2023-12-19 17:26

LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will not take action against Odey Asset Management (OAM), the fund manager that closed this year after a string of sexual misconduct allegations by women against its founder Crispin Odey. In an investor letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday, OAM noted the regulator's decision after the FCA had said that the investigation was closed. In a letter to lawmakers on the Treasury Select Committee, the FCA’s CEO Nikhil Rathi on Dec. 12 confirmed the regulator has been investigating Crispin Odey and Odey Asset Management since 2021. The FCA on Tuesday declined to comment further and referred to the letter which said the investigation into Odey Asset Management was closed but that the watchdog's investigation into Crispin Odey "remains live". OAM, once one of Britain's best-known hedge funds, also said it had wound down and that its last client relationship ended on Dec. 12. Odey, who founded OAM in 1991, was ousted in June after the Financial Times and Tortoise Media jointly reported the allegations of sexual misconduct from 13 women. More women have since stepped forward. Odey denies the allegations. The FCA has said it is investigating whether Odey is "fit and proper" to work in financial services. A representative from OAM declined to comment. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/odey-asset-management-says-fca-has-concluded-investigation-2023-12-19/

2023-12-19 14:41

OTTAWA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate unexpectedly remained at 3.1% in November, data showed on Tuesday, prompting market players to trim their bets as to when the Bank of Canada would start cutting interest rates. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation would ease to 2.9% from 3.1% in October. Statistics Canada said accelerating prices of travel tours had offset slower growth in food prices and cheaper cellular services and fuel oil. Money markets trimmed their expectations for monetary policy easing, with the chances of a cut next month dipping to 16.0% from 21.4%. Markets still expect the central bank to begin easing as soon as April. "(The November release) suggests those rate cuts are still a little bit of a ways off and the market might be getting ahead of itself a little bit," said Michael Greenberg, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. The data helped push the Canadian dollar up 0.3% to C$1.3351 to the greenback, or 74.90 U.S. cents, from C$1.3376, or 74.74 U.S. cents. On a month-over-month basis, the consumer price index was up 0.1%, compared with a forecast for a 0.1% decline. CPI-median and CPI-trim, two of the BoC's three core measures of underlying inflation, also held steady at 3.4% and 3.5%, respectively. The Bank of Canada could start cutting interest rates next year as long as core inflation comes down as predicted, BNN Television cited Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem as saying in an interview that aired on Monday. A nearly 30% increase in mortgage interest costs and a 7.4% rise in rent were two of the largest contributors to the annual inflation rate, Statscan said. Macklem last week said persistently high increases in the price of shelter were a major reason for the overall inflation rate remaining sticky. The central bank has left its key interest rate at a 22-year high of 5% in its last three policy meetings and has maintained that it is too soon to talk about rate cuts. The central bank's next rate announcement is on Jan. 24. "Today's report represents less progress in taming inflation than we had expected ... bond yields are rising as some of the most aggressive bets on rate cuts are getting pared back," said Royce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins. "We are retaining our forecast that the Bank of Canada has enough evidence in hand to begin trimming rates in April 2024." Prices for food purchased from stores increased 4.7% in November, a slowdown from the 5.4% recorded in October, while energy prices fell 5.7% compared with a 5.4% decline in the prior month, Statscan said. Excluding volatile food and energy, prices rose 3.5% compared with a 3.4% year-over-year rise in October. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/canadas-inflation-rate-unexpectedly-holds-31-november-2023-12-19/

2023-12-19 13:41

WARSAW, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Poland's revised 2024 budget pencils in a deficit of 184 billion zlotys ($46.44 billion), the government said on Tuesday, higher than previously forecast as the new administration implements policies such as public sector pay rises. Poland's new pro-European Union government will hike teachers' salaries by around a third while also giving state employees a 20% pay increase. "What was most important to us was to provide money in the 2024 state budget for expenses that meet the obligations towards millions of Poles," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference. "In the 2024 budget, we provided funds to increase the average salaries of teachers by 30%, and in the case of beginner teachers - 33%." The previous government of the nationalist Law and Justice party had forecast a deficit of 165 billion zlotys. The budget forecasts gross domestic product growth of 3% and inflation of 6.6%, Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said. He said that the general government deficit, the measure used by the European Union which includes local government spending, would be 5.1% of GDP. "(This) means that we are consistent with the minimum fiscal effort recommended by the European Commission," Domanski said. "We will strive to gradually reduce this deficit in the coming years." Domanski also said that net borrowing needs will amount to 250 billion zlotys in 2024. "Higher borrowing needs will be financed by debt issuance," he said. "We see very great interest from foreign investors... so a larger part of the debt than in previous years may go to foreign investors." Domanski said that an audit would be carried out in ministries to look for savings. Asked about plans to put Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski before a state tribunal, Tusk said if such a decision were made it would not be due to monetary policy decisions but actions that undermined the bank's independence. ($1 = 3.9625 zlotys) (This story has been corrected to change 'euros' to 'zlotys' in paragraph 4) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poland-sees-higher-2024-deficit-govt-implements-pay-rise-pledges-2023-12-19/

2023-12-19 11:49

COPENHAGEN, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Lava spewing from a volcano in Iceland appeared to be flowing away from the only nearby town and the intensity of the eruption was dropping, offering hope that homes would be safe even though seismic activity could last months, officials said on Tuesday. The government said flights were unlikely to be affected, quashing international travel concerns lingering after chaos that resulted from the ash cloud caused by an eruption on the north Atlantic island in 2010. The eruption late on Monday on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland spewed lava and smoke more than 100 metres (330 feet) into the air after weeks of intense seismic activity. "The eruption does not present a threat to life," a government statement said. "There are no disruptions to flights to and from Iceland and international flight corridors remain open." Authorities last month evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of capital city Reykjavik, allowing them back intermittently to check on homes put at risk by the tremors. Kristin Maria Birgisdottir, 43, a Grindavik resident who has been evacuated since Nov. 10, at first had a hard time believing it when the volcano erupted. "Everything happened so fast," said Birgisdottir. "I had already put my kids to sleep, and I was already in bed when I saw someone posted that it had erupted. I took a screenshot, and thought to myself that it was a bad joke." "We are just waiting for somebody to wake us up or to say cut, the filming is over, because it's so unreal. It's hard to believe this is happening," she later added. Live footage of the eruption showed bright yellow, orange and red lava in sharp contrast against the sky. Some tourists were in awe at the spectacle. "Our BnB hosts sent us a message that the volcano has erupted," a tourist from the Netherlands who gave his name as Wouter said. "It's a once in a lifetime for us so we don't want to miss that ... It's a bit far from here, but you can still see some lava coming up, for us this is amazing." The eruption opened a 4 km (2.5 mile) fissure. But at its southernmost point, the crack was still 3 km away from Grindavik, Iceland's Meteorological Office said, and the power of the volcano was decreasing. "The eruption is taking place north of the watershed, so lava does not flow towards Grindavik," geologist Bjorn Oddson told public broadcaster RUV. Gas pollution could still occur in the area of Reykjavik late on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, officials said. BLUE LAGOON Located between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, among the largest on the planet, Iceland is a seismic hot spot because the plates move in opposite directions. The eruption is about 30 km from Reykjavik. Keflavik international airport is somewhat nearer but remains open. The Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa popular with tourists, has been largely closed since the seismic activity was detected. "It could potentially go on for several months. It could also just stop later today or tomorrow," said Halldor Geirson, an associate professor at Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. Lava flows had decreased from 200-250 cubic meters per second in the first two hours of the eruption to around a quarter of that by Tuesday morning. Most of the lava was flowing into an area where there was little infrastructure, Geirson said. That could change. "There is still a threat to Grindavik, for sure. Now the lava is flowing mostly to the north, but it depends on the topography and where the openings are," he said. In 2010, ash clouds from eruptions at the Eyafjallajokull volcano in the south of Iceland spread over large parts of Europe, grounding some 100,000 flights in Europe and beyond, and forcing hundreds of Icelanders to evacuate their homes. Weather forecasting service AccuWeather said this eruption was very different. "If little to no volcanic ash is lofted into the atmosphere, there may be no impact to aviation," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said. The 2010 impact on air travel was largely caused by the interaction of magma with the melting water from a glacier, a different scenario to what is happening now. Matthew Watson, professor of volcanoes and climate at the University of Bristol in Britain, said it was "not impossible that there may be some impact on air travel", although it was unlikely. "This type of eruption doesn't generally produce much ash, which is what tends to ground planes." CHRISTMAS AWAY FROM HOME "Unfortunately, the hope that had ignited in the hearts of many about the possibility of celebrating Christmas at home in Grindavik was extinguished when the eruption began yesterday," Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jonasson said in a statement addressing residents. Hans Vera, 56, originally from Belgium but living in a house just east of Grindavik since 1999, had hoped residents would be allowed to return for good, or as long as is possible on a volcanic island. That all changed when the eruption finally arrived. "I don't see that in the near future they will let people get close to Grindavik. So we are back in the waiting game," he said. He described his home near the sea as a winter paradise, and said the prospect of not being able to spend the Christmas holidays there with his family came as a blow. "We are not going to paradise this time around." https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/large-icelandic-volcano-eruption-misses-local-town-2023-12-19/

2023-12-19 11:47

ACCRA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Ghana's cocoa marketing board has signed a $800 million syndicated loan with banks and expects to draw down the first $600 million this week, COCOBOD's Deputy Chief Executive Officer Ray Ankrah said on Tuesday. Ghana, the world's second-largest cocoa producer behind Ivory Coast, uses an annual syndicated loan to finance bean purchases from farmers. Usually agreed at the start of the season in September, this year's loan has faced delays. "We are expecting $600 million by Friday and the remainder will come at the middle to end of January," Ankrah told Reuters. "I joined COCOBOD in 2018 and this is the hardest transaction we have had," Ankrah added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ghanas-cocobod-expects-start-drawing-down-800-mln-loan-this-week-2023-12-19/

2023-12-19 11:34

CONAKRY, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Guineans should brace for power cuts, the government has warned, as the country grapples with the aftermath of a deadly explosion at an oil terminal in the capital Conakry that destroyed fuel tanks and forced hundreds to flee damaged homes. Fourteen people were killed and 190 injured in the blast at the West African nation's main oil terminal, which rocked the Kaloum district in downtown Conakry in the early hours of Monday. In its first update on the extent of the damage to the terminal, the government said 13 fuel tanks were out of service while five tanks were unaffected. "The government informs the population that due to the destroyed fuel stocks, the electricity supply may potentially be affected by outages," it said late on Monday. Most of Guinea's power plants, particularly those supplying the capital, run on diesel fuel. Earlier, firefighters had battled to contain the blaze with towering columns of flames and black smoke visible from miles away. Neighbouring countries, including Senegal, have sent emergency workers to support recovery efforts. The extent of the fallout from the blast is not yet clear or whether mining operations will be affected in the world's second-largest producer of bauxite. Guinea is not an oil producer and relies on imports of refined products, which are mostly stored in the Kaloum terminal and distributed via trucks across the country. Residents of districts near the depot described their panic when the shockwave ripped through the air, shattering windows in the middle of the night. "We saw something in the sky, and suddenly a huge explosion that released unbearable heat. I immediately ran to avoid being hit by the objects zipping in all directions," said security guard Sekou Sall in his neighbourhood, where some houses were reduced to rubble. Sall said he had seen someone he knew weeping over the body of their twin brother, who was killed in the street by the flying debris. Fear of further blasts or the risk of remaining in damaged buildings drove hundreds of people to seek safety elsewhere in the city. Some cautiously returned on Monday afternoon to survey the damage and salvage some belongings. Clutching a toddler with a bandaged head, grandmother Mariama Soumah said her family only had time to save themselves when their small house started to collapse around them when the blast hit. "Suddenly we heard a loud explosion. If we hadn't left in time, we would have died," she said in Coronthie district, one of the capital's poorest and worst-affected by the explosion. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/guinea-warns-power-cuts-after-blast-destroys-fuel-stocks-2023-12-19/