2024-07-15 00:57

MEXICO CITY, July 14 (Reuters) - Argentina's economy ministry said on Sunday it will purchase just over $1.5 billion from the central bank to pay the total interest on the country's "Globales" and "Bonares" bonds due in January 2025. The operation will use part of the financial surplus achieved in the first half of the year, which had accumulated to 2.3 trillion Argentine pesos ($2.5 billion) by May, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry added that $1.528 billion will be deposited in an account at trustee Bank of New York and will be available only to be used for paying the interest on the bonds. The announcement came a day after the government of libertarian President Javier Milei outlined a plan to stop expanding the monetary base in order to combat annual inflation close to 300%. Milei, a free-market economist, has embarked on an at-times painful austerity drive since taking office, cutting state spending and pledging to rebuild the country's depleted foreign exchange reserves. The central bank went on an aggressive buying spree of dollars in the first months of Milei's government. It needs dollars to pay creditors. The bank's reserve accumulation is key to restoring economic and financial stability after years of crisis, and pivotal to the government being able to follow through with its pledge to undo tough currency controls that stymie business and trade. ($1 = 919.0000 Argentine pesos) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/emerging/argentina-buy-15-bln-cenbank-pay-bond-interest-due-january-2024-07-15/

2024-07-15 00:53

NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - The dollar fell slightly on Monday after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while cryptocurrencies rose on bets that an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump lifted his reelection chances. Trump has presented himself as a staunch supporter for cryptocurrencies, although he has not offered specifics on his proposed crypto policy. In the aftermath of the shooting, investors narrowed the odds of a Trump victory. Online betting site PredictIt New Tab, opens new tab showed bets of an election win for Trump at 67 cents, up from Friday's 60 cents, with Joe Biden at 27 cents. The dollar tends to strengthen as part of what is known as the "Trump trade" of assets likely to perform well under a Trump presidency of a hawkish trade policy and looser regulation for certain industries. But the initial reaction proved to be short-lived, with the greenback falling from its earlier highs. The dollar also briefly fell sharply as Powell began his speech. He said the three U.S. inflation readings over the second quarter "add somewhat to confidence" that the pace of price increases is returning to the Fed's target in a sustainable fashion, indicating a move to cut interest rates may be coming soon. "The market is feeling confident and they were feeling confident before (Powell) spoke about a September rate cut, so I don't think he really put it on the table, but it's clearly that it is on the table," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. "Powell could have made a stronger case that we've achieved a soft landing and now let's avoid a hard landing. That's the kind of logic that is going to be unfolding now." The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.07% to 104.22 after rising as high as 104.31, with the euro down 0.09% at $1.0897. Sterling weakened 0.22% to $1.2964. Markets are completely pricing in a rate cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) from the Fed in September, according to CME's FedWatch Tool New Tab, opens new tab, after data last week showed consumer prices fell on a monthly basis for the first time in four years in June. Crypto prices jumped, with bitcoin last up more than 6% at $63,808 after reaching a three-week high of $63,838.86. Ether surged more than 7% to $3,417.20. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar was unchanged at 157.89. The greenback fell to 157.15 as Powell spoke, its lowest since June 17, before quickly rebounding. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is thought to have intervened in the market in another effort to buttress the Japanese currency last week after the cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation report. Data from the central bank suggests that authorities may have spent up to 3.57 trillion yen ($22.4 billion) to do so on Thursday. "Anything that's going to give the Bank of Japan hope that the Fed might cut rates more or sooner than previously expected is going to give the yen a boost," said Helen Given, FX trader, at Monex USA in Washington. "It's all about interest rate differentials, so movement in Fed futures is going to sway yen a lot." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/dollar-sees-safe-haven-gains-sliding-yen-stays-intervention-watch-2024-07-15/

2024-07-15 00:07

LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Bank of England interest rate-setter Swati Dhingra said inflation in Britain was unlikely to rise sharply again and the central bank should bring down borrowing costs. "Now is the time to start normalising (interest rates) so we can then finally stop squeezing living standards the way we have been to try and get inflation down," Dhingra told The Rest is Money podcast in an interview broadcast on Monday. Dhingra has voted since February to cut Bank Rate from its 16-year high of 5.25% and she has been joined more recently by Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden. But their seven other colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee have kept rates on hold. Investors see a roughly 50-50 chance of the BoE cutting rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Aug. 1, the date of its next scheduled announcement on rates. Dhingra said demand in Britain was too weak for inflation to take off again having returned to the BoE's 2% target in May. "I don't see some kind of consumption boom and if we're going to start moderating from the very high level of interest rate that we are at now...it is going to take some time for that to happen, for us to moderate it as well as for that to then feed into the real economy," she told the podcast. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bank-englands-dhingra-says-rates-should-come-down-now-2024-07-14/

2024-07-14 23:02

Dow registers record high close PredictIt shows increased chance of Republican win Crypto stocks higher NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - World stock indexes and Treasury yields rose on Monday as investors weighed the prospect of Republican Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential race after he survived an assassination attempt, while the dollar dipped after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Longer-dated U.S. bond yields climbed on the assumption that Trump policies would add to government debt and inflation, while crypto stocks rallied along with bitcoin . Trump has presented himself as a champion of cryptocurrency. Investors have viewed a Trump win as likely to mean more tax cuts and a looser regulatory environment. The S&P 500 energy sector (.SPNY) New Tab, opens new tab gained 1.6%. On online betting website PredictIt, contracts for a Trump election victory traded at 68 cents, up from 60 cents on Friday, with a potential payout of $1. Contracts for a Biden victory were at 26 cents. The assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday of Trump appeared to improve his chances for election. The motive behind a 20-year-old gunman's attempt on the life of Trump remained a mystery, with the suspect having been killed and the FBI unable to determine an ideology that may have been behind the attack. "The publicity around the event is providing some kind of a boost," said Josh Wein, portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds. But, he said, "the last four, five days the (stock) market has been rallying... so it's a continuation of a strong move from the back half of last week since we realized that maybe there is some reason to celebrate the idea that there could be one and now likely two rate cuts by the end of the year." Investors digested comments from Powell, who said on Monday the three U.S. inflation readings over the second quarter of this year do "add somewhat to confidence" that the pace of price increases is returning to the Fed's target in a sustainable fashion. Traders are also pricing in a second and possible third rate cut by December. While all three major U.S. stock indexes ended well below session highs, the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched an all-time closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) New Tab, opens new tab rose 210.82 points, or 0.53%, to 40,211.72, the S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab gained 15.87 points, or 0.28%, to 5,631.22 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab gained 74.12 points, or 0.40%, to 18,472.57. Shares of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) New Tab, opens new tab gained 2.6% after the company reported quarterly results. More results are expected week for the second-quarter U.S. earnings season. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) New Tab, opens new tab rose 0.18 points, or 0.02%, to 828.73. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX) New Tab, opens new tab index fell 1.02%. Dour updates from British luxury group Burberry and watchmaker Swatch Group raised questions about consumer confidence. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was last down 0.04% to 104.25, with the euro down 0.01% at $1.0893. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar strengthened 0.02% to 158.04. The greenback fell to 157.15 as Powell spoke, its lowest since June 17, before rebounding. Bitcoin was last up slightly after it reached a three-week high earlier of $63,838.86. Benchmark 10-year yields rose 4 basis points to 4.229%, while two-year yields fell half a basis point to 4.4554%. Oil prices were down slightly, with worries about demand in top importer China offseting support from OPEC+ supply restraint and ongoing tensions in the Middle East. U.S. crude lost 30 cents to settle at $81.91 a barrel and Brent fell 18 cents to $84.85. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-wrapup-1-2024-07-14/

2024-07-14 21:49

July 15 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. A dramatic escalation in U.S. political tension and violence looms over world markets on Monday after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, with Asian assets the first to show what the impact - if any - will be on trading and investing. If the shooting strengthens Trump's election hopes, analysts reckon so-called 'Trump-victory trades' could include a stronger dollar and a steeper U.S. Treasury yield curve. Bitcoin was up 4% at $60,000 early in Monday's global session. Even before Saturday's violence, there was no shortage of meaty issues for investors in Asia to get their teeth into on Monday - from snowballing U.S. rate cut expectations to suspected Japanese FX intervention and a deluge of economic data from China including second quarter GDP. Last week's surprisingly soft U.S. inflation can keep the 'risk on' flame burning if U.S. bond yields, implied rates and the dollar all ease. Rates traders expect the Fed to cut rates by 75 basis points this year, starting in September. But if that's being driven by weakening growth and a softer labor market, exuberance will be consumed by caution, especially with the Q2 U.S. earnings season getting underway. Asia's calendar on Monday is dominated by the June 'data dump' from China as Beijing releases house price, industrial production, urban investment, retail sales, and unemployment figures for last month, and Q2 GDP. Analysts and investors have set their expectations low. Asia's largest economy is expected to have expanded 1.1% from the January-March period, resulting in year-on-year growth of 5.1%. Both would be down from prior readings of 1.6% and 5.3%, respectively. China continues to struggle with a prolonged property crisis that has curbed investment, soured consumer confidence and demand, and kept alive the specter of deflation. Trade, bank lending figures and key money gauges last week darkened the gloom further. China's central bank, meanwhile, is widely expected to leave the interest rate on its one-year medium-term lending facility loan unchanged at 2.50% on Monday. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday on Monday but the yen will be traded across the continent, going into the session near a four-week high against the U.S. dollar following its rise on Friday. Japanese authorities remain tight-lipped on whether they intervened last week. But the yen's sharp rally and daily Bank of Japan money market balance projections strongly point to official action, analysts say. The yen had languished at 38-year lows around 162.00 per dollar last week, but goes into Monday around 157.90 per dollar. Does the short covering rally have more juice in it? Probably - hedge funds are holding their largest net short yen position in 17 years, U.S. futures market figures show. The surging yen triggered a 2.4% slump in Japanese stocks on Friday, its steepest fall since April. Having hit a record high above 42,000 points on Thursday, it could have more room to fall. Elsewhere in Asia on Monday, India's wholesale price inflation is seen rising sharply to a 3.5% annual rate in June from 2.6% in May. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday: - China 'data dump' (June) - China GDP (Q2) - India wholesale price inflation (June) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-07-14/

2024-07-14 20:13

CAIRO, July 14 (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they had conducted two military operations, one in the Gulf of Aden and one in Eilat at the southern tip of Israel. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted the Israeli ship MSC UNIFIC in the Gulf of Aden with ballistic missiles and drones in addition to attacking military targets in Eilat with drones. The spokesperson said that the latest Houthi military operations came in response to the Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis on Saturday, an attack which claimed the lives of at least 90 Palestinians and wounded 300 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Separately, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Sunday that it has "destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) over the Red Sea and one uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in the Red Sea," as well as "one Houthi UAV in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen." "It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region," U.S. Central Command added. Since November, Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group says these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians affected by Israel's war in Gaza. In dozens of attacks, the Houthis have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-they-conducted-military-operations-gulf-aden-israels-eilat-2024-07-14/