2025-07-15 10:51

NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - Google has agreed to secure as much as 3 gigawatts of U.S. hydropower in the world's largest corporate clean power pact for hydroelectricity, the company said on Tuesday, as Big Tech pursues the expansion of energy-hungry data centers. The deal between Google and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO) , opens new tab includes initial 20-year power purchase agreements, totaling $3 billion, for electricity generated from two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania. Sign up here. The tech giant will also invest $25 billion in data centers across Pennsylvania and neighboring states over the next two years, Semafor reported on Tuesday. The technology industry is intensifying the hunt for massive amounts of clean electricity to power data centers needed for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which has driven U.S. power consumption to record highs after nearly two decades of stagnation. Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer at Google parent company Alphabet, is expected to discuss the news at an AI summit in Pittsburgh. U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the event, where $70 billion in AI and energy investments are expected to be announced. "This collaboration with Brookfield is a significant step forward, ensuring clean energy supply in the PJM region where we operate," Amanda Peterson Corio, Google's head of data center energy, said in a statement. Over roughly the last year, Google has struck several first-of-a-kind power purchase agreements, including for carbon-free geothermal energy and advanced nuclear. The company is also working with the country's largest electricity grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to use AI to speed up the process of hooking up new power supplies to the grid. In the latest deal, Google said it has signed an initial framework agreement with Brookfield, owner of Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.N) , opens new tab, which develops and operates renewable energy plants. Its two hydropower sites in Pennsylvania will be upgraded and relicensed as part of the arrangement, the companies said. Google said it plans to expand the deal eventually beyond those sites to other parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-inks-3-billion-us-hydropower-deal-largest-clean-energy-agreement-its-kind-2025-07-15/

2025-07-15 10:06

MUMBAI, July 15(Reuters) - The Indian rupee edged up on Tuesday, tracking gains in most Asian peers, as the dollar index dipped ahead of a key U.S. inflation reading, which is expected to provide cues on the Federal Reserve's monetary direction. The rupee closed at 85.81 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.2% on the day. Sign up here. While the local currency fleetingly fell below the 86 handle in the previous session, its quick recovery also prompted short wagers on the currency to be liquidated, adding to its upward momentum, traders said. The rupee's range-bound behaviour over the last two weeks has also sparked interest in selling short-term volatility among large corporates and interbank participants, bankers said. The dollar index was down 0.2% at 97.9, with most Asian currencies rising, while the offshore Chinese yuan was little changed. "We expect INR to trade with a strengthening bias in the near term, unless India gets hit by higher tariffs compared to the region," ING said in a note. India is among the few large U.S. trading partners yet to receive a letter from the White House on a country-specific tariff rate. Negotiations between the two nations for a trade deal are currently ongoing. ING expects the rupee to trade at 86.50 against the U.S. dollar in 6 months and decline to 88 in a year's time. The rupee had hit its all-time low of 87.95 in February this year. Data released on Tuesday showed that India's merchandise trade deficit (INTRD=ECI) , opens new tab in June was narrower-than-expected at $18.78 billion. Meanwhile, dollar-rupee forward premiums ticked up ahead of the release of U.S. consumer inflation data later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters have forecast the month-on-month core U.S. CPI to rise 0.3% in June, up from 0.1% in May. The odds of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in July are under 5%, while September odds are a tad above 60%, as per CME's FedWatch tool. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-creeps-higher-alongside-most-asian-peers-us-cpi-print-focus-2025-07-15/

2025-07-15 09:54

LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - The pound steadied on Tuesday, following the previous day's slide, in line with a more upbeat tone across the broader markets, ahead of U.S. inflation data and a speech by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey later on. Sterling was last at $1.3435, little changed on the day and was similarly steady against the euro , which traded at 86.92 pence. Sign up here. Bailey will give his annual "Mansion House" address to London's financial sector on Tuesday, along with finance minister Rachel Reeves. The pound is still up 7.6% against the dollar this year, but it has lost over 5% in value against the euro, set for its weakest annual performance since 2022, when UK markets were hit by a crisis triggered by an interim budget from former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Losses against the euro have accelerated in recent weeks. In the last two months, sterling has lost over 3.5%. Investor concern over the outlook for the UK economy, which contracted unexpectedly for a second month in a row in May, is building, especially in light of the shrinking fiscal headroom that Reeves has after the government watered down a landmark reform to welfare benefits and passed a bill that blew a hole in its finances. "That round of cuts left a 5 billion-pound ($6.72 billion) hole in public finances, one which the government seems unconfident in fixing with more cuts. All of this means that the pound is under pressure on the fiscal credibility front, not Liz Truss by any means, but a serious drag on sterling's value," Caxton FX strategist David Stritch said. Money markets show traders are looking for at least two quarter-point rate cuts this year from 4.25%, which implies rates at 3.6% by December. Just two months ago, markets showed the implied rate for December was closer to 4%. "Expect Governor Bailey to reiterate a position – similar to the Fed – that faster easing is possible if the labour market deteriorates," ING strategist Chris Turner said in a note. Investors are waiting for U.S. consumer inflation later on Tuesday that could be key in setting expectations for where U.S. rates will head over the coming Federal Reserve meetings. There is also UK consumer inflation on Wednesday that is expected to show price pressures continued to accelerate in June. ($1 = 0.7437 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/pound-edges-up-ahead-us-data-bailey-speech-2025-07-15/

2025-07-15 09:50

STOCKHOLM, July 15 (Reuters) - A tariff level of 10% is the best that the European Union can expect from negotiations with the United States, Sweden's Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said on Tuesday. "We have to reckon on 10% in any case. That's the lowest we can expect," Svantesson told reporters. Sign up here. Svantesson said uncertainty about tariffs as well as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East meant that Sweden's economy remained weak. In June, the government cut its forecast for growth this year to 0.9% - half the 1.8% it expected in May. Nevertheless, Svantesson said the economy was fundamentally strong and robust government finances meant Sweden could easily finance its rapid increase in defence spending, though there would be less room for other reforms in the autumn budget. Think tank NIER reckons the government has room for 34 billion Swedish crowns ($3.54 billion) in unfinanced measures in the upcoming budget bill, which will be published in September. Svantesson said the budget would focus on strengthening households and getting more people into work. "It is not the time for tax hikes, quite the opposite in the current situation," she said. ($1 = 9.6162 Swedish crowns) https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/swedish-finance-minister-says-10-us-tariffs-lowest-eu-can-expect-2025-07-15/

2025-07-15 07:48

Kremlin says Trump sending wrong signal to Ukraine Russia does not care about Trump's theatrics, official says Trump asked Zelenskiy if Ukraine could hit Moscow, FT reports Trump threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports Trump says he is 'not done' with Putin, BBC reports MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Tuesday reacted icily to Donald Trump's warnings to President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying that recent decisions by the U.S. president and the NATO military alliance would be interpreted by Kyiv as a signal to continue the war. Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. Sign up here. "The U.S. president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Peskov, though, added that it was already clear that decisions being made in Washington and other NATO capitals were "perceived by the Ukrainian side not as a signal for peace but as a signal to continue the war." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times this year, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $350 billion - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. TRUMP 'VERY UNHAPPY' Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former U.S. President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep , opens new tab in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones which injured 18 people. SECONDARY SANCTIONS Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war'". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and that there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention is to impose "100% tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days. "We can do secondary," Trump said. "We're probably talking about 100 percent or something like that. We can do secondary tariffs without the Senate, without the House, but what they're crafting also could be very good." Eighty-five of the 100 U.S. senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would give Trump the authority to impose 500% tariffs on any country that helps Russia. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter of oil. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-does-not-care-about-trumps-theatrical-ultimatum-senior-official-says-2025-07-15/

2025-07-15 07:06

Kazakhstan has exceeded OPEC+ output quota Output at Tengiz oilfield has been expanded Some OPEC+ members angry with Kazakhstan for surpassing quota No plans for Kazakhstan to leave OPEC+ ASTANA, July 15 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's oil output in the first half of 2025 rose by around 11.6% to 49.9 million metric tons from the same period in 2024, while the country has no plans to leave the OPEC+ group of global leading oil producers, senior officials said on Tuesday. The Central Asian republic has persistently exceeded quotas set by OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers led by Russia, angering some bloc's members, according to the industry sources. Sign up here. Energy minister Erlan Akkenzhenov said on Tuesday that Kazakhstan exported 39.6 million tons of oil (1.64 million barrels per day), while this year's export is expected at 70.5 million tons. Reuters uses the ratio of barrels of Kazakhstan's crude oil to metric tons of 7.5 barrels per metric ton. Separately, the country's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said Kazakhstan did not plan to leave OPEC+, while conceding it has struggled to abide by the OPEC+ production quotas. He said it was due to the expansion of the Chevron-led (CVX.N) , opens new tab Tengiz oilfield, the country's largest. Kazakhstan's OPEC+ quota is set to rise to 1.532 million barrels per day in August from 1.514 million barrels per day in July. This does not account for output of gas condensate, a type of light oil. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/kazakhstan-hikes-oil-output-by-116-first-half-no-plans-quit-opec-2025-07-15/