2023-11-03 11:21
Nov 3 (Reuters) - FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on Thursday of orchestrating a multibillion dollar fraud on the cryptocurrency exchange's customers. Here's what comes next for Bankman-Fried: U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan set Bankman-Fried's sentencing for March 28, 2024. Bankman-Fried could face decades in prison. Kaplan will sentence Bankman-Fried based on several factors, including his personal history and the nature of the crime. In denying Bankman-Fried's release from jail to prepare for trial, Kaplan said he could potentially face a "very long sentence." Kaplan wrote in a 2007 article about corporate crime that "crimes committed by white collar criminals out of a studied calculation of likely costs and benefits of engaging in the criminal behavior perhaps are especially reprehensible." Prosecutors' case against Bankman-Fried is not over. Bankman-Fried is scheduled to stand trial in March on charges of paying a $40 million bribe to Chinese officials and conspiring to make more than 300 illegal political donations in the U.S. Bankman-Fried is likely to ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his conviction, as well as rulings against him before and during the trial. Kaplan partly blocked Bankman-Fried from testifying to the jury that lawyers were involved in aspects of FTX's business. Bankman-Fried's attorneys moved for acquittal during the trial, arguing prosecutors had failed to prove their case. Kaplan denied the motion. His lawyer Mark Cohen said following Bankman-Fried's conviction that his client would continue to "vigorously fight the charges." Bankman-Fried has been detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since Aug. 11, when Kaplan found he likely tampered with witnesses at least twice. He is likely to remain there until sentencing. Former customers of the exchange are expected to eventually receive at least 90% of the available funds recovered in the bankruptcy under a tentative settlement. FTX is expected to include the deal in its next proposed bankruptcy plan in December. FTX has recovered over $7 billion in assets so far and is attempting to claw back more through lawsuits against former business partners. Kaplan may also order Bankman-Fried to pay restitution to victims at sentencing. https://www.reuters.com/legal/sam-bankman-frieds-conviction-whats-next-2023-11-03/
2023-11-03 11:15
High prices could dampen Indian demand during festive season- WCG Indian discounts widens to $9 an ounce China demand not substantial enough to drive higher premiums - Analyst Nov 3 (Reuters) - Physical gold dealers in India offered discounts for a fourth consecutive week as consumers shied away from making purchases due to higher domestic prices, while top consumer China also saw muted demand. In India, this week, dealers offered a discount of up to $9 an ounce over official domestic prices — inclusive of the 15% import and 3% sales levies, up from last week's discount of $5. "The market was cruising along pretty nicely in the first half of October, but then the price hike came along and threw a wrench in the works. Now, we're seeing demand lower than usual," said Amit Modak, CEO at jeweller PN Gadgil and Sons, in the city of Pune. Local gold prices jumped this week to 61,539 rupees ($739.01) per 10 grams, not far from the all-time high of 61,845 rupees ($742.68) hit in May. Jewellers have become pessimistic about demand during the upcoming Diwali festival due to the price rise and are hesitant to make purchases, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bullion importing bank. High prices could dampen demand in India during peak festival season and lead to the lowest purchase volumes in three years, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday. In China, premiums over global spot prices were quoted at $25-$40 per ounce, little changed from last week. "Despite various easing measures, such as controlling the lease of import quotas, gold imports remain sluggish. The issue lies in the fact that demand is not substantial enough to drive a higher premium," Bernard Sin, regional director of Greater China at MKS PAMP, said. In Japan, gold was sold between a discount of $0.25 and a premium of $1 versus last week's premium of $0.5-$1. In Hong Kong, bullion was sold at premiums of $1.5-$2.5 per ounce and $1.50-$2.50 in Singapore. . ($1 = 83.2420 Indian rupees) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/asia-gold-elevated-local-prices-dent-retail-demand-india-2023-11-03/
2023-11-03 11:03
CAMPI BISENZIO, Italy, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A seventh person was found dead and another was still missing on Saturday more than a day after rivers burst their banks following torrential rain in the central Italian region of Tuscany, ANSA reported. The body of a 69-year-old man was found in the town of Campi Bisenzio, about 15 km (9 miles) northwest of Florence, the news agency said. Officials earlier said six people had died in the deluge that started late on Thursday. There had been fears that the River Arno could flood Florence after nearby towns were swamped by the southern edge of Storm Ciaran, but the high water point passed in mid-morning on Friday without major incident in the historic city. Ciaran was driven by a powerful jet stream that swept in from the Atlantic, unleashing heavy rain and furious winds that caused heavy flooding in Northern Ireland, parts of Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Around 300 people have been forced to evacuate their homes in Tuscany, while many others have their water and power supplies cut, the region's president, Eugenio Giani, was quoted as saying by ANSA on Saturday. The disaster had caused 300 million euros ($322 million) of damage based on an initial estimates, he added. Another person, a firefighter, was missing in the north-eastern Veneto region, the governor there was quoted as saying by Sky TG24 on Friday. The Italian government declared a state of emergency on Friday and allocated an initial 5 million euros to help the worst-hit areas. Weather alerts remained in force in a number of Italian regions, with some schools closed, after a week in which the country has been lashed by strong winds and heavy rain. Italy is seen as particularly exposed to the effects of climate change. Floods in the region of Emilia-Romagna in May killed at least 14 people. ($1 = 0.9321 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/three-people-dead-several-missing-after-heavy-rains-flooding-tuscany-2023-11-03/
2023-11-03 10:43
MADRID, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Spanish authorities have evacuated at least 800 people around the coastal town of Gandia in the eastern region of Valencia after a wildfire broke out there and spread quickly overnight amid strong winds, officials said on Friday. The region, and a large swathe of the eastern portion of the Iberian Peninsula, was on high alert for strong winds for the second day in a row as Storm Ciaran smashed into western Europe. Spain has suffered a prolonged drought in the past few years that recent rains have only slightly alleviated. The drought and above-normal temperatures throughout the summer and part of the autumn have contributed to the spread of wildfires. The fire began on Thursday near the village of Montichelvo, emergency services said. Around 2,500 residents in the villages of Potries and Ador were told to stay at home as the winds fanned smoke towards their homes. Authorities estimated that between 1,000 and 1,400 hectares of land could be affected by flames. The Valencia regional government asked the Military Emergency Unit (UME) to help firefighters tackle the blaze. Regional president Carlos Mazon said the cause of the fire remained unknown and would be investigated. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hundreds-evacuated-strong-winds-fan-wildfire-eastern-spain-2023-11-03/
2023-11-03 10:38
MUMBAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee bucked the trend among its Asian peers and ended slightly lower on Friday, as continued local U.S. dollar demand in the absence of substantial inflows weighed on the unit. Likely U.S. dollar sales by the Reserve Bank of India prevented further losses in the rupee, three traders said. The rupee closed at 83.2850 against the U.S. dollar, compared with its close at 83.2425 in the previous session. The unit was little changed on the week. Other Asian currencies were higher on the back of a fall in U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar index. The Korean won was the top performer among Asian currencies, rallying nearly 2%. "There is no clear inflow in the market," said Apurva Swarup, vice president at Shinhan Bank India. The absence of sizeable inflows and persistent importer dollar buying has maintained pressure on the rupee, he added. Oil companies were buying dollars on Friday alongside demand from importers, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. "Nothing major is happening, so it (the rupee) is back in the same range." The rupee remained in a range between 83.18 and 83.2950 during the week. Meanwhile, Indian banks spoke with the RBI on Thursday on how a lack of volatility in the currency market over the last few weeks has hit their trading activity, Reuters reported earlier. Investors now await a U.S. labour market report due later in the day. The data is expected to show that non-farm payrolls fell in October while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%, according to Reuters polls. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-ends-lower-persistent-dollar-demand-importers-2023-11-03/
2023-11-03 07:01
LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The Bank of England reckons the UK economy has only felt half the effects of a near two-year interest rate squeeze so far - and markets doubt it will allow it to take the whole dose. A brutal five percentage point rate hiking cycle that started late in 2021 may well have ended but its hit on household demand and economic activity to date may well double from here, according to the BoE's own calculations. And that's assuming the Bank just leaves them here for a protracted period, in what its chief economist Huw Pill repeatedly dubs the "Table Mountain" strategy. But reasonable doubts that the already spluttering British consumer and flat-lining economy can take the full force of what's already in train has markets betting the central bank will have to pull back again with rate cuts within nine months. If true, that means the walk across the plateau of the rates mountain only lasts less than half the time it took to climb it and a climbdown may be underway up to six months before the Bank sees maximum impact from decisions taken to date. The BoE's voluminous Monetary Policy Report, released alongside its decision to hold policy rates steady at 5.25% on Thursday, assessed the delay with which credit tightening enacted so far is eating into household wallets. "Bank staff estimate that more than half of the impact on the level of GDP is still to come through," it said, reckoning it could take until 2025 for the GDP hit to be close to fully felt - based on past relationships, expected mortgage and loan refinancing and despite "significant uncertainty". In making that call the BoE report focuses mostly on consumption, which it estimates makes up about 60% of GDP. And for that it offsets the impact on higher savings income with the higher mortgage costs - where some 80% of are now on two-to-five year fixed rate deals, far more than the last time it went on a rate hike campaign, and so delay the hit. HIGH BUT NARROW TABLE Perhaps remarkably to many, it says the net fallout on aggregate income from any given rise in interest rates is positive - given that close to 1.7 trillion pounds of household deposits exceeds the 1.5 trillion in outstanding mortgages. However, given that higher savings income is skewed to wealthier households that have a much lower propensity to consume additional income than less well off and more indebted ones, the positive net effect on the economy is snuffed out. Other impacts include the effect on consumption from lower home values or savings in financial securities - as well as hits to housing and business investment and from higher rents due to higher mortgage refinancing for buy-to-let landlords. As a result, the BoE expects the fallout from rate moves to date to "grow over time" even if one-off quarterly hits have peaked. Of course, the Bank's central mandate is getting inflation back to its 2% target and it nudged up inflation projections in this week's report - now not seeing its goal reached in full until late 2025. But markets clearly think the second half of the standing rate crunch and downward trajectory of inflation will force its hand to cut rates as soon as next year - once it's confident moderating pay growth is sustained beyond the Spring wage round. And some fear the risk of a shaken ketchup bottle effect - of what seems like a slow delayed hit all coming out in one very fast splurge all of a sudden. AXA Investment Managers' economist Modupe Adegbembo pencils in two quarter point cuts in August and November to 4.75% by the end of 2024. But "there is a risk that the BoE could be forced to unwind rates earlier and faster if the growth outlook deteriorates ... particularly as the pass through from rates was slower than expected on the way up." The flip side is that very little in the post-pandemic cycle has been easily predictable. And whatever the slow-burning hit to growth and consumption, inflation surprises could well change the increasingly comfortable markets picture. "Although rate cuts are now priced into the second half of 2024, investors should remember that the outlook remains unclear – a plateau covered in fog may yet turn out to be hiding Mount Everest," said Insight Investment's Andy Burgess. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/boe-marks-half-time-lagged-rate-squeeze-mike-dolan-2023-11-03/
