2024-04-16 06:58

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Investors have increased their allocations to stocks and commodities and dumped bonds, Bank of America's monthly fund manager survey for April showed, which they said was the most bullish such survey since January 2022. The survey showed the biggest jump in global growth optimism since May 2022, a record jump in allocation to commodities, and equity allocation at a 27-month high. Cash levels fell to 4.2% of assets under management from 4.4% a month earlier, while investors were a net 14% underweight bonds, a 20-percentage point month-on-month drop, the most since July 2003. The survey of 224 asset managers with $638 billion of assets under management was carried out between April 5 and 11. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/asset-managers-most-bullish-over-two-years-says-bofa-survey-2024-04-16/

2024-04-16 06:48

CANBERRA, April 16 (Reuters) - An El Nino weather event has ended, Australian weather authorities said on Tuesday, adding that they were uncertain if a La Nina phenomenon would form later this year, as other forecasters have predicted. The cycle between the two is hugely important for farmers worldwide. El Nino generally brings hotter, drier weather to eastern Australia and Southeast Asia and wetter conditions to the Americas, while a La Nina has the opposite effect. "El Nino has ended," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said, after the weather phenomenon had formed in the middle of last year following three years of La Nina. Warmer sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific cause El Nino and cooler temperatures lead to La Nina, which a U.S. government weather forecaster this month gave a 60% chance of emerging in the second half of 2024. The sea surface has been cooling since December and oceanic and atmospheric indicators now show the El Niño–Southern Oscillation has returned to neutral, the Australian weather bureau added. "Climate models indicate ENSO will likely continue to be neutral until at least July 2024," it said, using the formal . name, the El Niño Southern Oscillation, that describes the switch between the two phases. While some climate models predict a flip to La Nina later this year, the bureau said it was uncertain whether this would happen and urged caution about such forecasts. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-bureau-meteorology-flags-end-el-nino-2024-04-16/

2024-04-16 06:24

Bullion hit all-time high of $2,431.29 per ounce on Friday 10-year Treasury yields are close to a five-month high Citi expects gold to regularly test $2,500/oz in H2 Palladium falls by 3.3%, silver down 2.0% LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell on Tuesday, under pressure from high U.S. Treasury yields and as investors locked in profits from a rally that drove the precious metal to a record peak last week. Spot gold was down 0.3% to $2,375.50 per ounce by 1244 GMT. The metal rose 1.7% on Monday and touched an all-time high of $2,431.29 on Friday. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was last at 4.63%, having surged to a five-month high of 4.66% on Monday after U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in March. This prompted the market to increase bets on fewer U.S. rate cuts in 2024. FEDWATCH "Although the long-term correlation between the two (gold and the Treasury yields) seems to have been abandoned, over the short term, it still influences," said independent analyst Ross Norman. "Higher-for-longer is one of the biggest headwinds in an otherwise very positive landscape for gold." Gold is up 15% so far this year after its March-April rally, driven by expectations for sustained inflation, safe-haven demand amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and strong purchases by central banks. "This gold rally looks far from done," Norman added. Analysts at Citi expect gold to regularly test and breach $2,500 in the second half of 2024 and to hit $3,000 per ounce over the next six-18 months. "Gold is operating in a new paradigm, there are participants hedging against all kinds of risk and some new stakeholders have appeared, by the look of it. It is still looking as if the buy-on-dips mentality is here to stay, at least for now," said StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell. Correcting in tandem with gold, spot silver fell 2% to $28.32 per ounce, platinum was down 0.2% to $967.15, and palladium lost 3.3% to $1,001.75. "Platinum and palladium have been benefiting from some industrial interest but this looks to have waned for now," O'Connell added. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-near-record-high-growing-geopolitical-concerns-2024-04-16/

2024-04-16 06:16

MUMBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee dropped to a record low on Tuesday, weighed by the rise in U.S. Treasury yields on bets that the Federal Reserve will delay rate cuts and on simmering worries that the situation in the Middle East could worsen. The rupee slipped to a lifetime low of 83.5350 to the U.S. dollar near the open before inching up to 83.4875 at 10:24 a.m. IST. The local currency had closed at 83.4500 on Monday. The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened via state-run banks to curb the rupee's decline, traders said. "The RBI has yet again managed to snuff out any possibility of a large move that would have made a lot of people nervous," Kunal Kurani, associate vice president at Mecklai Financial, said. The rupee would have declined "way more" if the RBI had not intervened, he said. The dollar index was at its highest in nearly six months, while Asian currencies dropped, with the Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah leading the way. Asian equities declined up to 2.3%. Asian currencies and equities were pegged back by the rise in U.S. Treasury yields. U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in March, indicating that the economy remained healthy and reinforcing expectations that a Fed rate cut this quarter was unlikely. The 10-year U.S. yield on Monday climbed to the highest since mid-November. The dollar rose against its major peers. The U.S. retail sales data fuelled expectations of "no landing for the economy and rates staying higher for longer", ANZ Bank said in a note. Concerns that Israel could retaliate to Iran's attack over the weekend further sapped the appetite for the rupee and other Asian currencies. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours on Monday to weigh a response to Iran's attack. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-falls-record-low-rising-us-yields-rbi-likely-steps-2024-04-16/

2024-04-16 06:13

PARIS, April 16 - French energy company Engie (ENGIE.PA) New Tab, opens new tab has acquired two biomethane production sites in the Netherlands it hopes to expand, in line with plans to produce 10 terawatt hours (TWh) of the gas and sell 30 TWh annually in Europe by 2030, the company said on Tuesday. The purchases bring Engie's total installed biogas production capacity in Europe to 1.1 TWh — about 0.04% of European Union natural gas consumption last year. One plant in Hardenburg produces 0.09 TWh annually, with the possibility to expand to 0.15 TWh. The second site in Alkmaar produces 0.05 TWh annually and could expand to 0.094 TWh. While the deal price was not released, last year Engie paid 64.8 million pounds ($80.73 million) to snap up three British sites producing 0.16 TWh annually. Last month it added another 0.06 TWh to its portfolio with the acquisition of Rainbarrow Farm in Britain. "We hope, as was the case in England, that with these two acquisitions we will acquire some notoriety in the Netherlands that will allow other opportunities to come to us ... as farmers who have built their methanisers sell and retire, or as investment funds cede sites as part of their rotation of assets," Camille Bonenfant, who heads Engie's European renewable gas business, told Reuters in an interview. Biomethane is chemically identical to natural gas and can be injected into existing pipeline grids, but is produced by bacteria feeding on crops and manure in a process called anaerobic digestion. EU rules label biomethane "renewable," meaning countries and companies can count it as green energy alongside wind and solar and mandate its use via quotas, notably in the transport sector - even as it produces the same amount of climate-warming emissions as natural gas when burned. Bonenfant said the biogas from the acquired sites already has guaranteed buyers via existing contracts, but that Engie hopes over time to include the volumes in its own sales portfolio to boost its integrated gas business. ($1 = 0.8027 pound) The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/engie-buys-two-dutch-biogas-sites-hunts-more-2024-04-16/

2024-04-16 06:10

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Sterling stayed at a five-month low versus the dollar on Tuesday, after data showed Britain's unemployment rate rose by more-than-expected. The pound was last flat on the day against the dollar at $1.24475, having touched its lowest since Nov. 17, earlier in the session. It was also steady versus the euro, which stood at 85.36 pence . The UK unemployment rate in the three months to February rose to 4.2% from 3.9%, although the Office for National Statistics said there was still some volatility in its data as it overhauls its survey which produces the figure. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast the February figure at 4%. Regular wages excluding bonuses grew by 6.0% compared with the same period a year earlier, easing from an increase of 6.1% in the November-to-January period. "The labour market is clearly cooling. Wages take more time to react, but they're also slowing," said Kenneth Broux, head of corporate research, FX and Rates at Societe Generale. "I think the drop in employment is good news for those at the Bank of England who are going to vote for rate cuts. And so in that context, again, relative to the Fed, it's not good news for the pound against the dollar," he added. Inflation due on Wednesday will be another data point that investors will be looking at for clues on the path of the BoE's rate cuts, with markets pricing August as the most likely start date for policy easing. Money markets are currently expecting about 46 basis points of interest rate cuts by the BoE this year, according to LSEG data, with a first cut in August seen as more likely than not, but not fully priced. The higher-than-expected U.S. inflation figure last week has caused markets to scale back expectations of the first Federal Reserve cut even further, with expectations of the first rate cut moving from June to September. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-holds-five-month-low-after-wage-data-2024-04-16/