2025-10-28 19:43
BRASILIA/SALVADOR, Brazil, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Brazil, Gabriel Escobar, held meetings with mining executives during an industry event on Tuesday to discuss rare earths, three sources familiar with the matter said. The meetings were held on the sidelines of an event in Salvador, in the northeastern state of Bahia, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Sign up here. The topic of rare earths is expected to be raised in negotiations between the U.S. and Brazil aimed at removing tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Brazilian goods. The discussions also indicate how the U.S. is working to find alternative suppliers amid trade disputes with China, which dominates the rare earths market, one of the sources said. According to this source, who attended the meeting, Escobar discussed partnerships that could be formed between U.S. companies and miners already operating in Brazil to explore rare earths. Despite little production, Brazil has vast reserves of these minerals, which are essential for high-tech equipment manufacturing. Another source said Australia's St George Mining (SGQ.AX) , opens new tab, which has a rare earths project in Minas Gerais state, was at the meeting with the U.S. official. Julio Nery, director of mining lobby group Ibram, confirmed that Escobar met with representatives from the sector, but did not provide details about the discussions. "He already met with Ibram three or four times and requested a meeting with Raul Jungmann,” Nery added, referring to Ibram's president. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-official-meets-mining-executives-brazil-discuss-rare-earths-say-sources-2025-10-28/
2025-10-28 19:25
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT.O) , opens new tab said on Tuesday it will introduce prediction markets on its social media platform Truth Social through a partnership with Crypto.com, as event-driven markets continue to make inroads into mainstream finance. The collaboration, involving streaming platform Truth+, fintech brand Truth.Fi and exchange and clearinghouse Crypto.com, will begin beta testing live on Truth Social in the near future, followed by a full launch in the U.S. Sign up here. Trump Media plans to launch the service globally once all the requisite requirements are met. Prediction markets allow users to profit from forecasting a wide range of events, including sports, entertainment, politics, and economic trends. Trading in these event-based contracts has gained momentum since last year's U.S. presidential election. And as interest grows, prediction markets are increasingly seen as a serious contender for broader acceptance in financial circles, with some experts touting them as more accurate than traditional polls, particularly in tightly contested scenarios. Critics, however, argue that these markets are little more than "digital casinos". "For too long, global elites have closely controlled these markets — with Truth Predict, we're democratizing information and empowering everyday Americans to harness the wisdom of the crowd, turning free speech into actionable foresight," said Devin Nunes, Chairman and CEO of Trump Media, said. Earlier this year, Trump Media and Crypto.com had agreed to a deal with a blank-check acquisition company to launch a new venture that will pursue a treasury-style strategy to accumulate the cryptocurrency platform's native token CRO, deepening the ties of U.S. President Donald Trump to the industry. "Prediction markets are poised to be a multi-deca-billion dollar industry," said Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek. Kalshi and Polymarket, two of the largest prediction markets globally, have received a lot of interest from venture capital firms and other investors in recent months, solidifying the reach and engagement of prediction markets. Polymarket had secured an investment from Trump Jr-backed 1789 Capital earlier in the year. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-media-enter-prediction-markets-business-2025-10-28/
2025-10-28 17:27
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Aramco (2222.SE) , opens new tab said on Tuesday that they signed a non-binding term sheet for the oil giant to acquire a minority stake in HUMAIN, an artificial intelligence company majority-owned by PIF. The deal aims to combine the two entities' AI assets and expertise under HUMAIN to accelerate its global growth and strengthen Saudi Arabia's position as a leading AI hub, Aramco said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-aramco-take-minority-stake-pif-owned-ai-firm-humain-2025-10-28/
2025-10-28 16:46
MEXICO CITY, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Mining and transportation conglomerate Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) , opens new tab reported third-quarter net profit rose more than 50%, boosted by higher sales volumes of molybdenum, silver and zinc even as copper production fell. Net profit for the group, a leading copper producer, came in at $1.29 billion from revenues that jumped 11% to $4.59 billion, according to a filing on Tuesday, the latter above a $4.41 billion estimate of analysts polled by LSEG. Sign up here. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the three months through end-September rose 15% to $2.51 billion. Grupo Mexico, controlled by billionaire German Larrea, ranks among the world's largest copper producers by volume. It maintained its annual copper forecast of 1.08 million metric tons, as third-quarter copper production slipped 2.6% to 798,394 tons due to weaker output in Mexico and Peru and a shift toward molybdenum, zinc and silver. The mining division posted third-quarter sales of $10.33 billion, up 9.6% from a year earlier on higher molybdenum, silver and zinc volumes and stronger metal prices. Although copper sales fell 4.3% from a year earlier, sales of molybdenum - a metal used to strengthen steel and speed petroleum refining - grew 7.9%, along with sales of silver and zinc which grew 19.3% and 7.3%. The copper producer is looking to decide on investments for projects in the United States within the next three to five years. "There is an opportunity to invest up to $6.2 billion in the reopening and expansion of projects that align with the new mining and industrial policies of President Trump's administration," Grupo Mexico said. In October, Citigroup (C.N) , opens new tab rejected Grupo Mexico's bid for its retail unit in the country, known as Banamex, opting instead to push forward with a previously agreed-upon deal. Grupo Mexico surprised the market when it made the unsolicited $9.3 billion offer for Banamex more than two years after it had backed away from negotiations. Analysts had speculated that Grupo Mexico could engage in a back-and-forth for Banamex. However, the company said it would not enter a bidding war. In 2023, the company bowed out of the race for Banamex after talks struggled over tensions with the government of then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leading Citi to opt to list the unit. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mining-giant-grupo-mexicos-q3-profit-up-over-50-2025-10-28/
2025-10-28 14:55
Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday said Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to regularly disclose any interventions in the foreign exchange market undertaken by their central banks. Both Thailand and Malaysia committed to report interventions on at least a semi-annual basis, according to separate statements issued by Treasury with each country's central bank. Sign up here. Neither bank has, prior to now, made a practice of publicly disclosing their interventions in currency markets, according to the Treasury's semi-annual currency manipulation report , opens new tab. In the case of Malaysia, its monetary authority will report the net purchases and sales of foreign currencies on an aggregated basis over 12 months each March and September. Thailand committed to semi-annual disclosures of FX interventions with a quarterly lag, but with no fixed publication dates. Neither Thailand nor Malaysia was listed as either a currency manipulator or was on the Treasury's watchlist for manipulation in its latest manipulation report in June. The U.S., Thailand and Malaysia also reaffirmed their commitments to the International Monetary Fund's agreement to avoid manipulating exchange rates to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair competitive advantage, the statements said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-treasury-gets-currency-intervention-disclosure-commitments-thailand-malaysia-2025-10-28/
2025-10-28 12:57
LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The pound slipped versus the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as the UK's fraught fiscal backdrop was brought into stark focus again, ahead of next week's Bank of England meeting and a closely-watched budget just one month away. Britain's budget watchdog is expected to cut a key productivity forecast by a larger-than-expected 0.3 percentage points, people familiar with the situation said, potentially leading to a 20 billion-pound ($26.8 billion) hit to the public finances. Sign up here. At 1232 GMT, the pound was 0.24% lower at $1.3298, making it the worst-performing major currency against the dollar of the day. It was also weaker against the euro, which rose 0.3% to 87.6 pence . Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING, said the trigger for sterling weakness was news of the Office for Budget Responsibility's plan to cut its productivity forecast by 0.3 percentage points. "That automatically widens the fiscal hole that (finance minister Rachel) Reeves needs to fill with the Autumn budget," he said. The gilt market, meanwhile, held fairly steady, with 10-year yields trading just below 4.4% . The countdown is on ahead of Reeves's budget on November 26 with both tax rises and spending cuts on the horizon. Meanwhile the Bank of England (BoE) is expected to keep interest rates at 4.00% at its November 6 meeting, and a small majority of economists polled by Reuters now expect no further policy easing this year. Traders are still pricing in a 35% chance of a BoE rate cut at the next meeting and money markets show they believe the base rate will be some 20 basis points below the current 4% level. "I don’t think the market thinks that ahead of a critical budget, the Bank of England will show its hands. It'll probably want to digest the information first and then start cutting next year in about February," Kamal Sharma, Senior FX Strategist at Bank of America, said. The pound came off a peak of $1.3787 in July but remains up 6.4% versus the dollar in 2025. The euro briefly hit its highest level against the pound since May 2023 in early trading before paring some of those gains. "The pop above the 87.5 level probably saw a few stops being run," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, which he said exacerbated the brief spike. "The lack of follow-through behind that move is not only notable, but will likely also worry the longs a little. Really needs a break above 87.7 to get the move motoring a little more," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sterling-slips-uks-fiscal-hole-brought-into-focus-2025-10-28/
