2024-07-09 04:55

MUMBAI, July 9 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was largely flat in early trading on Tuesday as mild dollar sales from state-run banks supported the currency even as most of its Asian peers slipped. The rupee was at 83.4775 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:10 a.m. IST, barely changed from its previous close at 83.4925. Most Asian currencies edged lower ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's closely watched two-day testimony before Congress starting later in the day. The dollar index was at 105 after rising 0.1% on Monday. Powell's remarks will follow a string of relatively soft U.S. economic data which has helped push up the odds of a September rate cut by the Fed to above 75%, according to the CME's FedWatch tool. "If Powell hints that the Fed is closer to an interest rate cut in September, it could send the (dollar index) below 104.75, a critical support level," DBS Bank said in a Tuesday note. However, traders do not expect Powell's remarks to have a notable impact on the rupee. It is "tricky to say" which cue may move the currency out of the prevailing 83.40-83.60 band, with the Reserve Bank of India expected to limit depreciation, while corporate dollar demand caps gains, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. Inflows worth about $2.1 billion into Indian debt and equities over July so far, according to stock depository data, have also supported the rupee. Mostly range-bound price action though has squeezed volatility expectations on the dollar-rupee pair with the 1-month implied volatility dropping to 1.75%, its lowest since March. Alongside Powell's testimony, remarks from other Fed speakers will also be in focus heading into the U.S. consumer inflation print on Thursday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-flat-state-run-banks-dollar-sales-support-asian-peers-slip-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 04:50

JAKARTA, July 9 (Reuters) - Indonesia's incoming President Prabowo Subianto is exploring ways to remove the fiscal deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio ceilings, aiming to fund his campaign pledges, investigative magazine Tempo reported this week, citing unidentified sources. Prabowo's adviser for fiscal matters, Thomas Djiwandono, said he was not aware of any discussion to remove fiscal gap and debt ceilings, adding the president-elect remained committed to designing the 2025 budget within the legislated fiscal boundaries. "We remain committed to plans that have been set by President Joko Widodo for 2025," he told Reuters, referring to a budget gap within a forecast range of 2.29% to 2.82% of GDP next year. Under Indonesia's State Finance Law, introduced in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the government's annual budget deficit is capped at 3% of gross domestic product and the maximum debt-to-GDP ratio is 60%. Prabowo has set up a special team to review options to revise the laws to remove the fiscal limitations, as well as to create a new tax collection agency, according to the Tempo report, which cited three sources. The team is being supervised by a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Jimly Asshiddiqie, Tempo said. Jimly told Reuters on Tuesday he has been supervising a team to review a range of laws, including the State Finance Law, but did not respond to questions on fiscal ceilings. "I'm giving advice ... so the creation of the new tax agency would not violate any existing laws," he said. Prabowo's plans to increase spending in Southeast Asia's largest economy has already put the debt and currency markets on edge. Some economists have flagged increasing fiscal risks under the incoming administration which has promised to boost economic growth to 8%, from around 5% now. The rupiah hit four-year lows last month following a news report that Prabowo intends to raise the debt-to-GDP ratio to 50% gradually, from under 40% now, a plan that the president-elect's economic team has denied. ($1 = 16,292.0000 rupiah) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/indonesias-prabowo-is-exploring-ways-remove-fiscal-deficit-ceiling-tempo-reports-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 00:06

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - The bird flu strain found in cows in the United States is not easily transmitted through the air among ferrets, a new study shows, although the scientist who led the work said it had shown some ability to spread this way. Ferrets are considered to be the best small mammal for studying influenza virus infection and transmission, and are often used to inform assessments of the public health risks of emerging viruses. In the experiment led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ferrets infected with a sample of the H5N1 bird flu strain were placed near healthy animals, but not close enough for physical contact. None of the four healthy ferrets exposed in this way became ill and no virus was recovered from them during the study. However, one of the ferrets produced antibodies to the virus, the researchers later found, suggesting it had been infected. "It is good news that the virus does not have extensive transmissibility between ferrets through the air, but it is concerning that it has the ability to transmit (at all in this way)," said study author and flu virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka. A virus that can spread easily through the air between humans would pose a greater pandemic threat than H5N1 currently does. That risk is assessed by public health agencies worldwide as low, as there is no evidence of any human-to-human transmission. Four human cases, all dairy workers, have been reported in the U.S. since avian flu was confirmed in dairy cows in March. All four people have recovered. The study, published on Monday in Nature New Tab, opens new tab, also showed the bird flu virus in cows can bind to human-type receptors under lab conditions. These receptors are how flu viruses typically enter and infect human cells in the real world. Bird flu prefers to bind to avian-type receptors only, which are scarce in humans. The lab results need further study to assess their real-world implications, scientists said, as in the past flu viruses that developed the ability to bind to both types have caused human pandemics. Scientists have so far suspected the virus spreads among animals and humans through contact with infected milk or aerosolized milk droplets, or from exposure to infected birds or poultry. The study also confirmed that the virus, isolated from the milk of an infected cow in New Mexico, made both mice and ferrets sick after exposure to the unpasteurized milk. It also spread through the body to muscles and mammary glands in infected mice, as it appears to do in cows. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said it was a relief to see the virus had not yet acquired the capability to cause a human pandemic, but this did not mean it would never do so, particularly if the spread among cows goes unchecked. "It's always better to stop a pandemic before it starts than to respond to it once it has started. We should heed this warning and take action now," she said via email. The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bird-flu-strain-us-cows-shows-minimal-air-spread-ferret-study-2024-07-08/

2024-07-09 00:00

July 8 (Reuters) - Exchange operator Cboe Global Markets (CBOE.Z) New Tab, opens new tab filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday seeking to list exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to cryptocurrency Solana, requiring the agency to make a decision by March. Under SEC rules, the agency has 240 calendar days to decide whether to approve or deny Cboe's "19b-4" application to list the products from VanEck and digital asset manager 21Shares. They are the first proposed ETF products tied to the price of Solana, the fifth largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinGecko. VanEck and 21Shares in June applied with the SEC to launch the new products. The SEC must also approve those "S-1" filings before the products can begin trading, but the agency's rules do set a deadline for those investor disclosure filings. If approved, the products would mark a third wave of spot cryptocurrency ETFs, after the SEC in January approved ETFs tied to the price of bitcoin, in a watershed for the industry. Such products require a two-stage approval process. "We are now addressing the increasing investor interest in Solana – one of the most actively traded cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ether," said Rob Marrocco, global head of ETP Listings at Cboe. VanEck, 21Shares and other issuers are also waiting on the final green light from the SEC to launch ETFs tied to the spot price of the second-largest cryptocurrency, ethereum. That go-ahead is likely to come within the next week, said two people familiar with the process. Regulators have already approved the exchanges' application to list and trade those new products. The price of Solana is hovering around $137.83, down from last month's peak of nearly $150 when the two ETF filings were first submitted, CoinGecko data showed. (This story has been officially corrected to say 'one of the most actively traded' instead of 'the third most actively traded', in paragraph 6) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/cboe-files-sec-approval-list-solana-etfs-starts-clock-required-decision-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 23:39

LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Almost 30 years on from the blockbuster "Twister," deadly tornadoes and their chasers return to the screen for an updated extreme weather tale. "Twisters" is a "current-day chapter" of its 1996 predecessor, its makers say. It centres on storm expert Kate Carter, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, and chaser and superstar streamer Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) whose paths cross during a once in a generation tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. Directed by "Minari" filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung, in his big-budget action movie debut, "Twisters" introduces advanced technology and a new generation of adrenaline junkies with a large social media following. "This is a new chapter. This is just a modern telling of that same community that audiences responded to in '96," said Powell, premiering the film in London on Monday. "Audiences can expect lots of fun, lots of thrills and just to strap in and go on the ride," added Edgar-Jones. Powell's Owens is a former rodeo star and self-titled "tornado wrangler" whose rowdy team courts danger with gusto. Texan Powell, 35, said both the original movie and the reboot resonated with him personally. "When I was like nine years old, there was a tornado that went through Jarrell, Texas, and we were on the road to my aunt's ranch and got kind of stuck in it. It was a really terrifying thing...But we cleaned up after that tornado. It's one of those things that imprints on you for the rest of your life," he said. "This movie's really about what we do in the face of storms, but also how we pick up after each other in the wake of disaster," said Powell. "It's a thing that affects a lot of people, and not just tornadoes but weather all over the planet. I think this is a universal movie for that reason." "Twisters", written by Mark L. Smith, is based on consultations with meteorologists, climate scientists and real-life storm chasers, said Chung. "We had people working on the forefront of climate science and also tornado science. We tried to incorporate as much of that into this film as possible to honour what is actually happening and also honour the scientists who are heroes in many ways. If we're going to look to any solutions, we have to look to the scientists," he said. Like "Twister", Chung hopes his follow-up will leave a lasting impact. "That first film inspired so many people to get into weather science and research. I would love if that would happen with this movie, that we would inspire a new generation of people want to research and get out there and study." "Twisters" begins its global cinematic rollout on July 10. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/twisters-film-thrill-packed-science-backed-its-stars-say-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 23:28

PANAMA CITY, July 8 (Reuters) - The Panama Canal expects to complete a billion-dollar construction of a new water reservoir within six years that will help ensure the passage of 36 ships a day, the administrator of the global waterway said on Monday. The Indio River reservoir project would become part of the network of existing artificial lakes that allow for safe passage through the canal and provide water for human consumption. "We are looking at six years," canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez said. Vasquez said the project "would provide a little more certainty to maintain 36 transits per day, a higher level of reliability for the route." Last month, the Panama Canal said after recent rains boosted water levels, it would increase the total number of available slots in both Neopanamax and Panamax locks to 35 slots after Aug. 5. Increased rainfall in recent months has allowed the canal, the world's second-largest, to replenish its watershed, leading to an increase in transits that had been severely restricted last year amid a drought. Ricuarte estimated the project would cost around $1.2 billion, plus an additional $400 million in investments in neighboring communities. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/panama-canal-expects-new-water-reservoir-ship-crossings-6-years-2024-07-08/