2025-06-07 14:35

GUARUJA, Brazil, June 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank will head to its next interest rate-setting meeting later this month with its options open and a data-driven approach, governor Gabriel Galipolo said on Saturday. "'Flexibility' and 'caution' are our two key words," Galipolo told an event hosted by Esfera Brasil. "And flexibility means that we will enter our next meeting with our options open, digesting the data." Sign up here. Policymakers at the bank gather again on June 17-18. Last month they raised their benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 14.75% in a sixth straight hike that pushed borrowing costs to their highest in nearly 20 years amid sticky inflation. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-central-bank-chief-vows-flexibility-caution-ahead-rate-decision-2025-06-07/

2025-06-07 11:41

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) - The Bank of England still expects the ongoing rise in UK inflation to fade but is "not sanguine" about it after price growth proved more persistent than anticipated only a few years ago, BoE monetary policymaker Megan Greene said on Saturday. Britain suffered a bigger than expected inflation surge in April - even after taking out an error in the data - prompting investors to bet on the BoE slowing its already gradual pace of interest rate cuts. Sign up here. "Our view is that we can look through it, but of course there's a pretty big risk," Greene told a conference in Croatia. "The last time we had a lot of second round effects. We're hoping that we won't have second round effects this time around, but we're not sanguine about it." She argued the recent cost-of-living crisis, which saw inflation peak at 11.1% in 2022, might have made "people ... more sensitive to upticks in inflation and so that could feed through the wage-price behavior." Greene, an external member of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee, voted last month with the majority for a quarter-point cut in rates to 4.25% and has said she was part of the group who might have voted to keep rates on hold if it hadn’t been for U.S. tariffs. She reaffirmed on Saturday that private-sector pay growth was "way above what would be consistent with a 2% inflation target". "It's (going) in the right direction, it's just not going as quickly as I would like it to," she added. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bank-england-is-not-sanguine-about-inflation-hump-greene-says-2025-06-07/

2025-06-07 10:35

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) - Ongoing trade tensions between the United States and the rest of the world are a shock to the entire global economy, meaning the Federal Reserve's and the European Central Bank's monetary policies are unlikely to diverge for long, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said on Saturday. "I expect this trade conflict to play out as a global shock that's working through both lower demand and supply," she told a conference in Croatia. Sign up here. "We can discuss which of the two effects on inflation is larger because that determines the net effect. But in any case, I would not expect a sustained decoupling (between the ECB and the Fed)," she said. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecbs-schnabel-sees-no-lasting-decoupling-fed-2025-06-07/

2025-06-07 10:06

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is "nearly done" cutting interest rates if inflation settles at 2% as expected, ECB policymaker Boris Vujcic said on Saturday. The ECB cut interest rates on Thursday for the eighth time in the past year and signalled a policy pause next month since inflation was now safely back at its 2% target after three years of overshooting. Sign up here. "I would agree we are nearly done and that we are in a good position," Croatia's central bank governor told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. "If our projections materialise as they are in June I would think this is the right qualification of our monetary policy stance." He warmed any surprises in growth and inflation data would "affect" the ECB's thinking, as would the hard-to-predict outcome of the European Union's trade negotiations with the United States. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-is-nearly-done-with-cuts-if-forecasts-hold-vujcic-says-2025-06-07/

2025-06-07 09:06

TAIPEI, June 7 (Reuters) - A senior Taiwanese official said on Saturday he had this week visited the site of a potentially enormous new liquified natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska that the Trump administration has been pushing hard to allies in Asia as a supply option. Energy developer Glenfarne had said on Tuesday that 50 firms had formally expressed interest in contracts worth more than $115 billion from its Alaska LNG project, a massive infrastructure deal championed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Sign up here. Writing on his Facebook page, Pan Men-an, secretary-general to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, said he had attended an energy conference in Alaska at the invitation of U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and visited the state's North Slope. Phase One of the project is expected to deliver natural gas about 1,230 km (765 miles) from the North Slope to the Anchorage region. "Despite the freezing temperatures, we talked enthusiastically about building resilience and responsibility as democratic partners in the face of global climate change and the challenges of authoritarianism," Pan wrote. "In the face of trade challenges and international turbulence, we have no choice but to rise to the occasion," he said, without mentioning whether he had signed any deals while there. The presidential office said late on Friday that Pan had been accompanied by Fang Jeng-zen, chairman of Taiwan's state-owned energy company CPC. CPC in March signed a non-binding agreement to buy LNG and invest in the project, a move Taiwan's president has said would ensure the island's energy security. If built, the Alaska LNG project will export up to 20 million metric tons of the superchilled gas a year. It would open direct access for U.S.-made LNG to Asian markets without having to go through the Panama Canal or around the Horn of Africa, reducing transit time and costs. Taiwan has pledged to massively ramp up its purchases from the United States, including energy, to reduce a yawning trade surplus that has angered Washington. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/senior-taiwan-official-visits-site-new-alaska-lng-project-2025-06-07/

2025-06-07 07:29

China commerce ministry say issues were discussed in Paris China to announce final decision on EU brandy imports on July 5 China-EU consultations on EV minimum price in final stage SHANGHAI, June 7 (Reuters) - China is willing to accelerate the examination and approval of rare earth exports to European Union firms and will also deliver a verdict on its trade investigation of EU brandy imports by July 5, its commerce ministry said on Saturday. Price commitment consultations between China and the EU on Chinese-made electric vehicles exported to the EU have also entered a final stage but efforts from both sides are still needed, according to a statement on the Chinese Commerce Ministry's website. Sign up here. The issues were discussed between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Paris on Tuesday, according to the statement. The comments mark progress on matters that have vexed China's relationship with the EU over the past year. Most recently, China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The ministry said China attached great importance to the EU's concerns and "was willing to establish a green channel for qualified applications to speed up the approval process." In a separate statement the commerce ministry issued later on Saturday, it said China was willing to further strengthen communication and dialogue with relevant countries on rare earth export controls as it recognised that demand from sectors such as robotics and electric vehicles had risen. BRANDY, EVS The ministry earlier said that Commerce Minister Wang during the meeting "expressed the hope that the EU will meet us halfway and take effective measures to facilitate, safeguard and promote compliant trade in high-tech products to China." Chinese anti-dumping measures that applied duties of up to 39% on imports of European brandy - with French cognac bearing the brunt - have also strained relations between Paris and Beijing. The brandy duties were enforced days after the EU took action against Chinese-made electric vehicle imports to shield its local industry, prompting France's President Emmanuel Macron to accuse Beijing of "pure retaliation". The Chinese duties have dented sales of brands including LVMH's (LVMH.PA) , opens new tab Hennessy, Pernod Ricard's (PERP.PA) , opens new tab Martell and Remy Cointreau (RCOP.PA) , opens new tab. Beijing was initially meant to make a final decision on the brandy duties by January, but extended the deadline to April and then again to July 5. China's Commerce Ministry said on Saturday that French companies and relevant associations had proactively submitted applications on price commitments for brandy to China and that Chinese investigators had reached an agreement with them on the core terms. Chinese authorities were now reviewing the complete text on those commitments and would issue a final announcement before July 5, it said. In April, the European Commission said the EU and China had also agreed to look into setting minimum prices of Chinese-made electric vehicles instead of tariffs imposed by the EU last year. China's commerce ministry said the EU had also proposed exploring "new technical paths" relating to EVs, which the Chinese side was now evaluating. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-says-it-may-speed-up-rare-earths-application-approvals-eu-2025-06-07/