2025-12-02 00:41

Trump says potential Fed chair is present as he introduces Kevin Hassett BOJ December rate hike bets intact Euro zone inflation ticks up, pointing to steady ECB rates Bitcoin rebounds after sharp selloff NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The dollar regained ground against the yen on Tuesday, recovering from Monday's selloff, even as expectations for a December rate hike by the Bank of Japan lingered, while the euro edged up after data showed euro zone inflation was slightly hotter than expected. The U.S. currency came under pressure late in the session after U.S. President Donald Trump said a potential Federal Reserve chair was present as he introduced White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett at a White House meeting. Sign up here. Earlier in the day, Trump said he would be announcing his choice to succeed Jerome Powell as head of the Federal Reserve early next year. Hassett would be viewed by many investors as a dovish pick to replace Powell, and as such his nomination could weigh on the dollar. The greenback was 0.2% higher against the yen at 155.845, after hitting a two-week low on Monday, following a sale of 10-year Japanese government bonds that drew the strongest demand since September. "We’re basically back to where we started before (Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo) Ueda’s remarks yesterday, which is maybe a bit perplexing considering that swaps still price about an 80% chance of a Dec hike," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. Stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and the dollar all tumbled on Monday after Ueda said the Japanese central bank would consider the "pros and cons" of raising interest rates at its next policy meeting, sending Japanese two-year yields above 1% for the first time since 2008 and prompting a spillover into global bond markets. "To me, it speaks to everything still being very much USD-driven, with the pressure on the buck seen yesterday amid increasing expectations that Hassett will get the Fed Chair gig having given way to slightly more rational conditions today, as participants refocus on what remains a solid U.S. growth outlook, even with a 25-basis-point Fed cut next week very much on the cards," Brown said. "It still seems that, in the absence of an obvious narrative, the greenback goes back to being the ‘cleanest dirty shirt’ and finds some healthy demand," he said. Data on Monday showed weaker-than-expected manufacturing in the U.S., heaping pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this month. Fed funds futures are pricing an 87% probability of a 25-basis-point cut at the Fed's next meeting on December 10, compared with a 63% chance a month ago, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. INFLATION WATCH The euro was 0.1% higher at $1.1624 after data showed inflation in the 20 nations sharing the euro accelerated to 2.2% last month from 2.1% in October, a small rise that is unlikely to be too concerning for the European Central Bank. Inflation in the euro zone is practically at the ECB's 2% target, ECB policymaker Joachim Nagel said in an interview published on Tuesday. "This (inflation data) comes at a time where some had claimed we could yet see another cut from the ECB, although the likeliness is that their easing cycle is over," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. Sterling was about flat on the day at $1.3211 , having touched its highest level in a month on Monday. The Bank of England cut the amount of capital it estimates lenders need to hold, in a bid to boost lending and stimulate the economy. It was the first reduction to bank capital requirements since the financial crisis. Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin rose 7% to $92,321, pulling away from the 10-day low touched in the previous session. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/dollar-defensive-pmi-data-boosts-case-rate-cut-2025-12-02/

2025-12-02 00:30

NEW DELHI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - India's power output fell for a second month in November as temperate weather and a slowdown in industrial activity kept electricity demand tepid, government data showed. Total electricity generation in November fell about 1% year-on-year to 134.26 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), Reuters calculations based on daily data from federal grid regulator Grid-India showed, following a 6% annual drop in October. Sign up here. India's manufacturing sector lost some momentum in November with growth decelerating to the slowest pace in nine months as steep U.S. tariffs took a heavy toll on demand. This also marked the first time power demand had fallen in the month of November in at least five years. Demand generally picks up in the latter part of the year as industrial and agricultural activity recovers after monsoon season, analysts said. "The early onset of winter has reduced cooling requirements, while previously, weak summer conditions and an early monsoon had already suppressed demand," said Ankit Jain, vice president of corporate ratings at ratings agency ICRA. "These seasonal variations highlight the strong correlation between temperature patterns and electricity consumption, impacting both short-term demand forecasts and generation planning." Reflecting the slowdown in demand, ICRA has trimmed its full-year power demand growth forecast for India sharply to 1.5%–2.0%, from 4.0%–4.5% previously. The country's coal-fired electricity generation in November fell 5.8% from a year earlier as overall power demand declined. Coal-fired generation, which typically accounts for about 75% of India's electricity output, has fallen on an annual basis in seven out of 11 months this year, the most since 2020, Grid-India data showed. The sustained growth in renewable energy has also reduced India's reliance on coal for electricity generation. India's renewable energy output surged to 18.55 billion kWh in November, up 24% from a year earlier. India added a record 25.4 gigawatts of new solar and wind capacity in the first seven months of 2025, and plans to increase non-fossil-fuel power capacity to 500 GW by 2030. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/indias-november-power-output-falls-weak-cooling-demand-slower-industrial-2025-12-02/

2025-12-02 00:14

Crypto-linked stocks fall after bitcoin drops below $85k Synopsys jumps after Nvidia invests $2 billion US manufacturing slump deepens in November Indexes off: Dow 0.90%, S&P 500 0.53%, Nasdaq 0.38% NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed modestly lower on Monday, weighed down by a jump in Treasury yields and economic data that showed tariffs remained a drag on the manufacturing sector, as investors looked toward the Federal Reserve's policy announcement next week. The Institute for Supply Management's survey showed U.S. manufacturing contracted for a ninth straight month in November, as factories dealt with slumping orders and higher prices as the effect from tariffs lingered. Sign up here. Markets have largely priced in a rate cut from the Fed at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on December 10. They are pricing in an 85.4% chance of a 25 basis-point cut, according to CME's FedWatch Tool , opens new tab. "The market actually is still obviously earnings-driven, we went through earnings season, but now it's the Fed," said Joe Saluzzi, partner, co-founder and head of Equity Market Structure Research and co-head of Equity Trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. "I see no reason why the uptrend doesn't continue, at least, not as quickly, but maybe more of a grind up to the end of the year." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 427.09 points, or 0.90%, to 47,289.33, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 36.46 points, or 0.53%, to 6,812.63 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab lost 89.76 points, or 0.38%, to 23,275.92. While many policymakers have struck a cautious tone, dovish signals from a few key voting members in recent weeks, along with reports that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is a leading contender to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, have heightened expectations for further monetary easing in the months ahead. Powell was scheduled to speak after the market close but was unlikely to address monetary policy due to the proximity to the central bank's policy meeting. "I guess they'll look for hints of anything that he could say, but it looks like it's a done deal," said Saluzzi. Investors are also waiting for a delayed September report on the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, due on Friday. Despite expectations for a cut, U.S. Treasury yields were higher on Monday following weakness in Japanese and European government bonds in the wake of comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who signaled that conditions were aligning for a possible rate hike. Bond yields move inversely to prices. The rise in yields weighed on S&P 500 sectors such as real estate (.SPLRCR) , opens new tab and utilities (.SPLRCU) , opens new tab, which are seen by many investors as bond proxies. Coinbase (COIN.O) , opens new tab, which ended down 4.8%, and U.S.-listed shares of Bitfarms , off 5.7%, were among the crypto stocks that showed significant weakness, as bitcoin stumbled nearly 6% and at one point dropped below $85,000. The crypto market has lost more than $1 trillion in value since hitting a record of around $4.3 trillion, according to CoinGecko. Strategy (MSTR.O) , opens new tab, the world's largest holder of the cryptocurrency, ended 3.3% lower after tumbling as much as 12%. It cut its earnings forecast for 2025, citing a weak run in bitcoin. Big-box retailers were in focus on Cyber Monday, with shoppers expected to spend $14.2 billion online, according to Adobe Analytics. Shares of Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab and Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab advanced 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 retail index (.SPXRT) , opens new tab edged up 0.2%. Synopsys (SNPS.O) , opens new tab shares closed 4.9% higher after AI chip leader Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab said it had invested $2 billion in the semiconductor design software provider. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.86-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 76 new highs and 78 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.64 billion shares, compared with the 18.64 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. https://www.reuters.com/business/wall-st-futures-drop-caution-ahead-data-powells-remarks-2025-12-01/

2025-12-02 00:00

Online spending on Black Friday rose 9% from last year Wealthy online shoppers drive Cyber Monday sales growth Lower-income consumers hunted for deals at Walmart, Target Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. consumers shrugged off worries about the economy after their Thanksgiving dinners and went on a $23.6 billion three-day online shopping frenzy that exceeded analyst expectations, kicking off the holiday season. Adobe Analytics said online spending on Monday was up 4.5% from last year $9.1 billion from midnight through 6:30 p.m. ET (2330 GMT). Adobe projected that before the end of Cyber Monday, consumers would spend between $13.9 billion and $14.2 billion online, which would bring online spending to roughly $43.7 billion for the five-day period including Thanksgiving. Sign up here. Expectations were mixed heading into the holiday weekend due to weak consumer confidence and tariff-fueled inflation. Yet wealthy consumers spent freely, while others made room in tight budgets to buy presents for loved ones. Big discounts helped tempt buyers, and some Americans even took on short-term debt to buy gifts. Adobe projected that Americans would spend upto 6.3% more online than last year's Cyber Monday, traditionally the country's biggest online shopping day. Holiday shoppers "spent their wallets, not their psyches," said Mark Mathews, chief economist with the National Retail Federation. Despite the recent U.S. government shutdown and weak consumer confidence, he said, other indicators like wage growth remain strong. U.S. online spending on Black Friday hit a record $11.8 billion, according to Adobe, which tracks shopper visits to online retail websites. But consumer unease is emerging in other ways. Analysts at Kantar, who run shopper surveys and visit stores, said consumers made fewer impulse buys this year, while signs at brick-and-mortar stores like Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab and Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab contained language about discounts that was clearer and more specific and detailed than usual. It reflects shoppers who were "on alert for being misled" about Black Friday deals, said Rachel Dalton, Kantar's head of retail insights. She said big retailers like Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab were running more discounts than usual on higher-priced items like tech gadgets, suggesting even wealthy consumers were growing more price-conscious. MORE DISCOUNTS Some stores extended Black Friday discounts to items they normally would not, like household essentials, said Jack O'Leary, e-commerce thought leader at consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ. Amazon was running discounts on both higher-priced items like earbuds and computers, and essentials like batteries. "We have prices that are 30, 50, 60% off," said J. Ofori Agboka, Amazon's vice president of people experience and technology. "People can enjoy to their heart's content." Early data suggests wealthier consumers spent more freely, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at consumer research firm Circana. Lower-income shoppers, who received government stimulus funding during the pandemic, have spent those funds, noted NRF's Mathews. Overall growth in online holiday spending has slowed since the pandemic. Adobe data show single-digit upticks each of the last five years, after double-digit growth each year between 2015 and 2020. BUY NOW, PAY LATER As finances have tightened, short-term loan services like Affirm (AFRM.O) , opens new tab and Klarna (KLAR.N) , opens new tab have grown more popular. CivicScience, a research firm that embeds consumer surveys in news and lifestyle websites, found that 38% of respondents used buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services for at least one purchase over Black Friday weekend - the majority being young, lower-income shoppers. Adobe's data show that Black Friday BNPL use grew 9% from last year. For Cyber Monday, Adobe expects it to top the $1 billion mark, a 5% uptick over last year. Consumers also made strong use of chatbots and other AI features to compare prices and secure discounts. AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites is expected to increase nearly eightfold from last year, Adobe said, when AI-driven shopping companions like Walmart's Sparky or Amazon's Rufus did not exist. CivicScience found that 40% of survey respondents over the weekend used AI tools to help with purchases or shopping decisions. Among serious users - those who used it for multiple items - 87% were under age 45, CivicScience found. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/cyber-monday-spending-us-hit-142-billion-adobe-analytics-forecasts-2025-12-01/

2025-12-01 23:44

Trump rejected Maduro's requests for amnesty, sanction removal, sources say Maduro's safe passage offer expired, prompting US airspace closure, sources say Maduro proposed Delcy Rodriguez lead interim government before new elections, sources say Maduro's administration seeks another call with Trump, sources say Dec 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro is running out of options to step down and leave his country under U.S.-guaranteed safe passage, following a short call with U.S. President Donald Trump last month where Trump refused a series of requests from the Venezuelan leader, according to four sources briefed on the call. The call, on November 21, came after months of increasing U.S. pressure on Venezuela, including strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, repeated threats by Trump to extend military operations to land and the designation of Cartel de los Soles, a group the Trump administration says includes Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization. Sign up here. Maduro and his government have always denied all criminal accusations and say the U.S. is seeking regime change to take control of Venezuela's vast natural resources, including oil. Maduro told Trump during the call he was willing to leave Venezuela provided he and his family members had full legal amnesty, including the removal of all U.S. sanctions and the end of a flagship case he faces before the International Criminal Court, three of the sources said. He also requested removal of sanctions for over 100 Venezuelan government officials, many accused by the U.S. of human rights abuses, drug trafficking or corruption, according to the three people. Maduro asked that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez run an interim government ahead of new elections, according to two of the sources. Trump rejected most of his requests on the call, which lasted less than 15 minutes, but told Maduro he had a week to leave Venezuela for the destination of his choice alongside his family members. That safe passage expired on Friday, prompting Trump to declare on Saturday that Venezuela's airspace was closed, two of the sources said. The Miami Herald , opens new tab previously reported several details of the call. The Friday deadline had not been previously disclosed. Trump on Sunday confirmed he had spoken with Maduro, without providing details. The White House declined to elaborate further, and Venezuela's information ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government, did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The Trump administration has said it does not recognize Maduro, in power since 2013, as Venezuela's legitimate president. He claimed a re-election victory last year in a national ballot that the U.S. and other Western governments dismissed as a sham and which independent observers said the opposition won overwhelmingly. Speaking to marchers, Maduro on Monday swore "absolute loyalty" to the Venezuelan people. It is unclear if Maduro can still make a fresh proposal involving safe passage. Trump held talks on Monday with top advisers to discuss the pressure campaign on Venezuela, among other topics, a senior U.S. official said. A Washington-based source briefed on the Trump administration's internal discussions did not rule out the possibility of a negotiated exit for Maduro, but stressed that significant disagreements remained and important details were still unresolved. The U.S. has raised a reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million and has $25 million rewards out for other top government officials, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who have been indicted in the U.S. for alleged drug trafficking, among other crimes. All have denied the accusations. Maduro's administration has requested another call with Trump, according to the three sources. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-rejected-maduro-requests-call-options-narrow-venezuela-leader-sources-say-2025-12-01/

2025-12-01 23:38

SEOUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.4% in November from a year earlier, driven by higher food and services costs, bolstering the case for the Bank of Korea to maintain interest rates at the current level for longer. The consumer price index was roughly in line with median forecasts for a 2.35% figure, but stayed above the BOK's inflation target level of 2% for a third straight month. Sign up here. An index on prices of agricultural and fishery products increased 5.6% from a year earlier, mainly because prices of fresh produce, including rice and mandarins, soared 18.6% and 26.5%, respectively. The BOK kept interest rates unchanged for a fourth straight meeting at 2.50% last week as a tumbling won currency reduced the scope for further easing and signaled the bank could be nearing the end of its current rate cut cycle. "Processed food prices remain high, having risen sharply in the first half of the year. This is due to the impact of adverse weather conditions, including frequent rain, and the won's declines, which has led to a sharp increase in the price of agricultural, fishery, and petroleum products," Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said at a policy meeting. The median analyst expectation is now for one more cut in the first quarter of next year and then a prolonged pause. The consumer price index declined 0.2% on a monthly basis, compared with a 0.25% decline expected by economists. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy components, was up 2.0% from a year ago. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-nov-headline-inflation-24-yy-expected-2025-12-01/