2024-07-19 11:48

BENGALURU, July 19 (Reuters) - India's JSW Steel (JSTL.NS) , opens new tab forecast positive momentum in infrastructure demand in the coming quarters on Friday after reporting a first-quarter profit that fell more than expected due to stagnant demand and as higher costs weighed. "Government spending is anticipated to rebound in the coming quarters and the outlook for private capex appears robust," the company said. The country's largest steelmaker by market cap reported a 64% decline in profit to 8.45 billion rupees ($101 million) for the quarter ended June 30. Analysts, on average, had expected its profit to decline 53%, as per LSEG data. India witnessed the world's largest elections, spread over seven phases in the April-June quarter, with nearly 1 billion people eligible to vote. Analysts had expected lukewarm demand in sectors such as infrastructure and manufacturing during the quarter, which had recorded heightened demand in the previous few quarters. Additionally, prices of some key raw materials, such as iron ore, rose, leading to a near 7% year-on-year jump in expenses. The most-traded iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) averaged 848 yuan a metric ton during April-June this year, a 46% jump from the same period in 2023. Sequentially, there was an uptick in steel prices and raw material costs fell, said Kunal Kothari, Research Analyst of Centrum Broking. "However, lower volumes due to a maintenance shutdown partially offset the QoQ rise." Adding to the worry were steel prices in the country, which remained under pressure as India net imported cheaper finished steel from top-producer China, a country that has been grappling with strained steel demand. Revenue from operations rose around 2% to 429.43 billion rupees, beating analysts estimates of 415.75 billion rupees. ($1 = 83.6380 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-jsw-steel-misses-q1-profit-estimates-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:43

July 19 (Reuters) - Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike (CRWD.O) , opens new tab has deployed a fix for an issue that triggered a major tech outage that affected industries ranging from airlines to banking to healthcare worldwide, the company's CEO said on Friday. Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tabsaid , opens new tab separately it had fixed the underlying cause for the outage of its 365 apps and services including Teams and OneDrive, but residual impact was affecting some services. "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz said , opens new tab in a post on social media platform X. The issue stemmed from a defect found in a single content update for Microsoft Windows hosts, Kurtz said. Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted by the issue, he added. A massive IT outage was disrupting operations at companies across multiple industries on Friday, with major airlines halting flights, some broadcasters off-air and sectors ranging from banking to healthcare hit by system problems. Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the "Blue Screen of Death," according to an alert sent by Crowdstrike earlier to its clients and reviewed by Reuters. The travel industry was among the hardest hit with airports around the world reporting delays and issues with their system network, while banks and financial institutions from Australia and India to South Africa warned clients about disruptions to their services. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/crowdstrike-says-actively-working-with-customers-impacted-by-outage-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:42

MUMBAI, July 19 (Reuters) - Several Indian airlines and airports and traders at some brokerages said they faced technical and operational disruptions on Friday amid a global IT outage. India's minister for information technology in a post on X said the ministry was in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage. An update to a product offered by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) , opens new tab appeared to be the trigger, affecting customers using Microsoft's (MSFT.O) , opens new tab Windows Operating System. Microsoft said later on Friday the issue had been fixed. "The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue," India's minister for information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said. "We are currently experiencing technical challenges with our service provider, affecting online services including booking, check-in, and manage booking functionalities," Indian airline SpiceJet (SPJT.BO) , opens new tab said on social media platform X. Indigo, Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India and Air India Express also posted messages on X saying they were facing issues. New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai airports said they too faced some IT issues and some services were temporarily affected. While India's brokerage firms faced technical issues, stock exchanges were not impacted. NSE and BSE said that their operations were running normally. Among the brokerages in India, Nuvama Wealth Management (NUVA.NS) , opens new tab, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal, IIFL Securities (IIFS.NS) , opens new tab, 5Paisa Capital (PAIS.NS) , opens new tab and Angel Broking are facing technical difficulties, traders at the brokerages told Reuters. Edelweiss Mutual Fund posted on X that its systems were facing login issues which it was working to resolve. Nuvama in a statement to Reuters said it had seen a limited impact due to the global outage. Other brokerage firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment. India's interbank trading platforms were functioning, however, and banks said they were able to execute bonds and foreign exchange transactions without any issues. Banking sources said that the major banks have not faced any technical issues. A source at the country's central bank said they were aware of the global outage but their systems were functional. Major U.S. airlines also issued ground stops citing communications issues while some other airlines, banks, media and hospitals around the world were also among those affected by the outage. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on X that the company was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts" and that a fix was being deployed. "This is not a security incident or cyberattack," Kurtz said in the post. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-airlines-brokerages-affected-by-global-it-outage-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:33

July 19 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab said on Friday that the underlying cause for outage of its 365 apps and services has been fixed, but the residual impact of cybersecurity outages are continuing to affect some customers. (This story has been corrected to say that the underlying cause of outage of 365 apps and services was fixed, not the global outage, in the headline and in paragraph 1) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-says-cause-outage-fixed-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:25

BELGRADE, July 19 (Reuters) - Belgrade and the European Union signed a deal on Friday to give the EU access to raw materials mined in Serbia and strengthen their ties on production of sustainable raw materials, battery manufacturing and electric vehicles (EVs). Rio Tinto (RIO.L) , opens new tab is keen to start mining in Serbia's Western region of Jadar and this week its licence to develop what would be Europe's biggest lithium mine was reinstated, more than two years after it was annulled. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday's memorandum of understanding was vital for Europe's independence and that it "increases resilience and promotes industry". He was speaking at a joint news conference with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic and EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic. Sefcovic, who has been a strong advocate of boosting European supply chains, said EU candidate Serbia could be the first European country to command the whole chain needed to manufacture EVs, which starts with lithium mining. The Jadar project has attracted fierce local opposition. Vucic said it will be some time before it is fully underway, but that it would happen and had the potential to deliver the equivalent of 4% of last year's gross domestic product (GDP). Serbia's GDP in 2023 was about $75 billion. Serbian opposition and green groups have said they will start blockades of main railroads and junctions in August if the government does not end the project. On Friday, several dozen activists from the Kreni-Promeni (Move-Change) movement protested against the Jadar project in front of the vast communist-era government compound in Belgrade. Asked about environmental concerns, Scholz said Jadar would "only work if it is oriented towards the standards that we consider correct" and that he had spoken to the head of Rio Tinto on the issue. Germany's Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) , opens new tab is a potential customer of lithium from Serbia and would support bringing more of the battery value chain to Serbia, the company's chief executive Ola Kaellenius said in Belgrade on Friday. "They are building a very modern mine and we are a potential customer. To make it economic, we would certainly have some of the value chain in the country," he told Reuters. "Possibly up to the battery cell production... we would support that." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/serbia-eu-germany-sign-battery-supply-chain-deal-2024-07-19/

2024-07-19 11:21

July 19 (Reuters) - There is rarely a dull moment in markets and the week to come will be no exception, with make-or-break U.S. inflation data and tough questions over international financing for Ukraine - all against a backdrop of a fraught U.S. presidential race. U.S. President Joe Biden's surprise decision on Sunday to pull out of the race for the White House could prompt investors to unwind trades that bet on a Republican victory increasing U.S. fiscal and inflationary pressures. Earnings will be front and centre, as members of the "Magnificent 7" report their results, along with major banks. Here's your look at what's happening in markets in the coming week, from Rae Wee in Singapore, Lewis Krauskopf in New York and Naomi Rovnick, Tommy Wilkes and Marc Jones in London. 1/GIVE PCE A CHANCE U.S. inflation data on July 26 will test growing market expectations that the Fed is all but certain to cut interest rates in the coming months. June's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index is expected to have climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis, according to a Reuters poll. The release of the PCE report comes after another inflation reading, the consumer price index, fell in June for the first time in four years. That cooler-than-expected report set off a rotation in equities and cemented market expectations that the Fed is primed to cut rates in September. Several days after CPI, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said second-quarter inflation readings "add somewhat to confidence" that the pace of price increases is returning to the Fed's target in a sustainable fashion. Investors will also be watching corporate results, as Tesla and Alphabet feature in a busy week for earnings. 2/AD-VANCE WARNING News that Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance as his running mate for November's presidential election has reverberated particularly sharply in emerging markets and nowhere more so than Ukraine. Trump has long-promised to broker an end to its war with Russia and in Vance he has picked someone who has publicly questioned whether supporting Kyiv is necessarily in the U.S.' interests. For markets, that is something to watch. Ukraine has just proposed its first wartime hike in taxes and is intensifying talks on a $20 billion sovereign debt restructuring with the likes of BlackRock and PIMCO. Eastern European currencies are getting twitchy again. The U.S. reducing its weapons and support would be a catastrophe for Ukraine. But a swift deal to end hostilities could mean the massive reconstruction effort starts far sooner than many had hoped, even if it would leave plenty of lingering doubts. 3/INFLATION TEST The Tokyo inflation report on July 26 will be the final check-in on consumer prices before the Bank of Japan (BOJ) meets on July 31, where the prospects of a rate hike from the central bank remain a toss-up. An acceleration in July's inflation figures could feed expectations for further monetary policy tightening in the near term, though a slowdown would likely see those bets unwind and weigh on the yen. Analysts say cost pressures from a weak yen , which has fallen some 10% against the dollar this year, could heighten the chance of inflation staying well above the BOJ's 2% target, though that has also inadvertently hurt households. While Tokyo's latest rounds of suspected intervention have hauled the currency away from a 38-year low, any impact is likely to be short-lived until rate differentials with the U.S. narrow. 4/BANK ON IT European banks' run of improving profitability and rising share prices faces its latest test, as second-quarter earnings get going in earnest. Key is net interest income - which banks have seen surge thanks to higher rates - as the European Central Bank looks to cut rates further and the Bank of England prepares to ease. Investors will also want to see how lenders are faring as political uncertainty intensifies - French bank shares fell sharply during recent elections. A busy Wednesday sees Germany's Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) , opens new tab, Britain's Lloyds (LLOY.L) , opens new tab BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) , opens new tab in France, Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) , opens new tab and Italy's UniCredit (CRDI.MI) , opens new tab all update investors, with more banks reporting the following week. Analysts say the read-across from U.S. firms that have already reported is that stronger investment banking revenues should boost lenders with large investment bank arms such as Deutsche and Switzerland's UBS (UBSG.S) , opens new tab, but markets have little tolerance for interest income numbers that disappoint. 5/IN THE (EURO) ZONE The euro zone economy is proving to be a huge dilemma for the European Central Bank, as overall growth has been sluggish, but strength in the dominant services sector, boosted by tourism, has kept inflation pressures uncomfortably high. Flash purchasing managers' indices out on July 24 will show if the ECB's challenge is getting any easier. The euro zone PMIs, based on business managers' observations of price and demand trends, could be especially influential after the ECB held interest rates at 3.75% and resisted offering future guidance, saying it was "data-dependent." The central bank, which lowered borrowing costs for the first time in five years in June, does see inflation moderating. Money markets are firmly pricing a September rate cut, supporting euro zone stocks, government bonds and the euro for now, but also raising the threat level of any PMI result that could shift the ECB's view. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/take-five/global-markets-themes-graphic-2024-07-19/