2023-11-13 15:51
NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Japan's yen rose sharply against the dollar on Monday at a time when traders are on red alert for signs of currency intervention by Japanese authorities. The dollar fell to 151.20 yen after hitting a one-year high of 151.92 earlier in the session. It was last trading at 151.49. It was not immediately clear what caused the dramatic move. Japan intervened to boost the yen in September last year for the first time since the late 1990s when it weakened to 145.89 to the dollar. It then stepped in again in mid-October 2022 after the currency weakened further to a 32-year low of 151.94. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/japanese-yen-jumps-against-dollar-2023-11-13/
2023-11-13 15:01
MEXICO CITY, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Mexico's central bank governor said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that easing inflationary pressure meant the Bank of Mexico could start looking at gradually cutting its key interest rate, but that it was unlikely to happen this year. Governor Victoria Rodriguez told newspaper El Financiero the bank would begin lowering rates once macroeconomic conditions allowed, noting: "We do not see that for the rest of this year." She was speaking after Banxico, as the monetary authority is known, last week held its benchmark interest rate at 11.25%, and forecast it would likely stay at the current level for "some time," language that was more dovish than in previous guidance. "The improvement in the inflationary outlook that we're anticipating could allow us to begin discussing in future meetings the possibility of adjusting our reference rate downwards," Rodriguez told the newspaper. However, she stressed that any rate cuts by the bank would be "gradual" and that "we would not necessarily be looking at a cycle of continuous reductions. This is important." Mexico's inflation eased for the ninth consecutive month in October to 4.26%, remaining at its lowest since early 2021. The central bank targets an inflation rate of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point. https://www.reuters.com/markets/mexico-central-bank-governor-eyes-rate-cuts-not-before-2024-2023-11-13/
2023-11-13 12:35
Nov 13 (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday lowered its outlook on the U.S. credit rating, increasing the odds of a downgrade of the only remaining top rating of the country by the third major assessor. The move comes months after a similar downgrade by Fitch, and cites large fiscal deficits and a decline in debt affordability. Here is the stance taken by top rating agencies in their assessment of U.S. creditworthiness: Moody's: The agency changed its outlook on the U.S. credit rating to "negative" from "stable," a move that comes as federal spending and political polarization become a big concern for investors. Continued "political polarization in Congress raises the risk that lawmakers will not be able to reach consensus on a fiscal plan to slow the decline in debt affordability," Moody's said. It, however, affirmed its long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at "Aaa" - its highest creditworthiness evaluation - citing U.S. credit and economic strengths. Fitch: Fitch downgraded the U.S. government's top credit rating in August, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government's ability to pay its bills. It had first flagged the possibility of a downgrade in May, then maintained that position in June after the debt ceiling crisis was resolved, saying it intended to finalize the review in the third quarter of this year. S&P Global: The agency has had its second-highest rating on the country since 2011, when it took a bold call to cut U.S. rating to "AA-plus" from its highest "AAA" even as a default was narrowly averted. The agency cited heightened political polarization and insufficient steps to right the nation's fiscal outlook for its decision. DBRS Morningstar: In July, DBRS Morningstar confirmed the U.S. at "AAA," its top notch, after drawn-out negotiations on raising the debt limit forced it to put the ratings on review for a downgrade. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/top-us-credit-rating-under-watch-debt-ceiling-talks-drag-2023-05-26/
2023-11-13 12:03
LUCKNOW, India, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Indian officials said on Monday they hoped to free all 40 workers who have been trapped for about 35 hours in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand after rescuers managed to establish contact with those inside. Excavators and other heavy machinery bore through the debris to carve out a path to reach the workers and prepare an escape passage, local media channels showed. The tunnel, which was being built on a national highway that is part of a Hindu pilgrimage route, caved in around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday (2400 GMT on Saturday), local administration said in a statement. "The relief forces are removing the debris and soon we will have all the labourers out," state police chief Ashok Kumar told Reuters. Kumar said there was enough space for the trapped workers to move inside the tunnel. Rescuers managed to make contact with them and were communicating through a walkie talkie, Kumar said. They also delivered oxygen through a compression pipe and supplied food, he added. The exact cause of the accident was not yet known, Kumar said. A steel pipe 900 mm (35.4 inch) in diameter and about 60-70 m (65.6-76.6 yards) long will be delivered from the state capital to bring the workers out of the tunnel, Devendra Singh Patwal, a disaster management official, said. The workers were completing the final 400 m stretch of the proposed 4 km (2.5 mile) long tunnel when debris came down on the site, the state's Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters. Uttarakhand in north India is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods. The Char Dham pilgrimage route is one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. It aims to connect four important Hindu pilgrimage sites of North India through 889 km of two-lane road being built at a cost of $1.5 billion. But some work has been halted by local authorities after hundreds of houses were damaged by subsidence along the routes, including in Uttarakhand, with geologists, residents and officials blaming the rapid construction in the geologically unstable mountains. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rescuers-hopeful-reaching-trapped-labourers-collapsed-indian-tunnel-2023-11-13/
2023-11-13 11:57
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Hamas armed wing floats release of 70 hostages for 5-day truce Israeli military releases video and photos of what it says are weapons Hamas stored in the basement of a hospital White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Washington would 'like to see considerably longer pauses - days, not hours - in the context of a hostage release' GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Israeli tanks advanced on Monday to the gates of Gaza City's main hospital, a chief target in Israel's battle against Hamas, as U.S. President Joe Biden said hospitals must be protected and he hoped for less intrusive Israeli action. Separately, the armed wing of the Palestinian militant group said it was ready to release up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day truce in the war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra, who was inside Al Shifa hospital, said 32 patients had died in the last three days, including three newborn babies, as a result of the siege of the hospital in northern Gaza and a lack of power. At least 650 patients were still inside, desperate to be evacuated to another medical facility. Israel says the hospital sits atop tunnels housing a headquarters for Hamas fighters using patients as shields, which Hamas denies. "The tanks are in front of the hospital. We are under full blockade. It's a totally civilian area. Only ... hospital patients, doctors and other civilians staying in the hospital. Someone should stop this," a surgeon at the hospital, Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, said by telephone. "We are hardly surviving." In his first comments since the weekend's events, including patient deaths reported at the Shifa hospital, Biden said that hospitals must be protected. "My hope and expectation is that there will be less intrusive action relative to hospitals and we remain in contact with the Israelis," Biden told reporters at the White House. "Also there is an effort to get this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and that's being negotiated, as well, with the Qataris ... being engaged," he added. "So I remain somewhat hopeful but hospitals must be protected." Israel launched its campaign last month to annihilate Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip and that is officially dedicated to the destruction of Israel, after Hamas gunmen rampaged through southern Israel killing civilians. Around 1,200 people died in that attack and 240 were dragged to Gaza as hostages according to Israel's tally. Since then thousands of Gazans have been killed and two-thirds of the population have been made homeless by an Israeli military campaign. Israel has ordered the evacuation of the northern half of Gaza. Gaza medical authorities say more than 11,000 people have been confirmed killed, around 40% of them children. Israel says Hamas hospitals serve as military facilities and Israel's military on Monday released video and photos of what it said were weapons the group stored in the basement of Rantissi hospital, a pediatric hospital specializing in cancer treatment. HOSTAGES FOR CEASEFIRE? Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, posted an audio recording on its Telegram channel saying the group was ready to release some of the hostages it took in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, an offer Israel is unlikely to embrace. "The enemy has asked for the release of 100 women and children from his captives in Gaza but we told the mediators that in a five-day truce, we can release 50 of them and the number could reach 70 due to the difficulty that the captives are held by different factions," al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida said, referring to a request by Israel. The spokesman said the Qatari mediators last week sought the release of some of the women and children hostages in return for Israel freeing 200 Palestinian children and 75 women it detains. "The truce should include a complete ceasefire and allow aid and humanitarian relief everywhere in the Gaza Strip," he said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Washington would "like to see considerably longer pauses - days, not hours - in the context of a hostage release." Speaking on condition of anonymity, another U.S. official said the release of dozens of hostages, could lead to a several-day pause, saying negotiations were extremely delicate. Israel, which effectively blockades Gaza, has rejected a ceasefire, arguing that Hamas would simply use it to regroup, but has permitted brief humanitarian "pauses" that have allowed food and other supplies to flow in and foreigners to flee. Fighting also took place on Monday at a second major hospital in northern Gaza, al-Quds, which has stopped functioning. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the hospital was surrounded by heavy gunfire, and a convoy sent to evacuate patients and staff had been unable to reach it. Israel said it had killed "approximately 21 terrorists" at al-Quds in return fire after fighters shot from the hospital entrance. It released footage it said showed a group of men at the hospital gate, one of whom appeared to be carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. In a sign of Israel's advance in Gaza, the country's Channel 12 TV broadcast a photo of soldiers carrying Israeli flags in the Gaza parliament chamber. Israeli security cabinet minister Israel Katz said on X social media that the picture showed "the symbol of Hamas rule in Gaza" was in the hands of Israeli soldiers. Israel's military and security services said they had killed a number of Hamas commanders and officials in the last day, including Mohammed Khamis Dababash, who they described as the group's former head of military intelligence. Hamas media said more than 30 people were killed and scores injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. An Israeli military spokesperson said the army was checking the report on Jabalia. In Israel, sirens sounded across the centre of the country and in the city of Tel Aviv on Monday night, with Hamas' armed wing saying on its Telegram account that it had fired a batch of missiles at Tel Aviv. There was also fresh concern that the war could spread beyond Gaza, with an upsurge of clashes on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, and the United States launching airstrikes on Iran-linked militia targets in neighbouring Syria. HOSPITAL AT HEART OF BATTLES At Al Shifa, Gaza health ministry spokesperson Qidra said Israeli snipers and drones were firing into the hospital, making it impossible for medics and patients to move around. Israel has told civilians to leave and medics to send patients elsewhere. It says it has attempted to evacuate babies from the neo-natal ward and left 300 litres of fuel to power emergency generators at the hospital entrance, but the offers were blocked by Hamas. Qidra said Shifa needed 8,000-10,000 litres (2,100-2,600 gallons) of fuel per day delivered by the Red Cross or an international agency. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/largest-gaza-hospital-not-functioning-amid-israeli-assault-2023-11-12/
2023-11-13 11:51
Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Sterling edged higher on Monday after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his cabinet, appointing former PM David Cameron as foreign minister and firing interior minister Suella Braverman. The reaction in the financial markets was modest and analysts said the direction for sterling in the near-term would be driven by economic data and the outlook for the U.S. dollar, rather than British politics. Sterling was last trading at $1.2248 , 0.2% higher on the day. Against the euro, the pound stood at 87.28 pence - also up 0.2%. Benchmark 10-year UK gilt yields were down 3 basis points at 4.31%, off a session peak of 4.363%, while the FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.6% to trade near the day's high. "Cabinet reshuffles are a domestic political issue," Geoff Yu, senior macro strategist at BNY Mellon, said. "Any shift in the finance ministry is unlikely, so for sterling, the outlook is really about the dollar." A more immediate risk for investors in UK assets will be Wednesday's consumer price index (CPI) for October, which economists polled by Reuters expect to have risen by 4.8% year on year, after September's 6.7% increase. A reading of 4.8% would be the smallest for two years, as the cost of essentials such as energy and food has increased at a far slower pace, or even fallen, in recent months. Next week also brings the autumn budget of finance minister Jeremy Hunt, who kept his job in Sunak's reshuffle. Hunt said on Friday the autumn statement, due on Nov. 22, would focus on reducing inflation to revive growth, after data showed Britain's economy avoided recession in the July-September period, but failed to grow. The reshuffle was the latest reset for a prime minister whose party is badly lagging the Labour Party before an election expected next year. The return of Cameron suggested Sunak wanted to bring in more centrist, experienced hands rather than appease the right of his party which supported Braverman. "Braverman’s sacking doesn’t seem to have had an impact, in fact we don’t expect either the reshuffle or the autumn statement to significant impact in FX markets, with Sunak unlikely to do anything too radical and a general election still too far out to be a consideration for FX markets," Monex analyst Nick Rees said. "Key for the pound this week will be UK CPI Wednesday," he said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-edges-up-uk-pm-sunak-sacks-interior-minister-braverman-2023-11-13/
