2025-11-07 06:01
Orban warns of consequences to Hungarian people, economy without Russian oil Trump says US is looking at the issue IMF figures show Hungary relied on Russia for 74% of its gas and 86% of its oil in 2024 WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from U.S. sanctions for using Russian oil and gas, a White House official said on Friday, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pressed his case for a reprieve during a friendly meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington. Last month, Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft that carried the threat of further sanctions on entities in countries that buy oil from those firms. Sign up here. Orban, a long-time Trump ally, met with Trump at the White House on Friday for their first bilateral meeting since the Republican returned to power and explained why his country needed to use Russian oil at a time when Trump has been pressing Europe to stop doing so. Orban said the issue was vital for Hungary, which is a European country, and pledged to lay out "the consequences for the Hungarian people, and for the Hungarian economy, not to get oil and gas from Russia." Trump, aiming to put pressure on Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, appeared sympathetic to Orban's position. "We're looking at it, because it's very different for him to get the oil and gas from other areas," Trump said. "As you know, they don't have ... the advantage of having sea. It's a great country, it's a big country, but they don't have sea. They don't have the ports." "But many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years," Trump added. "And I said, 'What's that all about?'" The White House official noted that, in addition to the sanctions exemption, Hungary had committed to buying U.S. liquefied natural gas with contracts valued at some $600 million. Hungary has maintained its reliance on Russian energy since the start of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine, prompting criticism from several European Union and NATO allies. International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary relied on Russia for 74% of its gas and 86% of its oil in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian natural gas alone could force output losses in Hungary exceeding 4% of GDP. The two men also discussed Russia's war with Ukraine. Trump said last month that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital, but the meeting was put on hold after Russia rejected a ceasefire. Trump on Friday said Russia simply did not want to stop fighting. "The basic dispute is they just don't want to stop yet. And I think they will," he said. The president asked Orban if he thought Ukraine could win the war. A "miracle can happen," Orban responded. ECONOMIC COOPERATION Greater economic cooperation between the U.S. and Hungary was also on the agenda. Orban predicted a "golden age" between the two nations and made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden's administration, a sure way to garner favor with Trump, who continues to use Biden as a frequent foil. The Hungarian leader, who faces an election in 2026, has cultivated a strong personal rapport with Trump over the years, including on their shared hard-line immigration policies. Trump on Friday gave Orban his support for the election. "He has not made a mistake on immigration. So he's respected by everybody, he's liked by some ... I like and respect him, I'm a double," Trump said. "And that's the way Hungary is being led. They're being led properly, and that's why he's going to be very successful in his upcoming election." The EU's top court ruled last year that Hungary must pay a 200-million-euro ($216 million) fine for not implementing changes to its policy of handling migrants and asylum seekers at its border. It must also pay a daily fine of one million euros until it fully implements the measures. Orban referenced the fine during his meeting with Trump but said Hungary would handle its intra-EU disputes on its own. A tangible sign of Hungary's improved ties with the U.S. under the Trump administration came last month when the U.S. fully restored Hungary's status in its visa waiver program. Hungary has pushed back against plans by the European Commission to phase out the EU's imports of all Russian gas and LNG by the end of 2027, deepening a rift with Brussels over relations with Moscow. Ratings agency S&P noted that Hungary has one of the most energy-intensive economies in Europe – and that its domestic refineries are built to process Russian Urals crude oil. While it said gas supplies from Azerbaijan and Qatar could help replace Russian supply, it warned that Hungary's fiscal and external accounts remain vulnerable to an energy shock. https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-meet-hungarys-orban-discuss-russian-oil-economic-cooperation-2025-11-07/
2025-11-07 05:49
US private jobs data indicates weak labour market Traders see 66% chance of US interest rate cut in December China starts work on easing rare earth export rules Nov 7 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar softened and uncertainty around the U.S. government shutdown added to safe-haven demand, while Wall Street indexes were set for sharp weekly declines. Spot gold was up 0.7% at $4,005.21 per ounce, as of 3:15 p.m. ET (2015 GMT). U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 0.5% to settle at $4,009.80 per ounce. Sign up here. Tech-heavy stock markets remained poised for their biggest weekly fall in seven months on Friday, as investors fretted over the sustainability of a rally in artificial intelligence stocks. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) , opens new tab eased, making greenback-priced bullion cheaper for other currency holders. "The recent price action technically suggests we may be putting in a floor underneath gold and silver prices," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals. Gold is considered a hedge during uncertainty, and as a non-yielding asset, tends to benefit in low-interest rate environments. With the U.S. government shutdown delaying the release of the monthly non-farm payrolls report, traders turned to private sector data, which showed job losses in October, to gauge the likelihood of another Federal Reserve interest rate cut this year. Markets now see a 66% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in December, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. Meanwhile, China has started designing a new rare earth licensing regime that could speed up shipments, though it is unlikely to fully lift restrictions as Washington had hoped, industry insiders said. "Even though the waves in trade policy have calmed down somewhat, the conflicts are by no means resolved. Gold is therefore likely to remain in demand as a safe haven," Commerzbank said in a note. Meanwhile, India's physical gold demand remained subdued as volatile prices deterred buyers and prompted dealers to offer steep discounts. Elsewhere, spot silver climbed 0.9% to $48.41 per ounce. Platinum rose 0.1% to $1,543.00, and palladium was up 1.5% at $1,395.49. All three logged weekly losses. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-gains-dollar-weakens-us-rate-cut-bets-grow-2025-11-07/
2025-11-07 05:35
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook Tech stocks headed for a wobbly finish to what is shaping as the sharpest market drawdown since the turbulence around U.S. tariffs seven months ago. Sign up here. Shares of Softbank Group (9984.T) , opens new tab, the Japanese investment conglomerate famous for high-risk, high-reward tech bets are down around 20% this week - the biggest one-week drop since the pandemic. The Nasdaq (.IXIC) , opens new tab is down more than 2% this week and futures were under pressure in the Asia session. Tech-heavy markets in Japan (.N225) , opens new tab and South Korea (.KS11) , opens new tab fell. To be sure, these are modest drops in markets that have run hard for months. The Nasdaq is up 50% from April lows. But one unsettling feature of the pullback is that there has been no obvious trigger or reason for AI shares to break their stride, which raises the prospect that investors - en masse - are starting to have second thoughts about the rally. More than half of the fund managers surveyed by BofA in October reckon we are in an AI equity bubble. There may have been some signal in markets' sharply negative reactions to AI spending plans at Meta (META.O) , opens new tab and outwardly very strong results at Palantir Technologies (PLTR.O) , opens new tab. Herald van der Linde, HSBC's chief Asia equity strategist with several decades following the markets, recalled how the top of the dotcom bubble came with no fanfare or stunning news, just a collective realisation that valuations had run much too far. "The problem with high valuations is that it's like blue sky," he told Reuters. "The moment there's one small black cloud, it is not a blue sky anymore. So if you have very high valuations, small news, shifts in sentiment, can actually cause markets to come down a lot."The U.S. government shutdown means there will be no U.S. jobs data later in the day, leaving investors to pick their own way through the market's shifting mood. In Asia, Chinese trade figures came in surprisingly soft, with a 1.1% fall in dollar-denominated exports in October, though the outlook is expected to stabilise since the trade truce agreed with the U.S. last week. Focus will be on how equities trade to the weekend, while bond markets have taken private data showing a surge in U.S. layoffs as raising the likelihood of interest rate cuts. Safe assets such as the yen, gold and Swiss franc were catching a bid in the Asia session. Key developments that could influence markets on Friday: - German trade data - Canadian jobs figures - U.S. equities session https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-view-europe-2025-11-07/
2025-11-07 05:27
JERA will buy at least one cargo per month for Japan reserve from January JERA can use or resell cargoes if emergency supply is not needed TOKYO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Japan, the world's No.2 LNG importer, plans to buy liquefied natural gas for emergency reserves on a monthly basis from January, instead of buying only during peak demand periods, to guard against supply shocks, two industry ministry sources said. The reinforcement of the country's Strategic Buffer LNG (SBL) program, run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), will ensure at least one LNG cargo - about 70,000 metric tons - is secured each month to mitigate supply risks. Sign up here. For the year, that means Japan will buy at least 12 cargoes, or 840,000 tons of LNG, for its emergency reserve, up from about 210,000 tons in each of the past two years. If there is no emergency, SBL cargoes may be used or resold. JERA holds SBL cargoes until 18 days before port arrival. Any resale losses are covered by the government, while profits must be returned to the government. Japan is expanding its role as an LNG trader as domestic demand declines, selling excess cargoes abroad during periods of weak local consumption. Since December 2023, JERA, Japan's top LNG buyer and a certified SBL supplier, has bought one cargo for each of the three winter months over the past two winters to add to the reserve, although it was never activated. From 2026, JERA will buy at least one SBL cargo for every month, from January to December, one ministry source said on Wednesday. The utility will also secure one cargo for December this year, according to the source. METI said last year it was considering stepping up purchases from the mid- to late-2020s. Japanese power utilities have called for an expansion of the strategic buffer, which allows JERA to supply a cargo to a utility facing an urgent shortfall, hedging against disruptions from conflicts or nuclear reactor outages, among other issues. JERA confirmed it has secured one cargo for each of the three winter months over the past two winters, but declined to comment on future plans. Last month, the United States urged Japan to stop imports of Russian energy as part of efforts to pressure Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. Japan's long-term contracts with Russia's Sakhalin-2 LNG project cover about 9% of its LNG imports. "Shifting to a monthly basis is not directly related to Russian energy issues, but it enables us to respond to any emergency situation," another METI source said on Friday. The two METI sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Japan has no underground gas storage but has LNG storage capacity of around 12 billion cubic meters, or about 9 million tons, which would be just over a month's consumption, at its receiving terminals, according to the International Energy Agency. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/japan-step-up-lng-purchases-emergency-reserve-january-industry-ministry-sources-2025-11-07/
2025-11-07 04:49
BEIJING, Nov 7 (Reuters) - China's rare earth exports rose 9% in October from September, customs data showed on Friday, the first month-on-month increase after three straight months of declines. China, the world's largest rare earth exporter, sold 4,343.5 metric tons of rare earths in October, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Sign up here. The data was aggregated, so it was not clear which products and countries recorded higher imports in October. A complete breakdown will be released on November 20. On October 9, China unveiled a sweeping expansion of its rare-earth export controls that were initially rolled out in April, covering five new elements and dozens of pieces of refining technology. But after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, Trump said they reached an agreement to keep rare earth exports from China flowing. Shortly after that, Beijing said it would pause the October 9 export controls for a year, though the restrictions from April - which led to shortages in global auto supply chains - appeared to remain in place. For the year-to-date period, exports were 52,699.2 tons, up 10.5% from a year earlier. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-october-rare-earth-exports-rise-9-september-2025-11-07/
2025-11-07 04:47
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Japanese investors divested significant holdings in foreign stocks in the week to November 1, as they turned cautious amid hawkish remarks from some U.S. Federal Reserve officials and favoured locking in profits after the recent market rally. Japanese investors liquidated a net 581.1 billion yen ($3.85 billion) worth of foreign stocks in their largest weekly sales since October 4, according to data from Japan's Ministry of Finance. Sign up here. The U.S. central bank should not have cut interest rates in October and should not do so again in December, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said last week, citing a 'balanced' labor market and inflation level that looked likely to stay above policymakers' 2% goal for too long. The MSCI World Index (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab is set for its first weekly loss in four weeks, falling 1.6% so far. Japanese investors also withdrew a net 354.4 billion yen from long-term foreign bonds, logging their fifth weekly net sales in six weeks. Additionally, they ditched short-term bills worth 798.7 billion yen. Meanwhile, foreigners stayed net buyers in Japanese stocks for a fifth straight week to November 1, as they added roughly 690.1 billion yen worth of local shares. The Nikkei 225 (.N225) , opens new tab has, however, lost about 5% so far this week with technology shares facing a major loss. Japanese long-term bonds drew about 280.6 billion yen worth of foreign inflows in the most recent week after two successive weekly outflows. Foreigners also scooped up a net 1.83 trillion yen worth of Japanese short-term debt instruments. ($1 = 150.7800 yen) https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/japanese-investors-sell-foreign-stocks-caution-over-fed-comments-valuation-2025-11-07/
