2025-07-23 06:24

HAMBURG, July 23 (Reuters) - Rain has raised water levels on the river Rhine in Germany, but most of the river is still too shallow for cargo vessels to sail fully loaded, commodity traders said on Wednesday. Dry weather and a heatwave in June and July meant the river became too shallow for vessels to sail at full capacity. Ship operators imposed surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels sailing partly empty, increasing costs for cargo owners. Sign up here. Rain this week has caused a strong rise in water levels, traders said. The impact of the heatwave had been larger than expected, as fields which drain into smaller streams and rivers feeding into the Rhine were especially dry. Shallow water continues to hinder shipping on much of the river in Germany including Duisburg, Cologne and the chokepoint of Kaub, but vessels are able to take on larger loads, traders said. Vessels can now sail around 70% full at Kaub, and around 60% full in Duisburg and Cologne. More rain forecast in river catchment areas in coming days is expected to raise the river to approaching normal levels later this week, they said. The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities such as grains, minerals, ores, chemicals, coal and oil products, including heating oil. German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in summer 2022 after a drought led to unusually low water levels on the river. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/rain-raises-rhine-river-levels-germany-ships-still-only-part-loaded-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 06:10

Trump said Japan, US to form joint venture for Alaskan LNG Not clear if Trump was referring to proposed $44 billion Alaska LNG project METI is working to confirm the facts, official says JERA, Tokyo Gas previously expresses cautious interest TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Japan will form a joint venture to develop a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska though a Japanese government official said he was not aware of such plans. It was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring specifically to the proposed $44 billion Alaska LNG project. That project would consist of an 800-mile (1,300-km) pipeline carrying gas to a planned liquefaction plant for export. Sign up here. Trump's announcement of the venture came in comments to lawmakers at the White House where he discussed his trade deal with Japan. "We concluded the one deal ... and now we're going to conclude another one because they're forming a joint venture with us at, in Alaska, as you know, for the LNG," Trump told the lawmakers. "They're all set to make that deal now." The METI official, who oversees resource development, said the agency is working to confirm Trump's comments. Several companies from Japan have expressed an interest in buying LNG from the project, along with Thailand's PTT and India's GAIL. JERA and Tokyo Gas (9531.T) , opens new tab, Japan's two biggest LNG buyers, have expressed their interest in the Alaska LNG project but said they would need to assess specific conditions, including costs, before moving forward. But when asked about the joint venture mentioned by Trump, a JERA spokesperson said they could not confirm it. A Tokyo Gas spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company is not involved in a joint venture for LNG in Alaska and is not familiar with the details. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-says-japan-us-form-lng-joint-venture-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 05:52

Euro STOXX 600 adds 1%; auto shares jump Asia, EU shares relieved by US-Japan trade deal U.S.-China to discuss tariff extension in Stockholm Wall Street restrained ahead of Google, Tesla results LONDON/SYDNEY, July 23 (Reuters) - European shares climbed on Wednesday, buoyed by hopes of a trade agreement between the European Union and United States after Japan struck a deal that lowers tariffs on its autos, sending Japanese stocks to a one-year high. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a trade deal with Tokyo will include Japan paying a lower-than-threatened 15% tariff on shipments to the U.S. It followed an agreement with the Philippines that will see the U.S. collect a 19% tariff rate on imports from there. Sign up here. Trump also said EU representatives were coming for trade negotiations on Wednesday. That stirred hopes for a deal with Europe, even as the EU was reportedly refining countermeasures in case of a deadlock before the August 1 deadline. Euro STOXX 600 (.STOXX) , opens new tab jumped 1%, with auto shares (.SXAP) , opens new tab surging 3.6%. UK shares (.FTSE) , opens new tab hit a record high, climbing 0.5%. The trade deal news has "raised hopes that the U.S. might be about to reach deals with other countries that avoid the higher tariffs on August 1," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab climbed 3.7% as automaker shares surged on news the deal would cut the U.S. auto tariff to 15%, from a proposed 25%. Mazda Motor (7261.T) , opens new tab rose 18%, while Toyota Motor (7203.T) , opens new tab jumped 14%. South Korean automakers also rose as the Japan deal fuelled optimism over potential progress in tariff negotiations between South Korea and the United States. The dollar remained weak, having lost ground overnight. It traded flat at 146.71 yen after sliding 0.5% on Tuesday. The dollar index , which tracks the currency against major peers, was little changed at 97.48. Analysts noted the trade deal reduced a major risk to the fragile Japanese economy, providing more scope for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates to fight inflation. That hit the bond market, with yields for 10-year JGBs rising 8.5 basis points to 1.585%. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied reports he planned to step down following a bruising upper house election defeat. Ishiba said media reports that he had already decided to resign were "completely unfounded." EXTENDED DEADLINES In another positive development, U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Stockholm next week to discuss an extension to the August 12 deadline for negotiating a trade deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Chinese blue-chips (.CSI300) , opens new tab rose 0.7% before losing steam, and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab added 1.2%. U.S. corporate earnings reports were showing signs that Trump's trade war was hitting profit margins. General Motors (GM.N) , opens new tab tumbled 8.1% after the automaker reported a $1 billion hit from tariffs to its quarterly results. Investors are awaiting results from Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab and Google's parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab - two of the Magnificent 7 stocks that have driven much of the market rally fuelled by AI optimism. Elsewhere, the euro dipped 0.1% to $1.1737, after rising 0.5% the previous day. The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates steady on Thursday after eight consecutive rate cuts. Oil prices nudged higher, helped by rising prices for diesel in the U.S., where stockpiles are at their lowest levels for this time of the year since 1996. U.S. crude rose 0.3% to $65.48 per barrel, while Brent was at $68.77 per barrel, up 0.2%. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/global-markets-wrapup-4-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 05:50

OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it booked a $955 million impairment on an offshore wind project in the United States, despite the lifting of an earlier ban on its construction by President Donald Trump's administration. In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration of former President Joe Biden had failed to conduct enough environmental analysis ahead of approving the Empire Wind development in New York state. Sign up here. He shut down the project, dealing a blow to the U.S. offshore wind industry. But a month later, Burgum lifted the stop-work order on the project, in a compromise with the state that could also see cancelled plans for a gas pipeline revived. On Wednesday, Equinor's reported net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects. "This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday. "Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to the Empire Wind 2 lease." Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans during Biden's time in the White House in 2023. But on the first day of his second term in January this year, Trump ordered a review of offshore wind permitting and leasing, although many analysts had still believed fully-permitted projects to ultimately be safe. The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, it said on Wednesday. With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, the project could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027. Equinor on Wednesday reported declining core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/equinor-makes-955-million-us-offshore-wind-writedown-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 05:47

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI, July 23 (Reuters) - A tanker will not load fuel from India's sanctions-hit Nayara Energy refinery as scheduled, according to three industry sources and LSEG shiptracking data, becoming the second such vessel to change plans following the European Union strictures. Nayara Energy, which is partly-owned by Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab, fell foul of a fresh package of sanctions imposed on Friday by the European Union over Russia's war on Ukraine, begun in February 2022. Sign up here. The Chang Hang Xing Yun is now tentatively set to load about 35,000 metric tons (260,750 barrels) of ultra-low sulphur diesel from Kuwait on August 1 before heading to east Africa, according to data from LSEG shiptracking and a shipping source on Wednesday. It was previously scheduled to load about 35,000 tons of diesel from July 29 to 31 at Nayara Energy's Vadinar port, with the cargo bound for either Southeast Asia or Chittagong in Bangladesh, chartered by PetroChina, Reuters had reported. Petrochina and Nayara Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ship was still positioned off the west coast of India on Wednesday. Earlier, the tanker Talara chartered by BP left Nayara Energy's Vadinar port without loading, Reuters reported on Tuesday. On Monday, Nayara Energy said it condemned the EU's "unjust and unilateral" decision to impose sanctions on it, while India also has said it did not support the bloc's sanctions. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/second-tanker-skip-fuel-lifting-sanctions-hit-nayara-sources-say-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 05:25

Japan to invest $550 billion in U.S., tariffs reduced to 15% Uncertainty over tariffs keeping forex market on edge Yen wavers as investors weigh Ishiba resignation, trade deal Japan's auto industry and rice imports were key negotiation points TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - The dollar struggled on Wednesday, while the yen was choppy after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan, bolstering optimism for more agreements ahead of an impending tariff deadline. The U.S. currency has been one of the biggest losers since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on trading partners on April 2, only to delay and suspend most of the duties as his administration sought bilateral trade deals. Sign up here. The yen hit its strongest level since July 11 at 146.20 per dollar on the trade news but flipped to losses after a report that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba intends to step down next month. It last fetched 146.92. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that a tariff rate of 15% was set on imports from Japan, down from the 25% rate that was expected to take effect from August 1, and added the Asian nation will invest $550 billion in the United States. "Dollar softness seems to be our opening proposition," said Michael McCarthy, Market Strategist at Moomoo Australia. "Clearly, there's some dovishness infecting the market at the moment around the U.S. dollar and we're seeing that in the bond markets too." The dollar index , which tracks the greenback against major peers, was at 97.48 after a three-day decline, hovering near its lowest level since July 10. The gauge has lost 6.6% since Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement on April 2. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday the administration is more concerned with the quality of trade agreements than the timing. Asked whether the deadline could be extended for countries engaged in productive talks with Washington, Bessent said Trump would make that decision. Uncertainty over the eventual state of tariffs globally has been a huge overhang for the foreign exchange market, leaving currencies trading in a tight range for the most part, even as stocks on Wall Street have scaled fresh highs. Japan's all-important auto industry and rice imports were sticking points in protracted trade talks with the U.S. In his post on Truth Social, Trump said Japan would open to trade for U.S. cars, trucks, rice and certain agricultural products, among other items. Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo that the deal would set a 15% tariff on imports of Japanese vehicles. Ishiba, whose ruling coalition lost its majority in upper house elections on Sunday, will announce his resignation by the end of next month, Japanese media reported on Wednesday. The trade deal with Japan could pave the way for more deals, including with Europe. Trump said negotiators from the European Union would be in Washington on Wednesday. The news boosted the Australian and New Zealand dollars, although sentiment remained cautious. The Aussie firmed 0.19% to $0.6568, while the kiwi gained 0.25% to $0.60175. Sterling was little changed at $1.3527 . The euro stood at $1.1737 , down 0.15% but still near a four-year high it touched at the start of the month. The single currency has surged over 13% this year as investors looked for alternatives to U.S. assets. The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates steady on Thursday after eight consecutive rate cuts, with the prospect of steeper-than-expected U.S. tariffs looming. Also weighing on investors' minds were worries about Federal Reserve independence, given Trump has repeatedly railed against Chair Jerome Powell and urged him to resign because of the central bank's reluctance to cut interest rates. Bessent on Monday took a softer stance, saying there is no need for Powell to step down immediately, adding that he should see through the end of his term in May if he wants. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/dollar-holds-losses-after-trump-announces-japan-trade-deal-yen-wobbles-2025-07-22/