2025-07-17 05:46
MUMBAI, July 17 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee stayed confined to a narrow trading band on Thursday, supported by modest exporter dollar sales, while weaker Asian peers and lack of major importer demand kept it largely directionless. The local unit opened marginally higher and extended its advance briefly before running into resistance at 85.80. It was last quoted at 85.8525 at 11:08 a.m. IST, up 0.1% from Wednesday. Sign up here. The rupee's confinement mirrors its behaviour throughout the week, with the currency largely meandering within the 85.70–86 band. The dollar/rupee pair is stuck in a tight range with "no real impulse to break either way," said a FX salesperson at a private bank. "On our side, exporters are more active than importers today. That could shift if we see a dip toward 85.70, considering how the pair has behaved in recent days." The rupee’s tight range comes amid a choppy dollar index. The dollar index initially dropped on Wednesday on a report that U.S. President Donald Trump could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, before bouncing after Trump denied it. However, he renewed his criticism of the Fed Chair for not cutting rates and confirmed he had discussed Powell’s removal with Republican lawmakers. "The potential dismissal of Fed Chair Powell, or attempts to undermine the Fed’s independence, could lead to a more severe flare-up in markets," MUFG Bank said in a note. Such moves by Trump have introduced a serious downside risk that markets will be watching closely, it said Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices were unchanged in June, boosting expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates at its September meeting. Despite this, Asian currencies were mostly weaker on the day. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-remains-trapped-narrow-band-with-more-exporter-than-importer-interest-2025-07-17/
2025-07-17 05:45
BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - Days of broiling record-breaking heat across large swathes of China pushed power demand to an all-time high in excess of 1.5 billion kilowatts, energy officials said. An arc of sweltering heat spans the densely populated southwestern cities of Chongqing and Chengdu to the southern megaport of Guangzhou, in extremes that meteorologists link to climate change - presenting a major challenge for authorities. Sign up here. A subtropical high weather system in the northwest and southwest drove temperatures at eight weather stations in the last two days to their highest yet, state media said on Thursday, citing national weather authorities. "The power system is holding up so far," said Chim Lee, a senior energy and climate change specialist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "But the real test will come as the summer wears on, and there are still risks of potential power rationing." Solar energy accounted for half of June's surge in power generation, and hydropower output nationwide was up on 2023, though still lower than the corresponding 2022 period, Lee said. The comments came after China's National Energy Administration flagged a "record high" on Wednesday in the country's electrical load for the third time this month. That was an increase of 55 million kilowatts over last year's maximum. Provincial records have also been broken 36 times since summer began in the world's second-largest economy. Besides scorching croplands and eroding farm incomes, higher temperatures can affect manufacturing hubs and disrupt operations in key ports, straining overburdened healthcare. Every year in the past decade, the southern province of Jiangxi has experienced 21.7 days of temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on average, up from five to seven at the turn of the century, state media added. The heat has persisted so long that in a blog post last week state broadcaster CCTV spotlighted a tradition of people sleeping with wax gourds, vegetables considered effective in absorbing body heat. In Chongqing, zoo animals were treated to iced watermelons on Wednesday, the official news agency Xinhua said. There is a chance of some respite, however. Weather forecasters expect temperatures to begin easing from Monday, as a tropical depression east of the Philippines may strengthen into a tropical storm expected to be named Wipha, and track across Taiwan toward southern China. However, the low-pressure system could be blocked by the subtropical high, keeping air conditioners running at full tilt and further straining the power grid. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-electricity-load-exceeds-15-billion-kilowatts-wednesday-breaking-record-2025-07-16/
2025-07-17 05:24
Dollar recovers after Fed chief firing rumours sparked selloff European shares rise after four-day drop U.S. retail sales and Netflix and GE results due later LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - A healthy crop of earnings helped European stocks bust out of a four-day losing streak on Thursday, while the dollar made gains after U.S. President Donald Trump quashed fresh speculation that he was about to fire Fed head Jerome Powell. Europe's STOXX 600 (.STOXX) , opens new tab made a solid start as record orders at Swiss engineering giant ABB and record $13.5 billion profits at Taiwanese chip giant TSMC came along rising optimism about a EU-US trade deal after talks were held in Washington. Sign up here. Traders were awaiting U.S. retail sales and jobless claims data too which will give a little more insight on how tariffs are impacting the economy, and digesting the European Commission's proposal for a major increase in its budget. It was the currency market moves that remained the immediate focus however. The dollar was up 0.4% at $1.16 against the euro , bringing it largely back to where it had been before what Societe Generale's Kit Juckes described as Wednesday's "madness" triggered by reports Trump was readying to oust the Fed chief - which he later scotched. Japan's yen gave the greenback further help as polls showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition was in danger of losing its majority in the upper house in upcoming elections pushed it towards its lowest since April at 148.73 to the dollar. Data had also shown the Asian nation's exports were starting to feel the impact of tariffs with shipments down for a second straight month, while Australia's dollar had taken a 1% overnight tumble after weak employment numbers there. "The market has got itself solidly short on the dollar and we are going into high summer so people are starting to buy it back a bit," Juckes said. WATCHING NETFLIX Earnings due later from streaming giant Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab, industrial heavyweight General Electric (GE.N) , opens new tab and drinks firm PepsiCo (PEP.O) , opens new tab were also on investors' radar. With Netflix having outperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date by a sizeable 33 percentage points and analysts still bullish the firm "will need to blow the lights out with a solid beat and raise," Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone said. Wall Street futures were pointing to fractionally higher start later. European stocks were up a comfortable 0.7% after its four-day run of fall while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab and bluechip markets in Taiwan (.TWII) , opens new tab and China (.CSI300) , opens new tab had all notched 0.3%-0.6% rises overnight. Ending what would have been the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese company, Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) , opens new tab withdrew its $47 billion takeover bid for Seven & i Holdings (3382.T) , opens new tab, citing a lack of constructive engagement by the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Shares of Seven & i Holdings (3382.T) , opens new tab slid to a three-month low and ended down over 9%. Trump's quick denial of the Powell speculation had helped restore some calm to volatile markets, but he kept the door open to the possibility of ousting him and renewed his criticism of the central bank chief for not cutting U.S. interest rates. "After yesterday’s scare, markets have probably built even more resistance to headlines on this topic" ING analyst Francesco Pesole said. But, "in that hour, we saw the reaction we would have expected: a steepening in the U.S. yield curve, and the dollar sharply lower." Shorter-term Treasury yields had fallen due to the expectations that any Powell replacement would be an ultra-dove and lead to quicker and deeper rate cuts. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was little changed at 4.4714% in European trading on Thursday, while German Bund yields were a steady 2.695%, having touched their highest since late March earlier this week. In the commodity markets, Brent oil prices rose as much as 0.4% to $68.78 a barrel and safe-haven metal gold slipped 0.5% to $3,331 an ounce. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-1-2025-07-17/
2025-07-17 04:33
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Rae Wee The markets were in a calm but sombre mood on Thursday after a dramatic session on Wall Street driven by renewed uncertainty over the tenure of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Sign up here. U.S. President Donald Trump soothed investors' nerves a bit by stating he was not planning to fire Powell, but he confirmed he floated the idea with Republican lawmakers and kept his options open, saying he would love for the Fed Chair to resign. Stocks in Asia were largely muted on Thursday while Wall Street futures fell, although European stock futures edged higher after slipping during the cash session on Wednesday. The long-running Trump-Powell saga continues to undermine the dollar, which on Thursday was on fragile footing given lingering worries over the Fed's independence. With calm mostly restored to the markets, investors have enough earnings reports and data releases on their plate to keep them distracted for now, barring any stepped-up attacks on Powell. Top of mind are results from TSMC (2330.TW) , opens new tab, the world's main producer of advanced AI chips, and streaming giant Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab, both expected later in the day. TSMC, a key supplier to Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab and Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab, is expected to post a 52% jump in second-quarter profit to record levels, although U.S. tariffs and a strong Taiwan dollar could weigh on its outlook. As for Netflix, the bar is high for it to deliver a result that could impress investors. They are likely to focus on the company's expansion into live sports and the growth of its ad-supported tier. Over in the UK, Thursday's jobs numbers could provide further clarity on the outlook for domestic interest rates. Pay growth in Britain is expected to have slowed further in the three months to May with the unemployment rate likely to have stayed steady at 4.6%. Still, Bank of England policymakers could turn more cautious on further rate cuts this year, after data on Wednesday showed Britain's annual rate of consumer price inflation unexpectedly rose to its highest in more than a year, at 3.6% in June. The Australian dollar fell sharply in the Asian session after domestic employment rose only marginally in June, while the jobless rate jumped to its highest since late 2021. Japan's exports fell for a second straight month as sweeping U.S. tariffs took a toll on the country's manufacturers, and Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO) , opens new tab pulled its $47 billion bid to buy Seven & i Holdings (3382.T) , opens new tab, citing a lack of constructive engagement by the Japanese retailer. Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday: - TSMC, Netflix earnings - British labour market data (May) - U.S. weekly jobless claims - Fed's Waller speaks Trying to keep up with the latest tariff news? Our new daily news digest offers a rundown of the top market-moving headlines impacting global trade. Sign up for Tariff Watch here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/global-markets-view-europe-2025-07-17/
2025-07-17 03:14
MUMBAI, July 17 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee at open on Thursday will contend with a slide in Asian peers, U.S. Federal Reserve leadership upheaval, and soft U.S. inflation data that slightly strengthened expectations of a rate cut at the Fed's September meeting. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open flat-to-slightly weaker versus the U.S. dollar from 85.94 on Wednesday. Sign up here. The The dollar index whipsawed Thursday, dropping on speculation that President Trump would sack Fed Chair Jerome Powell, before trimming losses after the report was denied. Trump kept up his pressure on the central bank to cut rates. Trump has been vocal in his frustration with Powell for not cutting rates, which he thinks should be much lower. Trump confirmed that he had floated the idea with Republican lawmakers to fire the Fed chief. Investors were rattled last week by signals that the White House was paving the way to dismiss Powell — a move that would likely spark a sharp market backlash. ING Bank said in a note that the firing of Powell remains a low-probability event. However, Wednesday's market action showed how investors are likely to react if it does materialize - short-term U.S. yields would fall, the dollar would weaken, equities would decline, credit spreads would widen, and long-dated Treasury yields would rise, ING added. ASIA FX WEAK, SOFT US INFLATION U.S. producer prices index came in unchanged for June, compared with expectations for a 0.2% rise, while core or underlying prices were flat. The miss pushed up market odds of a Fed rate cut in September. Despite that, Asian currencies were mostly weaker on Thursday, pressured by the ongoing turmoil surrounding Fed leadership. The decline in Asian peers "may hurt the rupee at open", said a currency trader at a bank, adding that the unit remains well-supported around the 86 level based on recent price action. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 86.06; onshore one-month forward premium at 9.50 paise ** Dollar index up at 98.51 ** Brent crude futures up 0.4% at $68.8 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.48% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $20.2 million worth of Indian shares on July 15 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $17.8mln worth of Indian bonds on July 15 https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-contends-with-weak-asia-fed-leadership-speculation-2025-07-17/
2025-07-17 03:11
WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Transportation Department is rescinding $4 billion in U.S. government funding for California's High-Speed Rail project. "This project was severely overpriced, overrregulated, and never delivered," Trump said in a social media post. "The railroad we were promised still does not exist and never will." Sign up here. In a separate statement from Trump's, the department said there was no viable path forward for the High-Speed Rail project and it was considering potentially clawing back additional funding related to the project, calling it "grossly over budget." California officials called the action illegal. This is the latest in a series of clashes between Trump and California, including over transgender athletes, electric vehicle rules, the use of National Guard troops in Los Angeles and even over egg prices. "California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. The Federal Railroad Administration issued a 315-page report last month citing missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections. Key issues cited include that California had not identified $7 billion in additional funding needed to build an initial 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield and the project has not begun laying track. The California High-Speed Rail System is a planned two-phase 800-mile (1,287 km) system with speeds of up to 220 miles per hour that aims to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, and in the second phase, extend north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion, but has now jumped from $89 billion to $128 billion. "Canceling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong — it’s illegal," said California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri. "These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation ... This is no time for Washington to walk away on America's transportation future.” The authority added the project "is fast approaching the track-laying phase, with 171 miles under active construction and design, 15,500 jobs created, and more than 50 major structures completed." Newsom currently has a budget proposal before the legislature to extend at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years "providing the necessary resources to complete the project’s initial operating segment." In a post on social media platform X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said "Newsom and California's high-speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption." Newsom responded to the post, "Won't be taking advice from the guy who can't keep planes in the sky." Voters approved $10 billion for the project in 2008. The Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden awarded the project about $4 billion. In 2021, Biden restored a $929 million grant for California's high-speed rail that Trump had revoked in 2019 after the Republican president called the project a "disaster" and the state successfully sued. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-is-ending-government-funding-californias-high-speed-rail-project-2025-07-16/
