2025-11-18 22:17

Central bank orders extrajudicial liquidation of Banco Master Master controlling shareholder Vorcaro is arrested Police investigation targets lender BRB, CEO suspended BRASILIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank on Tuesday effectively halted operations of mid-sized lender Banco Master, which had struggled in recent months with mounting liquidity pressures, as police arrested its controlling shareholder. The regulator named a liquidator to handle creditor claims and sell assets, closing a turbulent chapter for Master, which had grown rapidly through an aggressive strategy built on high-yield debt sold through investment platforms. Sign up here. Brazil's central bank said in a statement later on Tuesday that it acted in response to a "severe liquidity crisis" at the Master conglomerate, a "sharp deterioration" in its finances, and "serious violations" of financial-system rules. PRIVATE GUARANTEE FUND FGC TO TAKE HIT Although the regulator stressed Master's limited size - 0.57% of Brazil's banking assets and 0.55% of funding - its liquidation is expected to hit hard the private guarantee fund FGC, financed by bank contributions and used to cover investor losses up to a limit. FGC said 1.6 million creditors have deposits and investments eligible for its guarantee, totaling about 41 billion reais ($7.71 billion) - a third of the liquid resources it had in cash as of September. "This event only increases confidence in the FGC. Everyone who meets the criteria will be fully reimbursed," Daniel Lima, the fund's president, told Reuters, adding payments could begin in an average time of 30 days. Separately on Tuesday, Brazil's federal police said they had launched an operation against "the issuance of fraudulent credit securities by financial institutions." Police did not name the targets of the raid, which sought to freeze 12.2 billion reais ($2.28 billion), but two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Master's controlling shareholder, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested. His arrest was later confirmed by his lawyer, Roberto Podval. Podval told Reuters he would file a legal request for Vorcaro's release, questioning the Brazilian authorities' decision to arrest him. "If they already liquidated the bank and froze operations, what is the point of the arrest?” he said. According to Podval, Vorcaro was found at the Guarulhos airport, in Sao Paulo state, ahead of a trip to Dubai to negotiate the sale of Master. He denied that Vorcaro had any intention of fleeing the country. Master did not respond to requests for comment. BRB CEO REMOVED FROM OFFICE The police investigation involves the sale of assets of Master's loan portfolio to BRB (BSLI3.SA) , opens new tab since last year, a third source with direct knowledge said. The state-run bank had planned to acquire Master, but the deal was blocked by the central bank in September. Brazil's federal police said they launched an investigation in 2024 at the request of federal prosecutors into alleged fabrication of nonviable credit portfolios by a financial institution. The portfolios were reportedly sold to another bank and later replaced with other assets without proper technical evaluation, it added in a statement. BRB said in a statement that a local court had ordered the suspension of its CEO Paulo Henrique Costa from his position for 60 days. Costa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A fourth source said that the federal police had served search and seizure warrants at BRB's headquarters. "BRB emphasizes that it has always acted within transparency and compliance standards. ... The bank continues to operate normally," BRB added. Federal District Governor Ibaneis Rocha tapped Celso Eloi, a superintendent at state-run lender Caixa, to replace Costa. Shares in BRB opened down 5%, but later pared losses. The central bank's order of an extrajudicial liquidation came just hours after a consortium led by Brazilian investment group Fictor and unnamed investors from the United Arab Emirates said they had agreed to buy Master. Fictor said on Tuesday that the proposed deal for Vorcaro's stake in Master, which included an immediate injection of 3 billion reais but required approval from the central bank and antitrust regulator CADE, had now been suspended. "We reaffirm our absolute respect for the central bank and other regulatory bodies, as well as our commitment to integrity, transparency and the stability of the Brazilian financial system," Fictor said in a statement. MASTER'S LIQUIDITY ISSUES Master's high-yield debt was marketed as being covered by the FGC deposit insurance fund, which guarantees up to 250,000 reais ($46,926) per investor in the event of a bank's failure. Faced with liquidity pressures, Master needed fresh capital to meet upcoming maturities on the debt. With Master in liquidation, a central bank-appointed administrator will now take over its management and assemble a detailed list of the bank's debt holders. IMPACTS ON BUSINESSES, PENSION FUNDS Shares of medical group Oncoclinicas (ONCO3.SA) , opens new tab, a well-known Master creditor, fell as much as 13%. The company said in a filing its book exposure was 216 million reais, after it had provisioned roughly the same amount following a downgrade of the bank's credit rating. Rioprevidencia, the pension fund for retired servants in Rio de Janeiro state, said in October it had invested about 960 million reais in financial bills issued by Banco Master, a type of security not covered by the FGC. Amprev, a pension fund for retired servants from the state of Amapa, also disclosed in its latest report a 426 million real investment in Master's financial bills. Rioprevidencia and Amprev did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ($1 = 5.3211 reais) https://www.reuters.com/business/brazils-central-bank-orders-extrajudicial-liquidation-banco-master-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 22:04

ORLANDO, Florida, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The tech-induced selloff across global stocks accelerated on Tuesday and soft U.S. labor market indicators also weighed on Wall Street, while fiscal worries in Japan helped drag Japanese stocks, bonds and the yen lower. More on that below. In my column today I look at what helped trigger this swoon - a plain, old-fashioned shift in the U.S. interest rate outlook. This suggests that although many economic norms have been thrown out the window this year, some fundamentals still matter for markets. Sign up here. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today. Today's Key Market Moves Today's Talking Points * AI leverage, private credit concerns deepen Concerns over the huge sums needed for Big Tech and AI capex, and worries about liquidity and transparency in private credit, are growing in tandem. The result? Deepening unease around leverage just as the Fed seems set to pause rate cuts. Amazon is raising $15 billion in its first bond issue in three years, Boaz Weinstein's Saba Capital Management has sold credit derivatives to lenders seeking protection on names like Oracle and Microsoft, and alternative asset manager Blue Owl - involved with Meta in the financing of a huge Louisiana data center - has moved to limit withdrawals from one of its funds. * Technical breakdown? For those who view technical analysis as an important part of their investment or trading tool kit, these are interesting times. Even those who dismiss it out of hand may have to respect its potential impact on markets right now. The selloff gathering pace has pushed many asset classes and indices below key technical levels, signaling further downside ahead - the Nasdaq closed below its 50-day moving average on Monday for the first time since May, the Russell 2000 on Tuesday closed below its 100-DMA for the first time since June, and bitcoin on Friday closed below its 50-week moving average for the first time since March 2023. * A bad day for Japanese assets Tuesday was a bleak day for Japanese markets. The Nikkei 225 stock index lost 3%, its biggest fall since April; the yen slid to a nine-month low against the dollar and record low against the euro; long-dated JGB yields spiked to their highest on record. The equity move is less concerning - benchmark indices are only coming off record highs. But the fiscal fear-driven bond and currency selloff is more eye-opening. At some point, they will be cheap enough to lure domestic if not foreign investors. If that doesn't materialize soon, Tokyo might have to step in with official buying. Wall Street wobble shows fundamentals still matter Warnings about Wall Street's excessive optimism, concentration risk, and frothy valuations have fallen on deaf ears for most of this year, leaving market-watchers wondering what, if anything, will cool the tech and artificial intelligence frenzy. It turns out that it could end up being a plain old-fashioned shift in the interest rate outlook. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq, buoyed by strong earnings and AI capex investment, have notched dozens of record highs this year, a remarkable feat given the uncertainty and poor visibility that have characterized the economic and policy landscape in 2025. But both indices peaked on October 29, the day the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a second consecutive meeting. Crucially, however, Chair Jerome Powell said afterwards that a third cut in December was not the "foregone conclusion" markets had seemingly thought it would be. "Far from it," he emphasized. In the three weeks since, the line of Fed officials expressing their reluctance to ease policy again next month has lengthened. The resulting shift in market-based rate expectations has been dramatic. The probability of a December rate cut fell as low as 40% on Monday, according to rates futures markets, compared with over 90% before the Fed's October 28-29 policy meeting. The next quarter-point rate cut isn't fully priced in until March. Many risk assets have responded in kind. While the benchmark S&P 500 may only be down 3% since October 29, a lot of tech and AI bellwethers have been hit harder, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's losses approaching 10%. Bitcoin, a reasonable proxy for wider risk appetite and speculative investment activity, is down 20%. ALL EYES ON NVIDIA There's often no obvious trigger for market corrections or reversals, and they are typically long in the making. For example, former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan's famous "irrational exuberance" comment about the 1990s dotcom euphoria was in December 1996, but the bubble didn't burst until March 2000. There's no suggestion that a repeat of the dotcom bust is unfolding now, but it does look like some air is coming out of today's inflated markets. And the Fed's hawkish steer seems to be a major catalyst, with many of the rate-sensitive AI and tech names that powered the boom earlier in the year now leading this mini swoon. That's in line with long-held market thinking. When firms are expected to generate strong cash flows in the future – whether they be well-established megacaps or smaller startups – a sudden swerve in the path for monetary policy can alter perceptions of their current stock valuations quite substantially. Look no further than chipmaker Nvidia, which recently became the world's first $5 trillion company - on October 29, no less - but has since seen its share price fall 10%. Some of Wall Street's largest hedge funds have recently reduced exposure to this AI leader and other U.S. megacaps. Japan's Softbank said last week it had sold all its Nvidia shares for $5.8 billion, and tech billionaire Peter Thiel's hedge fund also disposed of its entire Nvidia stake in the third quarter. The AI poster child releases its latest quarterly earnings after the market close on Wednesday. With the Fed seemingly about to put rate cuts on pause, the bar for another Nvidia results-led market jump may be high. That's a reminder that even though many accepted market and economic rules have been thrown into doubt this year, the standard playbook hasn't been ripped up completely. What could move markets tomorrow? Want to receive Trading Day in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for my newsletter here. 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/world/china/global-markets-trading-day-graphic-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 21:44

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Crypto exchange Kraken said on Tuesday it was valued at $20 billion in its latest fundraise, a 33% increase in under two months, as digital market firms continue to attract investor interest. The $800 million dual-tranche funding round follows a crypto-friendly regulatory tone under U.S. President Trump, encouraging digital asset firms to expand in the U.S. with promises of clearer rules. Sign up here. Peers such as Gemini (GEMI.O) , opens new tab and Coinbase (COIN.O) , opens new tab, as well as crypto firm Ripple, have benefited from eased oversight under Trump, who, along with family, has been an active player in the still nascent slice of finance. Kraken's primary tranche of the funding round was led by institutional investors such as Jane Street, HSG, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management and Tribe Capital, co-founded by Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi. Citadel Securities contributed $200 million in a strategic investment as the second tranche. The financing values Kraken well above recently listed public peers Bullish (BLSH.N) , opens new tab and Gemini, both of which have faltered since their stellar day-one showings on U.S. bourses, reflecting persistent challenges faced by crypto firms under public market scrutiny as the sector seeks mainstream acceptance. The announcement also coincides with a wobble in crypto prices after a long rally, led by bitcoin, amid doubts about future U.S. interest rate cuts and a risk-averse market mood. Kraken has been actively investing capital to expand into various asset classes and grow its user base. Last month, it said it had bought futures exchange Small Exchange from IG Group for $100 million, paving the way to launch a fully U.S.-based derivatives suite. The funding round follows a September fundraise at a $15 billion valuation. https://www.reuters.com/business/kraken-valued-20-billion-latest-funding-round-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 21:20

Reactor shut in 2019, Constellation wants to restart in 2027 First U.S. LPO loan issued and closed at same time, official says Loan office has $250 billion, focused on large-scale reactor development WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Tuesday it has loaned Constellation Energy Corp (CEG.O) , opens new tab $1 billion to restart its nuclear reactor at a Pennsylvania plant formerly known as Three Mile Island. Constellation signed a deal in late 2024 with Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab to restart the 835-megawatt reactor, which shut in 2019, and which would offset Microsoft's data center electricity use. The other unit at the plant, renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, shut in 1979 after an accident that chilled the nuclear power industry. Sign up here. U.S. power demand is now rising for the first time in two decades on technologies including artificial intelligence. Nuclear energy, which is virtually carbon-free, has become an option for technology companies with uninterrupted power needs and climate pledges. Critics point out that the U.S. has failed to find permanent storage for radioactive waste. Greg Beard, head of the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, or LPO, said the restart would support the PJM regional grid. "This type of energy is important because it's large, stable, affordable base load power," Beard told reporters. Constellation said the loan will help it lower the cost of financing and leverage private investment to restore power to the grid. The LPO has more than $250 billion in capital, and "a large portion of that we expect to be deployed to help reinvigorate the large-scale nuclear reactor development," Beard said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this month that the bulk of the LPO money would go to nuclear projects. Constellation in June had moved up the timeline to restart the reactor by about a year to 2027 after PJM fast-tracked its review process to connect the project to the grid. Constellation said it has hired hundreds of workers, completed infrastructure inspections and ordered major equipment for the reactor. It will need to revamp cooling towers, install a main power transformer among other equipment, and re-fuel before producing electricity. It was the first time the LPO declared that a company had met all conditions for a loan and closed it at the same time, Beard said. Constellation is guaranteeing the loan, he said, and that loan structure would protect taxpayers if the project does not succeed. Constellation is an "investment-grade" established nuclear operator that could have gotten a bank loan without the government's help, Beard said. "But we want to show support for affordable, reliable, stable, secure energy in the U.S., as directed by President (Donald) Trump." The plant also needs U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and water-related permitting, Constellation said this year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-loans-constellation-1-billion-three-mile-island-reactor-reboot-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 21:04

LIMA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A Peruvian congressional committee on Tuesday approved a bill to extend temporary permits for informal miners until the end of 2027, a move that came as more than a thousand miners protested outside the legislature against the permits' looming expiration. The bill will now be debated in a full plenary session of Congress for final approval. The program, known as REINFO, which grants a temporary legal status, has already been extended several times and is currently scheduled to expire in December. Sign up here. Renewed demonstrations broke out earlier in the day by miners who argue that government efforts to push them toward full formalization of their claims are too complex and costly. Many miners, most of whom extract gold, are seeking up to five more years to transition out of the temporary system. Formal mining companies and industry professionals have voiced concerns that another extension could increase illegal activity. They say the REINFO scheme has enabled illegal miners, at times operating alongside criminal gangs, to profit while gold prices hit record highs on international markets. The debate comes just five months before general elections in which many legislators are seeking re-election. Union leader Maximo Franco Bequer told Reuters that he met on Friday with President Jose Jeri, who took office last month. The president "promised us that before taking a position on any potential decision by Congress, he will assess the situation of informal miners," Bequer said. Peru is a global mining powerhouse and exported $15.5 billion worth of gold in 2024. An estimated 40% of that gold is of illegal origin, according to sector data and the country's financial regulator. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/perus-informal-miners-protest-congress-against-ending-temporary-permits-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:51

KYIV, Nov 18 (Reuters) - One of Ukraine's main opposition parties physically blocked lawmakers from holding a vote in parliament on Tuesday to dismiss two ministers over a corruption investigation, demanding the removal of the entire cabinet instead. The stand-off in parliament was the latest manifestation of mounting public anger since Ukraine's biggest wartime corruption scandal erupted last week. Sign up here. Ukraine's anti-graft bureau says it has been investigating a $100 million pay-to-play scheme for procurement contracts at the state nuclear power company, run by the energy ministry. Five suspects have been detained and two are at large, including one of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's former business associates who fled the country last week. Parliament was due to vote on Tuesday on the dismissal of Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk and her predecessor German Galushchenko, who now serves as minister of justice. ALLEGATIONS CAUSE FURY AS WAR'S FOURTH WINTER APPROACHES But the vote was not held as the opposition European Solidarity party blocked access to the speaker's podium, with lawmakers holding cardboard signs that bore slogans such as "What is the price of darkness?" Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk halted the session. One opposition MP said a new vote would likely be on Wednesday. Both cabinet ministers deny any wrongdoing in the scandal. Hrynchuk has offered to resign and Galushchenko has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Zelenskiy supports removing both of them. European Solidarity, which is led by ex-president Petro Poroshenko, has said it would seek to remove the whole cabinet, a measure which now has little support in parliament. Members of Zelenskiy's Servant of the People bloc accused the opposition group of grandstanding and preventing parliament from taking action. "While some thieves run away and hide, others – populist politicians – put on a show," said Danylo Hetmantsev, a senior Servant of the People lawmaker. Ukraine's anti-corruption court on Tuesday ordered former prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, one of the suspects, held in custody subject to bail of 51.6 million hryvnias, equivalent to $1.23 million. Interfax Ukraine news agency said Chernyshov's lawyers asked during a two-day hearing for the order to be thrown out, saying that evidence against him was insufficient and the bail stipulations inappropriate as all his assets had been frozen. The allegations by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), have caused widespread fury as the fourth winter of war approaches with most Ukrainians living under daily power cuts caused by Russian bombardment of the grid. The alleged head of the graft scheme, businessman Timur Mindich, is a co-owner of the TV studio where Zelenskiy made his career as a sitcom star before winning office in 2019. Zelenskiy has imposed financial sanctions on Mindich and the studio said Mindich now plays no decision-making role in its activities. Ukraine, which has received tens of billions of dollars of support from its allies since Russia invaded in 2022, is under international pressure to tackle its long-running corruption problems as it seeks to join the European Union. Zelenskiy tried to curb some powers of anti-corruption body NABU earlier this year, but backed down after an outcry from the public and European allies. He said his changes were intended to make the government more efficient. Opponents said he was trying to shield associates from investigations, which he denied. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-corruption-case-causes-stand-off-parliament-anger-mounts-2025-11-18/