2025-10-09 20:37

Fourth round of US Iran sanctions that target a China refinery US also sanctions first Chinese petrochemical terminal Trump says would like Iran to be able to rebuild Iran oil exports hit year high in September -Tanker tracker UANI WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. imposed sanctions on about 100 individuals, entities and vessels, including a Chinese independent refinery and terminal, that helped Iran's oil and petrochemicals trade, the administration of President Donald Trump said on Thursday. The Treasury Department sanctioned the Shandong Jincheng Petrochemical Group, which it said is an independent teapot refinery in Shandong Province that has purchased millions of barrels of Iranian oil since 2023. Sign up here. It also sanctioned China-based Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal, which operates a terminal at Lanshan Port. Treasury said it has accepted more than a dozen of Iran's so-called shadow fleet vessels that evade the sanctions. The tankers included Kongm, Big Mag, and Voy, which Treasury said transported several million barrels of Iranian oil to Rizhao. The U.S. believes Iran's oil networks help Tehran fund its nuclear and missile programs and support militant proxies throughout the Middle East. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The sanctions came even as Israel and Hamas signed a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, which if fully implemented, would bring the two sides closer than any previous effort to halt a war that had evolved into a regional conflict, drawing in countries such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon. Treasury said it was the fourth round of sanctions in which the administration targeted China-based refineries that continue to purchase Iranian oil. "The Treasury Department is degrading Iran's cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran's energy export machine,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Trump, at a Cabinet meeting in the White House after the sanctions were released, said Iran told the administration it was in favor of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal and that the U.S. would work with Tehran. "We'd like to see them be able to rebuild their country too, but they can't have a nuclear weapon," said Trump, who said on Thursday he will be leaving for the Middle East soon. Despite waves of U.S. sanctions, Iran continues to export large amounts of oil. United Against a Nuclear Iran, which tracks the country's petroleum shipments, said Iran's oil exports in September set a new high for the year of about 63.2 million barrels, worth about $4.26 billion. UANI said September's growth in sales was likely due to stockpiling ahead of the resumption of U.N. sanctions on Iran. The State Department said the U.S. also designated the first China-based terminal, Jiangyin Foreversun Chemical Logistics, for receiving Iranian-origin petrochemical products. The Chinese embassy in Washington and Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-imposes-sanctions-china-refinery-others-iran-oil-purchases-2025-10-09/

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/