2025-06-09 11:44

Macron says ratification on track for January start High Seas Treaty needs 60 ratifications to take effect UN's Guterres warns of threats to ocean ecosystems US not ratifying treaty, not bound by it NICE, France, June 9 (Reuters) - The international treaty on the high seas, which focuses on conservation and sustainable use of maritime areas beyond national jurisdictions, has received sufficient support to take effect early in 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. Speaking at the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, Macron said 55 countries' ratifications of the treaty have been completed, around 15 are in progress with a definite date, and another 15 will be completed by the end of the year, meaning that the required 60 ratifications will be achieved. Sign up here. "This means that this treaty will be able to enter into force on January 1 of next year, which means we would finally have an international framework to regulate and administer the high seas,” Macron said at close of day one of the conference, which is being held for the first time in Nice. The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, would permit countries to establish marine parks in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely unregulated. Hitherto, only an estimated 1% of international waters, known as the "high seas", have been protected. The treaty comes into force once 60 countries ratify it. Once the 60th ratification deposited, the treaty will enter into force after 120 days, setting the stage for the first-ever legally binding global framework to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, according to the highseasalliance.org, which tracks the number of signatures. At the end of May, after the European Union and six EU member states deposited their ratification at the UN, the number stood at 28. At the opening of UNOC3 in Nice on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to ratify the treaty. Guterres cautioned that illegal fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures threatened delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them. "The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it," Guterres said, citing collapsing fish stocks, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. Oceans also provide a vital buffer against climate change, by absorbing around 30% of planet-heating CO2 emissions. But as the oceans heat up, hotter waters are destroying marine ecosystems and threatening the oceans' ability to absorb CO2. The drive for nations to turn years of promises into meaningful protection for the oceans comes as President Donald Trump pulls the United States out of climate projects and as some European governments weaken green commitments as they seek to support anaemic economies and fend off nationalists. The United States has not yet ratified the treaty and will not do so during the conference, Rebecca Hubbard, director of The High Seas Alliance, said. "If they don't ratify, they are not bound by it," she said. "The implementation will take years but it is critical we start now and we won’t let the U.S. absence stop that from happening." Ocean experts have also seized on the conference as an opportunity to rally investment for the ocean economy, which has long struggled to attract sizeable funding commitments. At a two-day gathering of bankers and investors in Monaco over the weekend, philanthropists, private investors and public banks committed 8.7 billion euros over five years to support a regenerative and sustainable blue economy. Investments in ocean health totalled just $10 billion from 2015-2019 - far below the $175 billion per year needed, the U.N. has said. To address this gap, the U.N. said on Sunday it was starting work to design a new financing facility, to be launched in 2028, which aims to unlock billions of dollars to restore ocean health by mobilising new and diverse sources of capital. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/un-urges-ratification-treaty-protect-planets-fragile-oceans-2025-06-09/

2025-06-09 11:39

SATARA, India, June 9 (Reuters) - India is set to produce surplus sugar for at least two consecutive years, as millions of farmers expand the area under sugarcane cultivation amid ample rainfall, boosting crop yields, growers and industry officials said. The rebound in production would allow the world's second-largest sugar producer to increase exports in 2025/26, they said, after poor rainfall cut sugarcane yields and led to two years of export restrictions. Sign up here. "Sugarcane usually gives us good returns, but sometimes we can't plant it due to a lack of water," said Umesh Jagtap as he planted the crop on a three-acre plot in Maharashtra, a leading sugar producing state in the west. "This year, we had heavy rain in May, and the forecast says more rain is on the way. So we're planning to plant more than usual." Farmers from Maharashtra and neighbouring Karnataka struggle to irrigate their sugarcane crop in May. This year, however, Maharashtra and Karnataka received 1,007% and 234% more rainfall than average, respectively. The rainfall will benefit the crop to be harvested in the 2025/26 season, starting October, and will also support planting for the 2026/27 harvest, said Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF). Sugarcane typically takes 10 to 18 months from planting to harvest. As a result, farmers who began planting this month are expected to harvest their crop during the 2026/27 season. The NFCSF estimates gross sugar production in 2025/26 to rise by nearly a fifth from a year earlier, reaching 35 million metric tons. For the 2024/25 marketing year to September, India's net sugar production is expected to fall below consumption for the first time in eight years. This decline stems from a 2023 drought that hit sugarcane planting and forced India to prohibit sugar exports in 2023/24 and allowing merely 1 million tons in 2024/25. India was the world's No. 2 sugar exporter during the five years to 2022/23, with volumes averaging 6.8 million tons annually. "Looks like production is set to bounce back strongly, so New Delhi will probably have no trouble allowing exports of over 3 million tons in the next season starting October," said a Mumbai-based trader with a global trade house. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/india-faces-two-years-sugar-surplus-growers-officials-say-2025-06-09/

2025-06-09 11:07

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today I'm excited to announce that I'm now part of Reuters Open Interest (ROI) , opens new tab, an essential new source for data-driven, expert commentary on market and economic trends. You can find ROI on the Reuters website , opens new tab, and you can follow us on LinkedIn , opens new tab and X. , opens new tab Sign up here. Soothed by another resilient U.S. employment report and optimism about trade deal breakthroughs, stocks are continuing to nudge higher as all eyes turn to U.S.-China bilateral trade talks in London on Monday. I'll discuss this and the rest of today's market news below. In today's column, I explore a plan for jointly issued euro zone debt that could be a game-changer. Today's Market Minute * Three of President Donald Trump's top aides will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for talks aimed at resolving a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge. * California National Guard troops were deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday to help quell a third day of protests over President Trump's immigration enforcement, a step the state's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, called unlawful. * Japan is considering buying back some super-long government bonds issued in the past at low interest rates, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan said on Monday. * Trump's move to double tariffs on aluminum imports increases the risk of a full-blown scrap war with the European Union, Reuters Open Interest metals columnist Andy Home says. * Europe's ambition to develop cheap, clean energy has recently received a harsh reality check, Reuters Open Interest energy columnist Ron Bousso argues, as power failures and a string of cancelled renewables projects make clear that the road to inexpensive power will carry a very high price tag. London showdown A top-level U.S. delegation including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is in the UK to meet with Chinese representatives for trade talks. China's vice premier He Lifeng is also in the UK. The meeting follows a 90-minute phone call between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping last week to restart the stalled process. Tensions between the countries remain high, but on a positive note, there was some relief on Friday from news that Beijing had granted temporary export licenses to suppliers of rare earth minerals to the top three U.S. automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Meanwhile, trade pressures on China's stuttering economy were all too evident in the latest sweep of May export and inflation numbers released on Monday. China's exports to the U.S. plunged 34.5% year-on-year in May, the sharpest drop since February 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic upended global trade. The decline in imports from America also deepened to an annual drop of 18%. By contrast, Wall Street stocks were buoyed by the April U.S. payrolls report released on Friday, with the S&P500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gaining more than 1% by the close to reach its highest point since February. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq (.IXIC) , opens new tab are now back in positive territory for the year. Nonfarm jobs increased by 139,000 jobs last month, slightly above consensus forecasts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. While downward revisions to the two prior months' figures are a cause for some concern, the sweep of the report showed few major cracks. Treasury yields rose after the report, with 30-year yields back within a few basis points of 5% again on Monday ahead of the week's big long bond auction and the May U.S. consumer price inflation data release on Wednesday. Despite President Trump's call for a full percentage point cut in Federal Reserve interest rates on Friday and his statement about naming Fed Chair Jerome Powell's successor soon, Fed easing expectations remain subdued. Futures now only price about a 70% chance of a move by September and expect only 46 bps of cuts by yearend. Outside of the U.S., the Japanese yen firmed to 144.43 per dollar as Japan's economy contracted at a slower-than-expected pace in the January-March period. Japan's government is considering buying back some super-long bonds it issued at low interest rates, according to Reuters sources. The move would come on top of an expected government plan to trim issuance of super-long bonds in the wake of sharp rises in yields. Be sure to check out today's column, which looks at a novel proposal for expanding the size and liquidity of jointly issued euro sovereign bonds. This possible plan comes at a critical juncture when global investors are looking for possible alternatives to the dominant U.S. Treasury market. Chart of the day China's export growth slowed to a three-month low in May as U.S. tariffs slammed shipments, while factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years, heaping pressure on the world's second-largest economy on both the domestic and external fronts. While the trade story has hogged the spotlight this year, the deflation picture has been brewing for several years, partly because the country's property bust has depressed domestic demand. Today's events to watch * New York Federal Reserve's May survey of consumer expectations, U.S. May employment trends (10:00 AM EDT); Mexico May inflation (8:00 AM EDT) * U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meet Chinese trade delegation, including China's vice premier He Lifeng, in London * Argentina's President Javier Milei meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in France Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles , opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/global-markets-view-usa-2025-06-09/

2025-06-09 11:06

Latin America offers attractive yields amid global trade tensions Brazil and Mexico dominate Latam investment landscape Argentina's market gains interest after capital controls changes NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - Latin America has emerged as a top investing destination as ongoing wars - both of the military and trade variety - make investors seek options in a region they view as refreshingly untroubled by tariffs and major conflicts. Portfolio flows data suggests that investors are largely underexposed to Latin America even as many stock markets - including Brazil's and Mexico's - are trading at or near record highs, while sovereign bonds offer still-attractive yields. Although some prefer not to chase a stock rally, others have focused on the local debt market. Sign up here. "The Latam story is easier to tell now as stocks are cheap and there is a lack of options in emerging markets," said Leonard Linnet, head of equities at Itau BBA. "China is at the epicenter of the trade war, India is more expensive and has some geopolitical issues with Pakistan and investors are avoiding investing in Russia.” Brazil and Mexico are the behemoths where most international investors concentrate their exposure to Latin America. Both carry by far the largest regional weights in global benchmarks for stocks and bonds. Among all emerging markets, however, the two countries are relatively small. Brazil, which is Latin America's largest economy and market, constitutes 60% of the MSCI Latam index (.MILA00000PUS) , opens new tab and just below 5% of the broader EM index (.MSCIEF) , opens new tab. The stock markets of both Brazil and Mexico are trading near record highs and at low valuations, and their bonds offer attractive yields with the backdrop of softening monetary policy. The investment avenues thin out for some institutions as some Latin American markets are comparatively illiquid or lack investment-grade credit ratings. But in that higher-risk environment other investors see returns. "The investment opportunity in Latam does not require large changes in global asset allocations," Rob Citrone, founder of global macro hedge fund Discovery Capital, told his investors recently. "Asset flows, on the margin, dictate much of the price performance, so small changes to large markets, such as the U.S., can have big impacts on smaller markets, such as most in Latam." After a 26% decline in the regional stock index last year, Latam is the best performer for stocks this year. Within the MSCI universe, investors are paying just over $9 for each dollar in earnings across Latam - compared with more than $19 for developed markets (.WORLD) , opens new tab. Although Mexico is closer to the trade war's epicenter, its listed companies are not so exposed to it, so the country's stocks are moving higher. "Price-to-earnings multiples in Latam are low now even when compared with its own historical average," said Itau BBA's Linnet. "Brazil is not only cheaper than China and India, it is trading at a 23% discount from (itself)." Netherlands-based Robeco has been increasing allocation to Latin America, mainly to Mexico, Brazil and Chile, as it has partially shifted away from the U.S., said Wim-Hein Pals, head of emerging markets team at Robeco. The firm is overweight Latam, while it is close to neutral China and underweight India. Both dollar weakness and idiosyncratic stories, including last year's FX selloff, have bolstered the region's currencies. With its benchmark interest rate at 14.75%, Brazil's real has emerged as one of the favored global carry currencies and is up 9% against the greenback this year. The Latin America currency index (.MILA00000CUS) , opens new tab is up nearly 15% this year and last week touched a 14-year high. The outlook for the global economy and the issue of reallocating outside of the United States both face uncertainties and it is far too soon to expect material inflows to Latin America, said Graham Stock, senior emerging market strategist at RBC Global Asset Management. "Having said that, you could always see short-term trades that are dollar-bearish, and you could see some allocation into Latin American currencies, because they're high yielding. The carry is attractive there, and I think that is part of what we've seen." Beyond the region's largest economies, Argentina has been a forbidden fruit of sorts for investors over the past years. Its dollar debt has returned over 100% at the index level since President Javier Milei was elected in late 2023 and the local Argentine stock index (.MERV) , opens new tab rose 173% last year. Yet Argentina remains outside major benchmarks, making the market inaccessible to some of the largest investors - some of whom have grown more curious about Argentine assets since capital controls were all but lifted in mid-April. "We couldn't buy in on Argentina for all practical purposes while they were under the capital controls," said Alison Shimada, head of the Total Emerging Markets Equity team at Allspring Global Investments. "Now that that has changed, we would be interested, and we're doing some work on it, but at the right price." Some investors would like to see more Latam companies listed. Brazil also attracts most of the region's venture capital, with over 1,400 VC-backed startups since 2013 as of the first half of last year, according to the most recent data from LAVCA, while Uruguay, Chile and Colombia emerged as alternative hubs for innovation. Regardless of how many of these startups actually go to market, they will likely find investors thirsty for places to put money to work in the region. Said Allspring's Shimada: "I'd love to see those smaller countries have more listed assets." https://www.reuters.com/business/investors-eye-latin-america-they-diversify-away-wall-street-2025-06-09/

2025-06-09 11:00

June 9 (Reuters) - Sterling rose against the dollar on Monday, as the greenback weakened after rallying on Friday on the back of a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and investors eyed a spending plan by Britain's government later this week. The pound has been helped by a UK economy that has proved relatively resilient to global turbulence. Sign up here. Investors will, however, be monitoring a spending review on Wednesday that will set government departments' budgets up to 2029, covering most of the remainder of the Labour Party's term in office, while concerns persist around Britain's sovereign debt levels , opens new tab. The pound gained about 0.4% to $1.3575. It held steady against the euro , which was only marginally lower at 84.21 pence. More upbeat business surveys and strong first-quarter GDP indicated the UK economy is recovering from a weak end to 2024, but the public remains impatient for improvements to living standards, finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Thursday. This week's April data on UK jobs, growth and industrial output will not show much, said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale. "I think the economy is vulnerable. The economy will ultimately be sterling's Achilles heel because we have no room for fiscal policy, not much economic momentum." However, decent pay rises on average across the economy have helped, he said. "The UK economy is not growing, but there are people turning up in shops and bars because there's some wage growth. And so I think the world is full of sterling bears who are getting frustrated." Markets effectively fully anticipate that the Bank of England will leave interest rates unchanged on June 19 when it announces the result of its next policy meeting, according to data compiled by LSEG. Many of sterling's gains this year have resulted from broad dollar weakness as investors factor in the risk that President Donald Trump's erratic policymaking could result in a U.S. recession that might spill over to the rest of the world. The pound has appreciated about 8% so far this year against the dollar. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-rises-against-weaker-dollar-ahead-uks-spending-plan-2025-06-09/

2025-06-09 10:50

Outages at Chevron, PBF, Valero refineries caused crunch State's reliance on fuel imports may grow amid planned refinery closures Imports mainly from Asia, the Bahamas increase Opening of unusual trade routes could dampen extreme price spikes NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - California's fuel imports rose to the highest in four years in May as refiners turned to historical trading partners in Asia and tapped some unusual routes to make up for shortages in the No.2 U.S. oil consumer state, according to shipping data and traders. The rise in shipments to California offers an early look at the future of the biggest gasoline and jet fuel markets in the U.S., which are expected to become more reliant on imports after Phillips 66(PSX.N) , opens new tab and Valero(VLO.N) , opens new tab close two major refineries in the state by next year, amid growing regulatory and cost pressures, and declining demand for gasoline. Sign up here. "California's refining capacity is shrinking faster than its fuel demand is declining, forcing the state into a long-term import-dependent position," Kpler analyst Sumit Ritolia said. California's total petroleum product imports rose to 279,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, the highest since June 2021, when a similar volume was imported, according to data from vessel tracker Kpler. About 187,000 bpd, or nearly 70% of the imports came from South Korea and other Asian exporters, who have historically been the top trading partners for California and other West Coast states, which are geographically isolated from major U.S. refining centers along the Gulf Coast. Recent outages in California at refineries owned by Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab, PBF Energy (PBF.N) , opens new tab and Valero(VLO.N) , opens new tab caused a supply crunch in markets along the U.S. West Coast that necessitated more imports, traders and analysts said. "We have seen tighter supplies due to several refinery outages," StoneX oil analyst Alex Hodes said. That boosted prices in the U.S. Pacific Northwest substantially and led to increased imports, he said. There were several days where San Francisco gasoline was more than $40 a barrel above Gulf Coast pricing, nearly double the year-to-date average of $21, WoodMac analyst Austin Lin said. UNUSUAL ROUTES California's imports from the Bahamas, a trade route rarely used by West Coast refiners, hit a record high of 38,000 bpd in May, Kpler data showed. The previous record was 29,000 bpd in March. Flows on the route from the Caribbean were sporadic before this year's refining outages, averaging just 6,000 bpd throughout last year, the data showed. The Bahamas does not refine oil but exports fuel and blending components shipped there from the U.S. Gulf Coast refining hub as part of a workaround to a century-old U.S. shipping law to supply fuel to the East Coast when pipeline shipments are insufficient. The Jones Act bars movement of goods between U.S. ports unless carried by ships built domestically and staffed by local crew. However, there were only 55 such petroleum tankers as of the start of 2024, according to a government report, making them expensive and hard to procure. Sailing a tanker from Texas to California via the Bahamas is typically too expensive, but the recent refinery outages opened up the arbitrage to the West Coast from everywhere, a second U.S. gasoline trading source said. Ample availability in the Atlantic Basin of alkylate - a blending component highly sought for California's unique blend of CARBOB gasoline - could have also contributed to the uptick in imports from the Bahamas, Sparta Commodities analyst Philip Jones-Lux said. Meanwhile, California imported 39,000 bpd of gasoline and alkylate from India last month, the highest since January 2024, Kpler data showed. More waterborne imports will raise fuel costs in the most populous U.S. state, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. However, the opening up of these unusual trade routes in May shows the state still has options to shield consumers from extraordinary price spikes, he said. Retail gasoline prices averaged $4.68 a gallon in California on Friday, while the national average was $3.12, according to GasBuddy data. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/california-fuel-imports-hit-4-year-high-amid-refinery-outages-2025-06-09/