2025-10-01 00:52

OPEC+ may raise output by up to 500,000 bpd in November -sources U.S. crude inventories rise by more than expected U.S. government shutdown and Asian factory data raise economic concerns NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid for a third day in a row to a 16-week low on Wednesday as a U.S. government shutdown fed worries about the global economy, while traders expected more oil supply to come on the market with a planned output boost by OPEC+ next month. Brent crude futures fell 68 cents, or 1.0%, to settle at $65.35 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 59 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $61.78. Sign up here. Those were the lowest closes for Brent since June 5 and for WTI since May 30. U.S. oil production growth will stall if prices stay near $60 per barrel, as fewer drilling sites are profitable at that level, the CEO of Diamondback EnergyFANG.O , opens new tab, one of the country's top oil producers, said on Wednesday. In other energy markets, U.S. gasoline futures closed at their lowest in almost a year. Traders expect OPEC+ to boost production in November by about the same as the 500,000 barrels per day hike in September, even as U.S. and Asian demand start to decline, Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said. OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers like Russia, could agree to raise oil production by up to 500,000 bpd in November, triple the increase made for October, as Saudi Arabia seeks to reclaim market share, three sources familiar with the talks said. However, OPEC wrote on X that media reports of plans to raise output by 500,000 bpd were misleading. An OPEC+ panel stressed the need for achieving full compliance with oil output agreements and extra output cuts that some members are required to make to compensate for earlier exceeding quotas at a meeting on Wednesday, OPEC said in a statement. Oil prices were also pressured by a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms added 1.8 million barrels of crude into inventories during the week ended September 26, exceeding the 1.0-million-barrel build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. , On Tuesday, sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group had reported a 3.7-million-barrel draw for the week. "Crude stocks rose following a drop in exports, which were not as hot and could signal some weak demand ... we already had a pretty big sell-off on the government shutdown and expectations that that could slow the economy and hurt demand," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal. Government agencies have warned this would halt the release of the closely watched September employment report, among other things. The White House warned that worker layoffs are imminent as the first day of the government shutdown unfolded, even as Vice President JD Vance insisted no final decisions have been made. U.S. manufacturing activity edged up in September, though new orders and employment were subdued as factories grappled with the fallout from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. In Asia, the world's biggest oil-consuming region, data on factory activity added to concerns about fuel demand, as manufacturing activity contracted across most major economies in September. Focus was also shifting to the supply and export disruption in Russia due to Ukrainian assaults, PVM Oil Associates' analyst Tamas Varga said. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the situation with the supply of fuel on the domestic market is under control on the whole, while some regions are experiencing shortages of the fuel. Urals crude differentials to dated Brent held steady on Wednesday, while oil loadings from Russia's three key western ports jumped by 25% in September from August, as refinery outages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks freed up more crude. In Venezuela, an OPEC member under U.S. sanctions, oil exports averaged 1.09 million bpd in September, the highest monthly level since February 2020, according to shipping data and documents from state-run energy company PDVSA. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-steadies-investors-weigh-opec-output-hike-against-us-crude-inventories-2025-10-01/

2025-10-01 00:39

TAIPEI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan will not agree to a deal with the United States for half of all semiconductor production to take place in the country, the island's top tariff negotiator said on Wednesday after returning home. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told U.S. television network NewsNation over the weekend that Washington's pitch to Taiwan would be a 50-50 split in making chips, the vast majority of which are now made on the island. Sign up here. Taiwan Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun, who is leading the tariff talks with Washington, told reporters upon getting back to the island that she had not discussed the 50-50 idea suggested by the U.S. during the talks. "Our negotiating team has never made any commitment to a 50-50 split on chips. Rest assured, we did not discuss this issue during this round of talks, nor would we agree to such conditions," she said, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. Neither the U.S. Commerce Department nor the Office of the United States Trade Representative responded to requests for comment sent outside of U.S. business hours. Taiwan, home to the world's biggest contract chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW) , opens new tab, runs a large trade surplus with the United States. The island's exports to the United States are currently subject to a 20% tariff. TSMC, whose business is surging on strong demand for artificial intelligence applications, is investing $165 billion to build chip factories in the U.S. state of Arizona, though the bulk of its production will remain in Taiwan. The company declined to comment on proposals for a 50-50 chip production deal. Taiwan's government said last month that it hoped for a more favourable tariff rate from the United States after talks achieved "certain progress". Speaking in parliament in Taipei on Tuesday, Premier Cho Jung-tai said Cheng had had multiple talks with the United States on tariff issues. "The most critical substantive consultations are currently underway," he said. Cheng, speaking at the airport, said that "detailed" discussions had taken place which yielded "certain progress", the Central News Agency added. Separately, Taiwan's presidential office said late on Tuesday that President Lai Ching-te had met the visiting Luke J. Lindberg, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Lai said that a Taiwan agricultural delegation visiting the United States in September planned to buy $10 billion of U.S. agricultural goods over the coming four years, including soybeans, wheat, corn and beef. (This story has been corrected to rectify the television station name to NewsNation, in paragraph 2, in a previous version of this story) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-will-not-agree-50-50-chip-production-deal-with-us-negotiator-says-2025-10-01/

2025-10-01 00:32

US government funding expired at 0400 GMT on Wednesday Shutdown will delay key monthly jobs report Yen gets biggest boost US private sector jobs fall in September NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slid to two-week lows against the yen on Wednesday after data showed private-sector jobs in the world's largest economy contracted last month, boosting expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates two more times this year. Against the euro and sterling, the dollar fell to one-week troughs in the wake of the jobs data. Sign up here. Data showed that U.S. private employment shrank by 32,000 jobs last month after a downwardly revised 3,000 decline in August, according to the ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing 50,000 following a previously reported 54,000 advance in August. "The job situation seems to just be getting a little bit worse, data point after data point," said Erik Bregar, director, FX & precious metals risk management at Silver Gold Bull in Toronto. "The ever-weakening U.S. jobs market is the big story. And with the official data sources on hold because of the shutdown, some people might like it actually because those data sources haven't been very reliable lately." U.S. rate futures have priced nearly 50 basis points of cuts this year following the ADP data, from about 43 bps of easing on Tuesday, with market-implied odds of around 99% for an October rate move, according to LSEG data. The jobs data followed a mixed reading for the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday. The report showed U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with a softening labor market. The ADP report, jointly developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, gained more attention from investors seeking fresh clues on the labor market as the Labor Department's more comprehensive and closely followed employment report for September will not be published on Friday. The private sector jobs report came amid a U.S. government shutdown, which commenced hours after the Senate rejected a short-term spending measure that would have kept government operations afloat through November 21. Senate Republican Leader John Thune said the chamber would vote again on the House-passed measure on Wednesday. "We are concerned with the government shutdown, which also does not bode well for the buck," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA in Washington. "The dollar has few reasons to remain a beacon of strength and reliability when the American government is closed and there is evidence presented that Americans are struggling to find jobs." In afternoon trading, the dollar fell 0.6% against the yen to 147.07 yen, after earlier falling to its weakest since September 17. The greenback was flat against the Swiss franc at 0.7967 franc . The greenback also fell to a one-week low against the euro, which was last up 0.1% at $1.1738 . Sterling also rose to a one-week high versus the dollar, and was last up 0.3% at $1.3487 . The dollar index , which tracks the U.S. currency against six major peers, fell to a one-week trough, and was last down 0.2% at 97.68. The broader markets bore a few hallmarks of safe-haven buying, giving low-yielding currencies such as the Japanese yen a bid, while U.S. Treasuries and gold held firm. U.S. President Donald Trump warned congressional Democrats on Tuesday that letting the federal government shut down would allow his administration to take "irreversible" actions including closing programs important to them. The U.S. Labor and Commerce departments said their statistics agencies would halt data releases in the event of a partial shutdown. That includes Friday's scheduled nonfarm payrolls release, considered key in determining whether a Fed rate cut is likely at the end of this month. The length of any shutdown may be key for markets, as the Fed's next policy decision on October 29 remains weeks away. In contrast, traders are placing a roughly 40% chance that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates this month. The central bank's quarterly "tankan" corporate sentiment survey on Wednesday showed confidence among big Japanese manufacturers improved for the second straight quarter and firms maintained their upbeat spending plans. BOJ officials have tilted more hawkish in recent days, including formerly dovish board member Asahi Noguchi, who said on Monday that the need for policy tightening was increasing more than ever. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dollar-defensive-us-government-shutdown-looms-2025-10-01/

2025-10-01 00:32

CHICAGO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Uber is not liable for the sexual assault of a woman who said she was attacked by her driver on a ride she ordered from the app, a California jury said on Tuesday, according to an attorney for the plaintiff. At the end of a three-week civil trial in San Francisco Superior Court, the jury rejected the woman’s argument that Uber was to blame for her assault. Sign up here. The case was the first to go to trial out of more than 500 lawsuits consolidated in California state court. There are also more than 2,500 lawsuits making similar claims that have been centralized in a federal court in California. The woman, who went by Jessica C. at trial, sued in 2021, claiming she was assaulted by an Uber driver in 2016. During the ride, her driver pulled off on a side street, restraining, groping and kissing her, according to her attorneys. Her lawsuit was chosen to serve as the first "bellwether" for the state court litigation. In litigation with many plaintiffs asserting similar claims, bellwether trials are used to test the claims and establish what they may be worth. Judges may use the outcome of the trial to manage the remaining cases, or lawyers can use them to inform settlement negotiations. The woman's attorneys had asked the jury for between $175,000 and $1.2 million in compensatory damages for each year of her life, suggesting larger figures for the years closest to the assault. They did not suggest a number for punitive damages. SAFETY PRACTICES IN THE SPOTLIGHT The lawsuits allege Uber was aware it had a problem with drivers assaulting riders, but kept data on how many assaults took place from the public and did not take action to address the issue. The plaintiffs have argued that Uber knew that things like assigning female riders to female drivers or requiring dash cams to record driver and passenger interactions would reduce assaults, but failed to broadly implement such programs. Uber has maintained it should not be liable for criminal conduct by the drivers it connects with passengers, and that its background checks and disclosures about assaults were sufficient. The litigation threatens to reopen wounds from Uber's early years, when the company was dogged by safety controversies, allegations of lax driver vetting, and a culture critics said prioritized growth over protecting passengers. With hundreds of millions of dollars potentially at stake, the outcome could weigh on Uber's balance sheet and complicate its relationships with regulators and investors who have closely tracked its safety record. The company has made safety a central talking point in recent years, publishing U.S. Safety Reports that detail reported sexual assaults, rolling out features such as in-app ride verification, video and audio recording of rides, anomaly detection, and partnering with survivor advocacy groups to reform driver training. Uber has also touted the formation of a Safety Advisory Board chaired by former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and pledged $10 million through its “Driving Change” initiative to support organizations working to end gender-based violence. Despite these measures, Uber’s safety reputation has remained fragile. In its latest safety report published last year, covering the 2021–2022 period, Uber said reports of serious sexual assault on its platform have fallen by 44% since its first report in 2017–2018. But with thousands of cases still documented, critics say systemic risks remain. Prompted by an August New York Times report on the issue, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee sent a letter last week to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi seeking information on the company’s protocols for responding to and preventing sexual assaults on its rides. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/uber-found-not-liable-first-us-trial-over-driver-sexual-assault-claims-2025-10-01/

2025-10-01 00:22

S. Korea, US agree to avoid currency manipulation Joint statement mirrors Japan's, does not include FX swaps Trade negotiations stalled due to FX concerns Seoul to provide intervention operations on monthly basis SEOUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea agreed that foreign exchange interventions should be reserved for combating excessive volatility, without targeting exchange rates for competitive purposes, according to a joint statement released on Wednesday. The statement mirrors an agreement between the U.S. and Japan announced last month and does not include a bilateral currency swap line, requested by Seoul to address the foreign exchange implications of a $350 billion investment package included in a framework trade deal reached in July. Sign up here. "The United States and the Republic of Korea reconfirmed they have undertaken under the IMF Articles of Agreement to avoid manipulating exchange rates or the international monetary system to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair competitive advantage," the statement said, using South Korea's official name. The two countries agreed that "any macroprudential or capital flow measures will not target exchange rates for competitive purposes," according to the statement. Compared with Japan's, there was no mention that foreign exchange rates had to be "market determined". South Korea said there would be continued efforts to monitor currency market "stability", a point not included in Japan's agreement. "Government investment vehicles invest abroad for risk-adjusted return and diversification purposes, and not to target the exchange rate for competitive purposes," the statement also said. However, it did not explicitly mention South Korea's National Pension Service, the world's third-largest pension fund, which has emerged as a point of concern in talks with Washington. In the foreign exchange report released in June, in which South Korea was listed on a monitoring list, the U.S. Department of the Treasury noted increasing foreign assets of the NPS and its swap line with the Bank of Korea, raising concern among market participants that it might be seen as a tool for currency intervention. The two countries agreed in the joint statement that market intervention "should be reserved for combating excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates" and would be "considered equally appropriate for addressing excessively volatile or disorderly depreciation or appreciation." South Korea agreed in the statement to exchange with the U.S. its market intervention operations on a monthly basis. Public disclosures will continue to be on a quarterly basis, with a three-month delay, according to a South Korean official. Seoul will also disclose foreign exchange reserves data and forward positions on a monthly basis, as well as the currency composition of central bank reserves on an annual basis, which are already public. South Korea and the U.S. have consulted on currency policy via a channel between finance officials since it was put on the agenda at the opening round of trade talks in April. Their negotiations to formalise a July deal reducing U.S. tariffs on Korean imports, including automobiles, to 15% from 25%, in return for South Korea's investment of $350 billion in the U.S., have stalled due to Seoul's concerns over the foreign exchange implications. The won has weakened 3% so far in the second half of this year to trade around a psychological barrier of 1,400 per dollar, underperforming most emerging Asian currencies, on uncertainty over trade talks with the U.S. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-south-korea-agree-not-target-fx-rates-trade-advantage-2025-10-01/

2025-10-01 00:09

MELBOURNE, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday he was concerned about a report that China's state iron ore buyer had taken steps to pause purchases of iron ore cargoes from miner BHP (BHP.AX) , opens new tab. Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter, reported on Tuesday that state-owned China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) had asked the country's steelmakers and traders to pause purchases of BHP's dollar-denominated seaborne iron ore cargoes during annual price negotiations. Sign up here. "I am concerned about that and what we want to make sure is that markets operate properly," Albanese told reporters. "We have seen those issues in the past. I want to see Australian iron ore to be able to be exported to China without hindrance." CMRG has not responded to an emailed request for comment. A BHP spokesperson said on Tuesday the company does not comment on commercial negotiations. Albanese said he hoped the issue would be resolved quickly and acknowledged differences could happen during price negotiations. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would set up a meeting with BHP CEO Mike Henry. Iron ore is Australia's most valuable export product, though a government report in June said earnings from that could fall to A$105 billion ($69.39 billion) for the financial year ending in June 2026, from A$116 billion the prior year as global supplies increase. China, the world's largest iron ore consumer, buys about 75% of global seaborne iron ore and set up CMRG three years ago to buy ore on behalf of its steelmakers to gain more leverage as a large, single buyer. BHP is the world's largest listed miner and China's third-biggest iron ore supplier behind Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) , opens new tab, (RIO.L) , opens new tab and Vale (VALE3.SA) , opens new tab. ($1 = 1.5131 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-pm-concerned-about-chinas-reported-pause-bhp-iron-ore-purchases-2025-10-01/