2025-09-04 09:49

European and Asian stocks mostly rise despite China selloff Bond market calm after rising fiscal health concerns Weak job openings data, Fed's dovish comments reinforce rate cut bets LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials and a smooth auction of super long-term debt in Japan eased some of the recent government bond market jitters. China bourses had tumbled overnight on reports Beijing wanted to cool the red hot rally in its equity markets, especially the tech sector (.STAR50) , opens new tab, (.CSI300) , opens new tab, but Europe had a much smoother start. Sign up here. The region's STOXX 600 (.STOXX) , opens new tab ticked up 0.3% as trading settled and the angst about rising long-term government borrowing costs in the likes of France, Britain and U.S. gave way to relative calm. Oil prices extended their weak week after a Reuters report that OPEC+ officials were eyeing an increase in output targets at their meeting this weekend, while the dollar was in drift mode ahead of Friday's crucial jobs report. /FRX Several key Federal Reserve officials have bolstered expectations of an imminent Fed rate cut in recent days. Traders are now pricing in a near 100% chance that one will be delivered at the central bank's next meeting on Sept. 17. "The markets have become a little bit more convinced about a Fed rate cut this month, so that has put some modest downward pressure on bond yields," MUFG's global markets division head of research, Derek Halpenny, said. He added that the Chinese equity market dip had weighed a little on the Aussie and Kiwi dollars in the FX markets, but otherwise it was largely a case of "consolidate and wait" for Friday's payrolls numbers. Europe's bond buyers nudged the German 30-year bond yield down just over 1 basis point to 3.3%. France’s was down roughly the same at 4.45%, having hit 4.523% on Tuesday, its highest since June 2009 on worries its government could collapse again. FALLING STAR Overnight, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding those from Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab had ended 0.2% lower after a Bloomberg report that financial regulators were preparing cooling measures for the market. Beijing bluechips (.CSI300) , opens new tab fell as much as 2.6%, while the tech-heavy STAR 50 index, which soared nearly 30% last month, dropped more than 6% in its worst day since April. Wall Street futures were pointing to an easy restart. Payrolls aren't till Friday, but traders will get to hear the nomination hearing of Stephen Miran, U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to replace resigning Fed board member Adriana Kugler. "It’ll be interesting to hear senators' questioning of Miran's views on Fed independence," Deutsche Bank's Global Head of Macro Research, Jim Reid, said, given that Trump has moved to fire another Fed official, Lisa Cook, and has been repeatedly criticising Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. In testimony posted to the Senate Banking Committee's website on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's hearing, Miran said he intended to "preserve" that independence. With all the focus the independence issues have created on already sky-high government debt levels, there was relief that an auction of 30-year Japanese bonds had gone smoothly in Tokyo overnight. Australian shares (.AXJO) , opens new tab advanced 1%, recovering from their biggest one-day sell-off since April, while the Nikkei 225 (.N225) , opens new tab ended 1.5% higher. "We got one or two days of weakness but the dip-buyers have stepped in," Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG in Sydney, said. India's benchmark Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab rose 1% as markets reopened, after the government slashed levies on several goods to fire up consumption and counteract U.S. tariffs. Wednesday's Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" had painted a mixed picture of U.S. economic health, which appeared to underscore monetary policymakers' concerns. Analysts at ING called it quite "bleak" and said it was "littered with" tariff warnings on prices. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes inched down to 4.2% in European trading with the more rate-sensitive 2-year yield just above 3.6%. The dollar edged up 0.1% against the yen at 148.25 , keeping within the trading range where it has stayed since the beginning of August. It was also fractionally higher against the euro at $1.1650. In commodities markets, Brent crude dipped 0.6% to $67.17 a barrel and gold edged back 0.8% after hitting a record high of 3,578.5 an ounce on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-3-pix-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 09:09

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The pound drifted on Thursday, in what has been its most volatile week in months, as investors grow increasingly nervous about Britain's finances and the government's ability to keep them under control, which has rattled the bond market too. Sterling traded a shade higher at $1.3455, heading for a third weekly decline. The pound was also steady against the euro , which held at 86.67 pence. Sign up here. Yields on 30-year British government bonds , or gilts, briefly shot up this week to their highest since 1998, swept along in a rout that has punished the long-dated debt of most major economies. Typically, higher yields would support the pound. But when that increase in borrowing costs is the product of concern about the outlook for inflation, rather than that of optimism that longer-term growth looks robust, the currency suffers. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Wednesday suggested that British interest rates would continue to fall, but there was far less certainty about the pace of cuts. "There is now considerably more doubt about exactly when and how quickly we can make those further steps," Bailey told a hearing of the House of Commons' Treasury Committee, reiterating his comments after August's rate cut. The derivatives market shows traders are assuming the BoE will almost certainly cut rates at its meeting on September 18, but the picture beyond that is fuzzier. "There is just an 18% chance of a cut in November, a month ago there was a 67% chance of a cut. Thus, UK yields may be able to reverse recent gains, but we still expect UK yields to remain higher than our peers' yields for some time," Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said. "With uncertainty likely as we lead up to the budget in November, we believe that sterling peaked in July at $1.38, and may trade sideways below $1.35 in the short term." Finance minister Rachel Reeves presents her autumn budget on November 26. Reeves is under pressure to keep the government's finances on track and has vowed to keep a grip on spending to help bring down inflation and borrowing costs. Bond investors are concerned. Britain has the highest borrowing costs among the Group of Seven advanced economies. A 10-year gilt yields 4.74%, compared with 4.2% for an equivalent U.S. Treasury and 1.6% for low-yielder Japan . https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-steadies-uk-bond-market-frenzy-ebbs-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 08:51

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British firms' expectations of inflation over the next year in the overall economy rose to 3.3%, up by 0.1 percentage points, in the three months to August, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday. The survey also showed firms' expectations for employment growth over the next year have weakened, falling by 0.3 percentage points to 0.2% in the three months to August. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/british-firms-report-slight-rise-uk-year-ahead-inflation-expectations-boe-survey-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 08:38

Former head of EM debt sees tell-tale signs of crisis Urges next government to act swiftly IMF wants end of fuel subsidies, dollar peg LONDON/NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The former head of emerging-market debt at asset manager BlackRock and grandson of one of Bolivia's most famous presidents is offering to help the winner of next month's presidential election fix the country's debt problems. The October 19 runoff is between centrist Rodrigo Paz and right-wing former President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who has said the country needs to renegotiate its $14 billion of external borrowings. Sign up here. Sergio Trigo Paz, who at BlackRock was involved in some of the world's largest sovereign defaults from Argentina to Ukraine, told Reuters that Bolivia's woes meant "the vultures" - distressed debt investors - were now circling. With the economy in disarray and barely enough foreign exchange reserves to cover two months of imports, the crunch could come in March when the new government faces roughly $380 million worth of debt payments, he said in a telephone interview from Bolivia on Wednesday. "This is exactly the environment where distressed-debt funds thrive," said Trigo Paz, who returned to Bolivia this year after working in London for two decades. "They buy (bonds) at cents on the dollar, litigate for recovery and wait." The country's 7.5% bond maturing in 2030 has been trading just below 80 cents on the dollar after a rally on a poor showing by the ruling socialist party in the August 17 first-round voting. Trigo Paz said there has also been a short squeeze caused by local pension funds, which has caused distortion. "The macro challenges are not insurmountable ... But at current levels, 80 cents on the dollar would be pricing in perfection," he said. The election debate is whether the country needs the kind of chainsaw-style reforms Javier Milei has adopted in neighbouring Argentina, or can afford a more gradual approach. The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Bolivia phase out costly fuel subsidies, ditch its U.S. dollar currency peg and lift capital controls, all measures Trigo Paz backs. "What is most important is to get ready for what is coming," he said, urging the new government to act swiftly. "Once the IMF are on the other side of the table you are not in control of the steering wheel." EXPERIENCE Given Bolivia's history of economic crises and public protests, veterans warn the painful fixes now required will test the resolve of the new government. Trigo Paz said he would be willing to help tackle the debt problems in a technocrat capacity, though has not been in contact about the possibility with either Rodrigo Paz - a distant cousin - or Quiroga. He stipulated too that: "It would depend on the willingness to truly address the imbalances". His grandfather, Victor Paz Estenssoro, towered over Bolivian politics for half a century and in 1985, during his last term in charge, introduced sweeping free-market reforms that helped vanquish hyperinflation and stabilise the economy. With Bolivia back on the brink again, he said, equally bold actions were now needed. "Gradualism is not something that I believe is going to work." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/former-blackrock-debt-head-warns-vultures-circling-bolivia-crisis-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:45

MANGAREDJIPA, Congo, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Maman Soki is among a small group of Congolese women undertaking heavy mining work for survival after escaping a deadly attack on her village by Islamic State-alligned rebels that killed her daughter and her sister. In April, the 49-year-old widow left her home in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo with her son, grandson and her sister's children to flee the jihadists - one of many armed groups in the mineral-rich region. Sign up here. Soki now works alongside two other women at Pangoyi gold mine, lugging 30 kg sacks of debris up a muddy slope for a few dollars a day to feed the four children in her care. "Sometimes we want to enter the pits to dig, but we're told women aren't allowed," Soki said in an interview. "That's why we always carry the already-dug sand for processing." A photograph of her lost sibling is among the few reminders of the life Soki left behind. Soki now cares for her sister's two small children, as well as her orphaned grandson. Soki's 12-year-old son Muhindo Obed looks after his three adopted siblings while Soki is at work. In Congo, mining is traditionally dominated by men, but women are often driven to undertake the back-breaking work to survive. Women in mining often face discrimination and harassment by male colleagues, and perform lower-paying tasks, according to the national association RENAFEM, a Western-funded group that aims to protect the rights of female workers. Soki hopes to save enough to open a small food store and leave mining behind, but there is little left over after paying for the children's food, school fees and expenses. "We worry for her safety when she goes to Pangoyi," her son Obed said. In July Islamic State-backed rebels killed at least 43 worshippers in a church in Komanda, and in August they killed at least 52 civilians in the Beni and Lubero areas of eastern Congo, UN and local officials said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congolese-women-turn-mining-survival-after-jihadist-attacks-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:34

COPENHAGEN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Swedish green steel company Stegra is seeking to raise additional cash to complete its flagship investment in northern Sweden, business daily Dagens Industri reported on Thursday. A company spokesperson told Reuters Stegra was considering options including public funding, equity and debt. Sign up here. Stegra, formerly H2 Green Steel, secured 6.5 billion euros ($7.61 billion) in funding in January 2024 for its flagship green steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden, which uses hydrogen produced from renewable electricity. Sweden has led Europe's efforts to shift from fossil-fuel based industries to non-polluting energy, driven by cheap, carbon-free electricity, but its green transition also faces headwinds, such as the bankruptcy of battery maker Northvolt. Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. ($1 = 0.8542 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/swedens-stegra-seeks-more-funds-green-steel-project-business-daily-di-reports-2025-09-04/