2023-11-21 21:07
OTTAWA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Following are some of the commitments the Canadian government made in its Fall Economic Statement released on Tuesday. *invest an additional C$15 billion ($10.9 billion) in new loan funding, starting in 2025-26, for the Apartment Construction Loan Program, for a total of more than C$40 billion in loan funding. This investment will support more than 30,000 additional new homes, bringing the contribution to more than 101,000 new homes supported by 2031-32. *invest an additional C$1 billion over three years, starting in 2025-26, for the Affordable Housing Fund. This investment will support non-profit, co-op, and public housing providers to build more than 7,000 new homes by 2028. *help remove barriers to internal labor mobility, including by leveraging federal transfers, and other funding, to encourage provinces and territories to cut the red tape that impedes the movement of workers, particularly in construction, health care and child care *deny income tax deductions for expenses incurred to earn short-term rental income, including interest expenses, in provinces and municipalities that have prohibited short-term rentals. It will also deny income tax deductions when short-term rental operators are not compliant with the applicable provincial or municipal licensing, permitting, or registration requirements. *propose to spend C$50 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to support municipal enforcement of restrictions on short-term rentals. *introduce a new Canadian Mortgage Charter, which outlines how financial institutions are to work to provide tailored relief and ensure payments are reasonable for borrowers. *the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will conduct a prompt investigation of international mobile roaming charges, and will provide an update and concrete next steps in 2024. *work with the Canadian Transportation Agency to ensure that airlines seat all children under the age of 14 next to their accompanying adult at no extra cost *explore removing the rule that restricts Canadian pension funds from holding more than 30% of the voting shares of most corporations. It also proposes to require large federally-regulated pension plans to disclose the distribution of their investments, both by jurisdiction and asset-type per jurisdiction, to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions *begin buying up to C$30 billion of Canada Mortgage Bonds, starting as early as February 2024 *advance development of an Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program to help Indigenous groups buy equity stakes in major natural resource projects, with next steps announced in Canada's 2024 budget *develop options for making climate disclosures mandatory for private companies. The government will also provide C$1.5 billion in 2024-25 towards developing a taxonomy identifying "green" economic activities that the financial sector could label as aligned with reaching net-zero by 2050 ($1 = 1.3718 Canadian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/highlights-canadas-fall-economic-statement-2023-11-22/
2023-11-21 21:02
Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. retailers across apparel, electronics and home improvement are bracing for a challenging holiday season, a sign that higher discounts might not spark the level of spending the companies are hoping for during their most important period of the year. Economic demand in the United States has slowed, as October's retail sales figures showed. Numerous retailers said on Tuesday that holiday outlook is mixed after a choppy start to the fourth quarter, when most Americans gear up for Christmas shopping. Retailers plan to lean on competitive promotions and kicked off holiday deals early to motivate customers to open up their wallets during the Thanksgiving weekend. However, home improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW.N), electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY.N) and department store chain Kohl's (KSS.N) all said sales at stores open at least a year were lower in the most recent quarter, and cut their sales forecasts for the year. "In the more recent macro environment, consumer demand has been even more uneven and difficult to predict," Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector (.SPLRCD) was down about 1% on Tuesday, while so far in 2023 the index had risen more than 31%. U.S. holiday sales are expected to rise at its slowest pace in five years, according to data from the National Retail Federation, as Americans are likely to pull back on holiday shopping. Last week, industry bellwether Walmart (WMT.N) warned of cautious consumer spending as the holiday shopping season gets underway. "We think that discretionary goods categories will continue to be challenged as we saw in the third quarter, categories like home and apparel and consumer electronics are likely to remain difficult or down as they have been" Fitch analyst David Silverman said. Retail executives said higher interest rates, inflation and a resumption in student loan repayments will keep consumer wallets under pressure. Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison said on a call with analysts that while consumer spending remained relatively resilient "they're spending on what I call activities - services, concerts, restaurants, travel - but that discretionary dollar is being spent across more activities today than a year ago." Still, some investors expect holiday sales starting Black Friday to hold "some positive surprises." "With inflation numbers better and rates having stopped going up, people have some hope ... I wouldn't be surprised if Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a bit better than expected," Thomas Hayes, chairman of hedge fund Great Hill Capital, said. Apparel retailers Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF.N) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO.N) posted upbeat quarterly results on Tuesday, but their shares still dropped due to broader concerns about consumer spending declining. "With so many retailers warning about falling demand for discretionary goods, investors may be skeptical about American Eagle's and Abercrombie's ability to maintain their upward trajectories," said Rachel Wolff, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-retailers-brace-tough-holiday-season-despite-discounts-2023-11-21/
2023-11-21 20:55
Nov 21 (Reuters) - Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said on Tuesday insider Richard Teng has been named the new chief executive of the cryptocurrency exhange. https://www.reuters.com/technology/binances-zhao-says-richard-teng-become-next-ceo-2023-11-21/
2023-11-21 20:18
NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Crypto lender Celsius Network has scaled back its post-bankruptcy business plans to focus only on bitcoin mining, citing U.S. regulators' skepticism of its other planned business lines. Celsius, whose restructuring plan had also envisioned the company earning "staking" fees by validating blockchain transactions and managing its legacy portfolio of cryptocurrency loans, said in a statement late Monday it had changed course after receiving "feedback" from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Celsius declined to comment on Tuesday. The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan had approved Celsius' Chapter 11 plan on Nov. 9, clearing the company to return cryptocurrency to customers and create a new company owned by Celsius creditors. The SEC did not definitively say during Celsius' bankruptcy case whether the new company's business plans would violate U.S. law, but it reserved the right to make that determination later. The SEC has argued in past public statements that most crypto lending and staking activity should be regulated to ensure that customers have sufficient information about how their crypto assets are used. Celsius said it now plans to hold back certain assets that would have been transferred to the new company, and instead liquidate them as a part of the wind-down of its bankruptcy. Bitcoin mining was always meant to be the "core business" of the new company, Celsius said. The pivot has led to further negotiations with Fahrenheit, a consortium of bidders selected to lead the reorganized company. Celsius said it expects to seek court approval of a modified bankruptcy plan in the coming weeks. Celsius said the "reduction in scope and scale" of the new company should lead to lower management fees and increase the amount of cryptocurrency Celsius will directly return to customers beginning in January 2024. Fahrenheit, led by hedge fund Arrington Capital and U.S. Bitcoin Corp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. New Jersey-based Celsius filed for Chapter 11 protection in July 2022, one month after freezing customer accounts to prevent withdrawals. Celsius, once valued at $3 billion, was one of the largest crypto collapses in 2022, along with FTX, Voyager Digital and BlockFi. Crypto lenders Voyager and BlockFi decided to fully shut down their businesses and return some crypto to customers during their bankruptcies. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/celsius-network-pivots-bitcoin-mining-after-bankruptcy-2023-11-21/
2023-11-21 20:07
Canadian dollar strengthens 0.2% against the greenback Trades in a range of 1.3682 to 1.3731 Canada's annual inflation rate eases to 3.1% 10-year yield touches lowest since Sept. 5 TORONTO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday but the move was limited as domestic data showed inflation easing and investors weighed minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting. The loonie was trading 0.2% higher at 1.37 to the greenback, or 72.99 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3682 to 1.3731. Canada's annual inflation rate eased more than expected to 3.1% in October and core inflation measures edged down to their lowest levels in about two years. "This is yet another confirmatory point for our view that the BoC, having led the Fed during the hiking cycle, will once again be the pace setter in the 2024 easing cycle, with a cut likely as early as April," said Simon Harvey, Head of FX analysis for Monex Europe and Monex Canada. "Markets have been slowly aligning with this view in recent weeks, which has seen the Canadian dollar lag the G10 rally amidst the softer (U.S.) dollar environment." Money markets have nearly fully discounted a BoC rate cut by April and see three cuts in total next year. Speculators have raised their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar to the most since June 2017, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) recouped some recent declines against a basket of major currencies as Fed officials agreed at their Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting they could take a cautious approach to raising rates moving forward. Canadian bond yields were mixed ahead of the release of a mid-year fiscal update that will show widening deficits. The update is due after 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). The 10-year yield rose 2.4 basis points to 3.677%, after earlier touching its lowest level since Sept. 5 at 3.606%. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/c-notches-limited-gains-cpi-data-supports-rate-cut-bets-2023-11-21/
2023-11-21 19:06
Nov 21 (Reuters) - Argentina's farmers may be more willing to spend money on seeds and other agricultural products, hoping that new President-elect Javier Milei's policies will improve earnings from their future harvests, the chief executive of Argentine biotech firm Bioceres (BIOX_r.BA) said on Tuesday. Milei's election and recent rains are fueling optimism among some in Argentina's agribusiness sector after the country struggled with a historic drought. "There's a very important element that you can notice right away, which is how people feel in terms of the agricultural sector," Bioceres CEO Federico Trucco said in an interview. "That may affect their purchasing decisions today." Enthusiasm among farmers will probably be reflected "in the next few quarters in terms of businesses that are associated to agriculture in Argentina," Trucco added. Argentina is one of the world's top exporters of soy, corn, wheat and beef. Still, its farmers have been asking for the elimination of taxes and caps that they blame for crimping grain and meat exports for years. Milei, a far-right libertarian, has promised to eliminate export taxes and move to a single exchange rate. Some farmers had expressed concern with Milei's lack of experience and populist rhetoric, however, and it remains to be seen how quickly he may be able to make changes. "If he unifies the FX market, and there is only one exchange rate, and removes export taxation that equates for a third of the international price, you might have a scenario in Argentina where the price of grain might double in real dollars to farmers," Trucco said. Bioceres is leading a global push to establish genetically modified wheat. Prices for seeds the company sells are correlated to the prices of wheat and soy crops. "Anything that improves farmers' incomes is good for us," Trucco said. "The more money they have, the more likely they are to spend in production technologies." https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/argentine-election-may-boost-farmer-spending-grain-prices-biotech-firm-bioceres-2023-11-21/
