2024-05-02 21:47

May 3 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. The dovish waves from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference on Wednesday continue to wash over world markets, putting Asian stocks on the cusp of a second straight weekly gain and highs not seen in well over a year. Investor sentiment is positive and risk appetite looks strong going into the Asian open on Friday, after world stocks rose and U.S. bond yields and the dollar fell the previous day. The upbeat mood may be strengthened by the first quarter results from Apple after the U.S. close on Thursday, as the world's second most valuable company reported a smaller than expected decline in revenue and Chief Executive Tim Cook said he expects a return to sales growth in the current quarter. The regional economic and corporate calendar is light on Friday - the Australian services PMI, consumer inflation from Thailand and retail sales from Singapore are the highlights. Perhaps the most important news for world markets on Friday, apart from the U.S. employment figures for April, will come from Tbilisi, where the Asian Development Bank is hosting its 57th annual meeting. Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda are scheduled to hold a press conference on the sidelines of the meeting and if they do face reporters, they will be grilled about Japan's apparent intervention in the currency market this week buying yen. Japan likely intervened early on Monday and early on Thursday local time buying yen to stem its rapid decline that culminated in a fresh 34-year low of 160.00 per dollar. Estimates suggest Tokyo spent just under $60 billion in the two yen-buying forays, around the same amount used in the three interventions over September and October 2022, the last time authorities waded into the market. The targeted action, when market liquidity was particularly thin, appears to have worked, for now at least - the yen hit 153.00 per dollar on Thursday, its strongest since April 15 and up 4.5% from that historic low on Monday. In Asian equities, meanwhile, Hong Kong stocks go into Friday's session at a six-month high, having leaped 2.5% on Thursday thanks to gains in local technology, property and financial stocks. Beijing's pledge this week to step up economic support has helped underpin sentiment. The Hang Seng is now up eight days in a row, its best stretch in five and a half years. It still has some way to go to beat that run though - in late 2018 and early 2019 the index rose 14 days in a row, and only had one 'down' day in 22. Mainland China markets are closed on Friday, the last of a three-day holiday. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday: - Australia services PMI (April) - Thailand consumer inflation (April) - Japan finance minister, central bank governor press conference Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-05-02/

2024-05-02 21:44

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Maryland said on Thursday it estimates it will cost $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion to rebuild a collapsed Baltimore bridge and anticipates it will be completed by fall 2028. The Maryland Department of Transportation said the state's "planning level cost estimate is between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion" which "is in line with similar projects of this scale and complexity." The Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six people. Lawmakers in Congress are working on legislation that would waive the current requirement that the state pay 10% of the rebuilding costs and ensure there is enough money in a federal rebuilding fund. Maryland said it will request proposals to rebuild the bridge by the end of May and plans an industry forum on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Transportation provided an initial $60 million in emergency funds on Thursday to clear debris and start the process of rebuilding the bridge. "We're going to get Baltimore whatever it needs to rebuild, said Senator Brian Schatz who chairs the subcommittee overseeing transportation funding. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said, "Any funds recovered from lawsuits for wrongdoing will be recouped by federal taxpayers." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/maryland-estimates-bridge-replacement-cost-17-bln-19-bln-2024-05-02/

2024-05-02 21:42

May 2 (Reuters) - Coinbase Global (COIN.O) New Tab, opens new tab swung to a first-quarter profit of over $1 billion from a year earlier loss, helped by an uptick in cryptocurrency trading following the launch of the first U.S.-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) tracking bitcoin in January. The company on Thursday reported a net income of $1.2 billion, or $4.84 per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $79 million or $0.34 per share a year ago. Coinbase shares fell 2.5% in after-hours trading, after ending the trading session up nearly 9%. "Despite a very solid report, the stock traded lower after hours with concerns that trading volumes will decrease based on downward movement in bitcoin," said Paul Marino, chief revenue officer at investment firm GraniteShares. Crypto prices rocketed after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the launch of a spate of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the spot price of bitcoin in January after a decade-long tussle with the industry. Coinbase is the custodian for several of the spot bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O) New Tab, opens new tab. Enthusiasm about the ETFs sent bitcoin to a new record high above $72,000 in March and renewed investor enthusiasm in digital assets. Trading volumes at the Coinbase in the first quarter came in at $312 billion, compared with $145 billion a year earlier. "Keeping our cost structure low while continuing to innovate is really paying off," said CEO Brian Armstrong on a call with analysts. In recent weeks, however, bitcoin has struggled as investors have recalibrated interest rate expectations. The U.S. Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate elevated on Wednesday after tightening monetary policy at an unprecedented pace. It signaled it is still leaning toward eventual reductions in borrowing costs, but highlighted recent disappointing inflation readings that could put rate cuts further off. Higher rates have allowed Coinbase to boost its interest income. Coinbase earns interest on reserves from USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin it governs jointly with cryptocurrency firm Circle. USDC, a crypto token designed to have a relatively stable price, is backed by dollar and equivalent assets held in banks and other financial institutions. Coinbase posted interest and finance fee income of $66.7 million in the first quarter, compared to $43.3 million the year prior. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/coinbase-posts-soaring-profit-jump-crypto-prices-2024-05-02/

2024-05-02 21:35

SAO PAULO, May 2 (Reuters) - Torrential rainfall in Brazil's second-largest soybean and sixth-largest corn state is disrupting the final stages of the harvest, according to a meteorologist's bulletin on Thursday, a grains broker and an analyst. Historically, soy farmers in Rio Grande do Sul would have harvested 83% of the area at this time, but the heavy downpours have disrupted the work, according to state crop agency Emater. Still, the soybean harvest in the state had reached 76% of the planted area by Thursday, an increase of 10 percentage points compared with the previous week, Emater said in its weekly crop report. As heavy flooding hit Southern Brazil, Chicago soybeans jumped to their highest point in more than three weeks. "Torrential rains in Rio Grande do Sul have already caused numerous disruptions and losses," said Marco dos Santos, a Rural Clima meteorologist. Santos cited losses in soybean, corn and rice areas. The heavy rains, which will likely continue through the weekend, with a respite between Sunday and Monday, have brought flooding to rural and urban areas, blocking roads and destroying infrastructure. A new cold front should bring more rainfall to Rio Grande do Sul starting on May 9, Santos said. He noted that lower amounts of rain are expected when that system forms, but added that any rain on extremely wet soil "is chaos." In the south of Rio Grande do Sul, an estimated 40% of the soybean crop remains to be harvested, the broker said. In the north, around 80% to 90% has been harvested, he added. Santos said it will continue to rain in much of the northern section of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the in south of neighboring Santa Catarina. "These very voluminous rains, with no sunny breaks to harvest (grains), always end up causing quality losses," said Adriano Gomes, a grains analyst at consultancy AgRural. Rio Grande do Sul was expected to produce 68% more soybeans this season than last, according to estimates from national crop agency Conab for Brazil's No. 2 producer after Mato Grosso state. Emater projects a record crop of 22.25 million metric tons, up 71.5% from a year ago. The rains have killed at least 13 people, while 21 are missing, according to local authorities. On Wednesday, a national holiday in Brazil, the state government warned the situation was critical and could deteriorate further. Some 83% of the corn area has been reaped in Rio Grande do Sul as of Thursday, a 1 percent rise from the same time last week, according to Emater data. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/heavy-rains-big-brazil-farm-state-disrupt-soy-corn-harvests-final-stages-2024-05-02/

2024-05-02 21:30

May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking more details and documentary materials as part of an antitrust review of Nippon Steel's (5401.T) New Tab, opens new tab proposed $15 billion takeover of U.S. Steel, the American firm said on Thursday. Commonly known as a "second request", it signifies additional scrutiny from antitrust regulators who ask for additional information and documentary material as part of their review process for mergers. The DoJ's request comes after the Japanese firm's proposed bid drew sharp criticism in the U.S., including from President Joe Biden, who said the asset should be domestically owned. However, an overwhelming majority of U.S. Steel shareholders voted in favor of the deal in April. Despite fears of layoffs, Japan's largest steelmaker has pledged no job cuts as a result of the merger and has said it will move its own U.S. headquarters to Pittsburgh where U.S. Steel is based. The acquisition of U.S. Steel will help Nippon, the world's fourth-largest steel maker, move toward 100 million metric tons of global crude steel capacity. U.S. Steel now expects that the merger will be completed in the second half of 2024, it said on Thursday, as its prior deadline of second to third quarter of 2024 nears. (This story has been corrected to say the second request signifies additional scrutiny from antitrust regulators in paragraph 2) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/doj-seeks-more-details-us-steel-nippon-steel-proposed-merger-2024-05-02/

2024-05-02 21:16

WILMINGTON, North Carolina, May 2 (Reuters) - Since 1968, North Carolina has backed only two Democrats for president: Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008. President Joe Biden visited the Southeastern state on Thursday for the third time this year, betting he can do it again for Democrats in the 2024 election. But opinion polls suggest Biden will have a tough time flipping North Carolina in this year's rematch against Republican Donald Trump. While winning the presidency in 2020, Biden lost the state to Trump by 1.3% - just 74,000 votes - his narrowest state loss. Biden's campaign is spending heavily on early advertising, voter outreach and in-state staff, hoping to ride North Carolina's recent population boom to victory. Some 400,000 people have moved to North Carolina since 2020, census figures New Tab, opens new tab show, including many people of color and with college educations, groups that vote overwhelmingly Democratic. This time, the state's Republican Party is embracing far-right candidates and policies. Its candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, has supported an outright ban on abortion and referred to homosexuality as “filth." Democrats believe those hard-line policies can help Biden. "We are in the best position to win this state in years," said Aisha Dew, a Biden supporter and Democratic candidate for the state legislature. Opinion polls, however, show a tougher path for Biden in the November election. An Emerson College poll New Tab, opens new tab released on Tuesday showed Trump 5 percentage points ahead of Biden in the state, while Marist College polling from March showed Trump leading on issues like immigration. With a hefty 16 votes in the 538-vote Electoral College that selects U.S. presidents, North Carolina would be more than a historic flip. Winning the state could be an insurance policy for Biden, who polls show struggling against Trump in other battleground states. A win in North Carolina could help Biden clinch victory even if he loses Arizona, Georgia or Wisconsin, states he won in 2020 and where polls show close races this year. The Biden campaign has poured $30 million into battleground state ads since early March, including in North Carolina, aimed at groups including Hispanics and African Americans. It has been working with state election officials to pre-qualify a list of acceptable identification for voters, the first statewide election requiring a photo ID to vote in person. North Carolina's Republican-led legislature has passed some of the strictest laws in the U.S. that could limit whose vote counts. Republicans say these are needed to prevent voter fraud; Democrats say they are meant to suppress likely Democratic votes. Biden's campaign has opened 11 offices in the state and had 40 staffers by the end of the April, aides say, a sharp contrast to Trump, who has yet to name a state team or open any offices in a state he visited more than 20 times in 2020. Trump visited North Carolina earlier this year but had to cancel a rally there last month due to storms. Trump's campaigning has been limited because he is on trial in New York, accused of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to a porn star during the 2016 campaign. Biden visited Wilmington on Thursday to talk about $3 billion in federal funding to replace lead pipes across the country. "This progress is part of my vision for an economy that grows from the middle out and the bottom up," Biden said. "The plan we've put in place is beginning to work." The president also went to Charlotte to pay his respects to the families of four law enforcement officers killed in a gun battle there on Monday. Republicans say they are not worried about losing the state. "In 2016 and 2020, Democrats lit money on fire in North Carolina only to lose to President Trump," Anna Kelly, a Republican National Committee spokesperson, said in a statement. RALEIGH, CHARLOTTE ARE KEY North Carolina's population boom has been led by people of color, according to state budget New Tab, opens new tab figures, and is most pronounced around the banking hub of Charlotte and the state capital Raleigh, two of the fastest-growing New Tab, opens new tab metropolitan areas in the U.S. Many of the new residents are from Democratic-leaning New Tab, opens new tab states like New York and California, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mecklenburg County, encompassing Charlotte, and Wake County, including Raleigh, have added a net 90 voters a day for the past four years, accounting for 41% of the state's new voter registration growth for the period, said Paul Shumaker, a longtime Republican pollster in North Carolina. "This is the county where the election is going to be won," Mecklenburg County Democratic Party chair Drew Comer told supporters when Vice President Kamala Harris visited. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 198,896 votes in Mecklenburg County and 167,139 in Wake County, even as he lost the state. Despite the population boom, there are signs of trouble for Democrats. Black turnout in the 2022 midterm elections was below that of the previous midterms in North Carolina, which at 20% has one of highest Black populations in the country. Even though Cheri Beasley, a Black woman running for the U.S. Senate in 2022, was at the top of every ballot in the state, fewer than 42% of Black registered voters cast a ballot – the lowest turnout of Black voters since 2010, according to an analysis New Tab, opens new tab by the group Democracy North Carolina. A Marist College poll last month found North Carolina registered voters favoring Trump by 12 percentage points on immigration and 9 points on the economy, with 22- and 17-point leads, respectively, with independents. Biden held a 5-point advantage on abortion rights and a 1-point edge on preserving democracy. "Mathematically, Biden is in the hunt in North Carolina,' Republican pollster Shumaker said. "Issue-wise, he has a long way to go to win the state." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-thinks-he-can-flip-north-carolina-polls-show-rough-road-2024-05-02/