2025-10-28 14:55

Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday said Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to regularly disclose any interventions in the foreign exchange market undertaken by their central banks. Both Thailand and Malaysia committed to report interventions on at least a semi-annual basis, according to separate statements issued by Treasury with each country's central bank. Sign up here. Neither bank has, prior to now, made a practice of publicly disclosing their interventions in currency markets, according to the Treasury's semi-annual currency manipulation report , opens new tab. In the case of Malaysia, its monetary authority will report the net purchases and sales of foreign currencies on an aggregated basis over 12 months each March and September. Thailand committed to semi-annual disclosures of FX interventions with a quarterly lag, but with no fixed publication dates. Neither Thailand nor Malaysia was listed as either a currency manipulator or was on the Treasury's watchlist for manipulation in its latest manipulation report in June. The U.S., Thailand and Malaysia also reaffirmed their commitments to the International Monetary Fund's agreement to avoid manipulating exchange rates to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair competitive advantage, the statements said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-treasury-gets-currency-intervention-disclosure-commitments-thailand-malaysia-2025-10-28/

2025-10-28 12:57

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The pound slipped versus the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as the UK's fraught fiscal backdrop was brought into stark focus again, ahead of next week's Bank of England meeting and a closely-watched budget just one month away. Britain's budget watchdog is expected to cut a key productivity forecast by a larger-than-expected 0.3 percentage points, people familiar with the situation said, potentially leading to a 20 billion-pound ($26.8 billion) hit to the public finances. Sign up here. At 1232 GMT, the pound was 0.24% lower at $1.3298, making it the worst-performing major currency against the dollar of the day. It was also weaker against the euro, which rose 0.3% to 87.6 pence . Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING, said the trigger for sterling weakness was news of the Office for Budget Responsibility's plan to cut its productivity forecast by 0.3 percentage points. "That automatically widens the fiscal hole that (finance minister Rachel) Reeves needs to fill with the Autumn budget," he said. The gilt market, meanwhile, held fairly steady, with 10-year yields trading just below 4.4% . The countdown is on ahead of Reeves's budget on November 26 with both tax rises and spending cuts on the horizon. Meanwhile the Bank of England (BoE) is expected to keep interest rates at 4.00% at its November 6 meeting, and a small majority of economists polled by Reuters now expect no further policy easing this year. Traders are still pricing in a 35% chance of a BoE rate cut at the next meeting and money markets show they believe the base rate will be some 20 basis points below the current 4% level. "I don’t think the market thinks that ahead of a critical budget, the Bank of England will show its hands. It'll probably want to digest the information first and then start cutting next year in about February," Kamal Sharma, Senior FX Strategist at Bank of America, said. The pound came off a peak of $1.3787 in July but remains up 6.4% versus the dollar in 2025. The euro briefly hit its highest level against the pound since May 2023 in early trading before paring some of those gains. "The pop above the 87.5 level probably saw a few stops being run," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, which he said exacerbated the brief spike. "The lack of follow-through behind that move is not only notable, but will likely also worry the longs a little. Really needs a break above 87.7 to get the move motoring a little more," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-slips-uks-fiscal-hole-brought-into-focus-2025-10-28/

2025-10-28 12:48

Oil market eyeing effect of sanctions on Lukoil, Rosneft Demand for hydrocarbons strong, policy u-turns are evidence Aramco investing $2 bln over three years in digital company Oct 28 (Reuters) - The CEO of Saudi state oil giant Aramco said on Tuesday crude oil demand was strong even before sanctions were imposed on major Russian oil firms Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab and Lukoil (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab and that Chinese demand was still healthy. "Right now we have to wait and see what will happen with the sanctions," Amin Nasser said on a panel at the Future Investment Initiative conference when asked about oil prices. Sign up here. "But we definitely know that the demand is strong even before these sanctions were imposed on Rosneft and Lukoil." On October 22, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on the two Russian oil companies. Britain had already targeted Lukoil and Rosneft a week earlier, as well as 44 shadow fleet tankers in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenue. Moscow-headquartered Lukoil accounts for around 2% of global oil output. The FII is convening this week in Riyadh where attendees include Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, BlackRock's Larry Fink, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Citi's Jane Fraser. It also features tech and energy heavyweights such as Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab CEO Patrick Pouyanne. Nasser maintained oil and gas would continue to play a significant part in the energy mix for decades to come and that policy shifts in some parts of the world recognised the importance of hydrocarbons. "We went through a period where everyone said renewables and alternatives and no need for oil and gas, now you can see a lot of u-turns, a lot of shifts," he said. Trump started his second term in office this year with executive actions aimed at reshaping energy policy, marking a significant departure from the previous administration's focus on renewable energy and climate change mitigation. Aramco is investing almost $2 billion in technology subsidiary Aramco Digital over the next three years with Nasser saying that the company had realised $6 billion of value in the past two years from tech investments. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/aramco-ceo-says-oil-demand-was-strong-even-before-sanctions-russias-rosneft-2025-10-28/

2025-10-28 12:46

Deal involves Westinghouse Electric, Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management US President Donald Trump pushes 'energy dominance' agenda Government will arrange financing and help gain permits Japan to invest in projects Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. government inked a partnership with the Canadian owners of Westinghouse Electric on Tuesday that aims to build at least $80 billion in nuclear reactors. It is one of the most ambitious plans in U.S. atomic energy in decades, underscoring President Donald Trump's agenda to maximize energy output, focused on oil, gas, coal and nuclear. Sign up here. It also comes as growth in artificial intelligence data centers boosts U.S. power demand for the first time in two decades, straining parts of the grid. Under the agreement with Westinghouse Electric's owners, Canada-based Cameco (CCO.TO) , opens new tab and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO) , opens new tab, the U.S. government will arrange financing and help secure permits for the Westinghouse reactors. In return, the plan offers the U.S. government a 20% share of future profits after Westinghouse has paid out profits of $17.5 billion to Brookfield and Cameco. The U.S. government could turn that profit into an equity stake of up to 20% and require an initial public offering of Westinghouse by 2029 if its value surpasses $30 billion, the companies said. The plan was announced after Trump, who is on a trip to Asia, said in Tokyo that Japan will provide up to $332 billion to support infrastructure in the U.S., including construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors and small modular reactors. Japanese firms Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) , opens new tab, Toshiba and IHI (7013.T) , opens new tab could be involved in building up to $100 billion of Westinghouse reactors, according to a fact sheet issued by the two countries on the trade deal on Tuesday. The companies did not say when the U.S. government interest would vest, but added that the government must make a final investment decision and enter agreements to complete construction of the plants. U.S.-listed shares of Cameco rose more than 25% on Tuesday. TOUGH CHALLENGE It remains uncertain if the deal will succeed. Building new U.S. nuclear reactors and a permanent place to deposit the waste has been difficult due to soaring costs as well as public concern about potential accidents. The last two Westinghouse U.S. reactors built at the Vogtle site in Georgia in 2023 and 2024 were about seven years behind schedule and cost around $35 billion, more than double an original estimate of $14 billion. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in 2017 due to cost overruns, and was later acquired by Brookfield. Brookfield owns 51% of Westinghouse, while Cameco holds the rest. No large reactors are currently under construction in the United States. The Trump administration in May ordered the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to slash regulations and fast-track new licenses for reactors, seeking to shrink a multi-year process down to 18 months. The order called for 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030. The administration also reviewed staffing levels at the independent agency, which led some critics to question whether permits would be rushed at a risk to safety. The NRC said it would respond to a request for comment about the deal once it has returned to full operations after the government reopens. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that Trump had promised a nuclear power renaissance "and now he is delivering." Critics also point to the fact that radioactive waste, which remains dangerous for thousands of years, is currently kept on site at nuclear plants in cooling pools and then moved into hard casks. Still, momentum around nuclear is being driven by surging power demand from the so-called hyperscalers that operate massive cloud-computing infrastructure to manage rising artificial intelligence processing. On Monday, NextEra Energy (NEE.N) , opens new tab and Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab struck a deal to restart an idle nuclear plant in Iowa. Tech giants including Google, Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab, and Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab have already inked deals to source power from next-generation nuclear technologies, such as fusion and small modular reactors. Constellation Energy (CEG.O) , opens new tab and Microsoft have partnered to revive a unit of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania to power Microsoft's data centers. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/westinghouse-electric-cameco-corp-brookfield-asset-management-80-bln-nuclear-2025-10-28/

2025-10-28 12:34

BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The European Union will start pooling demand from European companies to buy gas in the coming weeks, its energy commissioner said, as the bloc attempts to speed up its efforts to phase out Russian energy. The EU is negotiating legal proposals to ban all Russian oil and gas imports by January 2028, and adopted sanctions last week that will ban Russian liquefied natural gas sooner, from January 2027. Sign up here. That will require countries still receiving Russian gas to break those contracts and source alternative supplies. EU members including France and Belgium still import Russian LNG, while others including Slovakia and Hungary take Russian gas deliveries via pipeline. EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said Brussels would relaunch its gas demand pooling system in the coming weeks, "to help get competitively priced and diversified supplies". "We will launch a dedicated gas demand aggregation exercise for companies in this region," Jorgensen said in a post on X, during a trip to Romania and Bulgaria. The new pool will target gas buyers in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. Hungary and Slovakia have warned replacing Russian gas could raise energy prices, and opposed the EU's planned exit from Russian gas. The EU is seeking to rapidly increase its LNG imports from the United States - having pledged to buy $250 billion in U.S. energy per year under a trade deal with President Donald Trump. The EU first began pooling companies' demand for gas in 2022 to attempt to replace Russian fuel with alternative supplies in response to the Ukraine war. However, it is not clear how much gas buying it has facilitated. The EU platform pools demand and then matches buyers with gas suppliers. Matched companies then negotiate gas contracts, but the EU is not involved in those commercial talks - and firms have so far not been obliged to disclose any deals they sign. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/eu-pool-companies-demand-buy-more-non-russian-gas-2025-10-28/

2025-10-28 12:23

Demand outlook for data centre equipment below expectations Energy storage unit hit by US tariffs and regulation Wartsila maintains marine outlook despite IMO setback HELSINKI, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wartsila (WRT1V.HE) , opens new tab still believes the decarbonisation of marine traffic will continue despite a delay to establishing a global carbon price for shipping, its CEO said on Tuesday, as it reported third-quarter order intake below market expectations. The Finnish engineering group, one of the world's biggest ship engine makers, has invested in emissions reduction technologies for ships and power plants. It expects higher demand for those under the International Maritime Organisation's climate plan. Sign up here. However, a decision on a global price on shipping emissions was delayed by a year earlier this month under U.S. pressure. ENERGY STORAGE 'HEAVILY IMPACTED' BY US TARIFFS, REGULATIONS Though quarterly order intake fell 0.7% year-on-year to 1.79 billion euros ($2.09 billion), Hakan Agnevall told Reuters Wartsila had not seen any negative impact on orders as a result of the IMO delay. "The decarbonisation journey continues," he said. "We continue to sell, because [ship] owners want to kind of hedge their bets. They want the fuel flexibility, and they certainly want the fuel efficiency." Instead, Agnevall said, among other factors, orders had been dented by Wartsila's energy storage business being "heavily impacted" by U.S. import duties and Foreign Entity of Concern , opens new tab regulation. The energy storage unit accounted for 12% of the company's sales last year. But Agnevall said it received no new orders in the third quarter after FEOC regulation included in U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act", banned the import of Chinese-made battery cells to the United States in July. To mitigate the impact, Wartsila is now looking at sourcing battery cells from the U.S. or other Asian countries, he said. Company shares fell 2% in afternoon trading, as investors had expected higher growth and a better outlook, especially for energy equipment orders. "This may be disappointing for investors who were expecting Wartsila to upgrade the demand outlook on potential upside from data centre orders," JPM analysts wrote in a note, referring to Wartsila leaving its energy demand outlook unchanged. Despite the IMO setback, Wartsila also left its marine outlook unchanged, expecting higher demand. "There will be a journey to a more fragmented regulatory landscape, because countries and regions will have their own frameworks," Agnevall said. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/finlands-wartsila-books-fewer-orders-than-expected-tariffs-hit-energy-storage-2025-10-28/