a huge investment that we are currently looking at in Papua New Guinea," Motsepe said at an event hosted by Bloomberg. "We've got a partnership there with Newmont that might require as much as four or five billion dollars to be invested down the line." Sign up here. Motsepe said his company's financial position is sufficiently robust for such a project. The company has 13 billion rand ($756.2 million) in cash plus facilities for a further 7 billion rand, he said. A lot of that money is going to be used in Australia and Papua New Guinea, which are primarily copper regions, he said, adding that shareholders would expect the company to look at those. The Papua New Guinea investment is viewed as a long-term strategy aligned with global decarbonisation trends and rising demand for critical minerals, Motsepe said. ARM will also continue investments in gold, platinum group metals, iron ore and manganese in South Africa, alongside a copper stake in Canada, the chairman added. ($1 = 17.1921 rand) https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-rainbow-minerals-considers-papua-new-guinea-copper-venture-with-newmont-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 11:48

BRUSSELS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The European Union set import quotas on Tuesday on alloys of steel containing manganese or silicon to protect domestic producers against a surge of cheap imports. The measures will last for three years and consist of country-specific quotas per type of ferro-alloy, limiting the volume of imports that can enter the EU duty-free. Sign up here. Imports beyond the quotas may enter without duties if prices exceed established thresholds. If not, a tariff will apply to bring the final price up to the threshold level. "The EU cannot afford to let a strategic industry collapse under the weight of rising import pressures," European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said in a statement, adding that the measures were necessary to defend EU industrial resilience. The European Commission, which carried out an investigation, said that imports increased by 17% between 2019 and 2024 and the market share of EU producers fell to 24% from 38%. Sector body Euroalliages said EU companies were struggling to compete with exporters from China, India and Kazakhstan, who sold at significantly lower prices. The EU has designated manganese and silicon metal as critical raw materials. They are used to make steel stronger and more resistant to corrosion for the construction, automotive, aerospace sectors and in military applications, on which many EU countries are boosting spending. The safeguard measures also apply to Norway and Iceland, the source of about half of imports. The Commission said it would hold consultations with both countries every three months and would review the measures. Manganese and silicon-based alloy elements are also used in aluminium production and a small share goes to the chemical sector, often for use in solar panels. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/eu-imposes-quotas-curb-imports-ferro-alloys-2025-11-18/