2025-10-17 19:53

HOUSTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Venture Global (VG.N) , opens new tab has held talks with Ukraine to sell it additional cargoes of liquefied natural gas from its Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana as the winter approaches amid Russian attacks on its infrastructure, three people told Reuters. The talks for LNG from Plaquemines are taking place with Ukraine's DTEK, a major player in Ukraine's energy sector, according to two of the people. Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been degraded due to constant Russian attacks, and the country has had to boost gas imports as its own production falters. Sign up here. Venture Global CEO Michael Sabel was part of a delegation of U.S. energy leaders who met in Washington, D.C., on Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian leader posted images of the meeting on X and said the country needed more power. Venture Global declined to comment on the talks and DTEK did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DTEK already has an agreement signed in 2024 to an undisclosed amount of LNG from the facility, in addition to two million metric tons per annum from CP2, Venture Global's third export hub that is currently under construction. Venture Global is the only U.S. LNG operator with significant spare capacity, as its 27.7 million metric tons per annum Plaquemines LNG plant is still in the commissioning phase that allows for spot market sales. The practice has drawn increased attention after an arbitration tribunal found last week that Venture Global breached an agreement with BP (BP.L) , opens new tab to declare timely commercial operations at its separate Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana and prioritize spot sales instead. Venture Global has said that the planned timeframe for full commercial operations at Plaquemines - which will result in the activation of longer-term contracts at cheaper prices - remains on track. Last month, the company exported 1.6 million tonnes of LNG from Plaquemines, or 17% of total U.S. LNG exports in September, according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venture-global-held-talks-with-ukraine-provide-it-with-more-lng-sources-say-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 19:49

Oct 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury bought Argentine pesos in the spot and "Blue Chip Swap" markets on Thursday and it continues to monitor all markets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday. "Treasury is monitoring all markets, and we have the capacity to act with flexibility and with force to stabilize Argentina," he said in a post on X. Sign up here. It was the first announcement of participation in the "blue-chip" market, after Bessent previously spoke of buying pesos in the spot market. The pledged U.S. support also includes a $20 billion swap with the Argentine central bank and the workings of a $20 billion facility to invest in the South American country's sovereign debt. "We think the support from the U.S. Treasury is helping stabilize markets," said Nigel Chalk, deputy director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund in a press briefing. "IMF staff have spent many hours and have been very deeply engaged with both Argentina and the U.S. Treasury through this process," he added. He did not answer a question on whether the fund would rather see the peso, which trades in a band, float freely. The official peso weakened 3.4% on Friday to 1,450 per dollar, not far from the record low close of 1,474.50 hit before Bessent first announced the U.S. backing. Peso one-month nondeliverable forwards priced the currency at 1,446, after rising as high as 1,541 earlier this month. Three-month forwards see the peso near 1,690 per dollar, according to LSEG data. The U.S. Treasury has not disclosed how much it has spent purchasing pesos or whether it will do it on a schedule. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bessent-says-us-bought-pesos-again-currency-dips-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 19:36

US Treasury asks dealers on economic, monetary policy forecasts Dealers asked on forecasts of when Fed will grow balance sheet Treasury seeks more input on 20-year auction NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury said on Friday it had asked dealers when they expected the Federal Reserve would end its long-running scheme to reduce the size of its bond holdings, widely known as quantitative tightening, or QT. The survey is part of the Treasury's typical process ahead of its quarterly refunding announcement, which is due next month. Sign up here. The department also sought dealers' economic, fiscal and monetary policy forecasts, including their estimates for Treasury financing for fiscal years 2026 to 2028. The Treasury also wanted follow-up input on the U.S. 20-year bond auction schedule, which the department initially brought up in a May 2025 survey. In response to the May survey, the Treasury said primary dealers had argued that there could be "benefits to shortening the post-auction settlement period for the 20-year bond" to address persistently higher rates in the repurchase or repo market when these bonds are used as collateral for overnight borrowings. While the majority of primary dealers initially favored moving the settlement date closer to the auction date, one concern was the potential impact on holdings of the 20-year bond by the Fed. On the Fed's QT, the Treasury specifically asked dealers their forecast for when the Fed will cease redemptions of Treasury securities from the SOMA (System Open Market Account) portfolio held by the Fed that includes Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The Treasury also wants to find out whether dealers think the Fed will begin purchasing Treasury securities with proceeds from principal payments received on its MBS holdings. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday the end could be approaching for the QT. "Some signs have begun to emerge that liquidity conditions are gradually tightening, including a general firming of repo rates along with more noticeable but temporary pressures on selected dates," Powell said at a gathering held by the National Association for Business Economics in Philadelphia. The Treasury also asked dealers when they think the Fed would begin open market operations again to grow the size of its balance sheet, which is currently at $6.6 trillion. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-treasury-seeks-dealer-guidance-quantitative-tightening-20-year-auction-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 18:46

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday she was hoping for an agreement between the U.S. and China that avoids a cutoff in the flow of rare earths to the global economy, adding that such restrictions would have a "material impact" on growth. Georgieva told a press conference during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington that such a scenario would exacerbate uncertainty and hurt an already weakened global growth picture. Sign up here. "There is also still a sense of anxiety, because the performance of the world economy is less than we need it to be, and because there is a very dark cloud of uncertainty still holding lower our heads, and that uncertainty has become now the new normal." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/imf-chief-hopes-us-china-rare-earths-deal-avoid-material-impact-global-economy-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 18:09

Fed's Musalem supports rate cut if labor market risks emerge Musalem cautious about creating accommodative monetary policy Musalem sees tariffs seen driving inflation into next year Oct 17 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem suggested Friday he will support a central bank interest rate cut at the end of the month, while warning it's important for the Fed not to go too far with easing the cost of credit amid still unsettled inflation risks. Responding to a question about lowering rates at the next Fed meeting, the official said “I could support a path with an additional reduction in the policy rate if there are further risks to the labor market that emerge, and provided that inflation, the risk to persistence of inflation above target is contained, and provided inflation expectations are expected to remain anchored.” He spoke at the Institute of International Finance Annual Membership Meeting. Sign up here. Musalem was addressing the outlook for monetary policy at the central bank’s next Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for Oct. 28-29, where officials are broadly expected to follow September’s rate cut with another quarter percentage point easing in what is now a 4% to 4.25% federal funds target rate range. The Fed is cutting rates to buoy a listing job market, while keeping rates high enough to help lower high levels of inflation back to 2%. The Fed is also expected to cut rates again at the end of the year, but Musalem, who holds a vote on the FOMC this year, indicated it is too soon to say what will happen then. He noted Fed officials should “tread with caution,” because “I perceive limited space for easing before monetary policy could become overly accommodative, and we haven't finished the job on inflation.” It is important “that we continue to lean against any potential persistence in inflation, whether that persistence comes from tariffs, from lower supply of labor, or lower labor supply growth, from sticky services, or for whatever other reason.” TARIFF RISKS Musalem is the last Fed official scheduled to speak before policymakers go into their customary quiet period ahead of a policy meeting. Comments by officials over recent weeks have pointed to a solid probability the Fed will lower short-term borrowing costs, even as officials have been deprived of top-level data tied due to the government shutdown. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who is on the short list of possible successors to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends next year, said in a speech Thursday that “based on all of the data we have on the labor market, I believe that the FOMC should reduce the policy rate another 25 basis points" at month’s end. Some Fed officials have been more gun-shy about rate cuts given the ongoing risk that President Donald Trump’s large and mercurial trade tariff regime will drive up inflation. Musalem said tariffs are driving up price pressures now and that will accelerate before the process wanes. “My own expectation is that tariffs will work through the economy for the next two to three quarters, and by the second half of 2026 that will have finished, and inflation will then return to a convergence path towards 2%,” he said. Musalem also warned that job markets may face more stress. “So I look at the labor market very broadly, at all the indicators that I can” and “the story I'm telling myself right now is broadly the labor market is around full employment,” he said. But changes in things like immigration mean the number of jobs that must be created each month to keep the unemployment rate stable has likely fallen, to between 30,000 to 80,000 per month. “We could see negative payroll prints just because of the shuffle of the data,” Musalem said, but “that doesn't necessarily mean to me that the unemployment rate needs to shoot up.” https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-musalem-leans-toward-supporting-october-interest-rate-cut-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 17:39

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The chances of further interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank are declining given the economy's resilience and inflation holding around the 2% target, Belgian central bank Governor Pierre Wunsch said on Friday. The ECB cut rates by a combined 2 percentage points in the year to June but has been on hold ever since as policymakers contemplate if further easing may be needed due to the potential for consumer prices to rise too slowly. Sign up here. "Given that the economy is proving resilient, the chance that further rate cuts will be needed is receding," Wunsch told Reuters on the sidelines of the IMF's annual meeting. "I’m quite comfortable where we are today, though I remain open." Still, risks are skewed towards interest rates going lower, since the impact of tariffs is yet to fully play out, the dollar is weak and there is the risk of China dumping surplus goods, Wunsch added. Inflation is set to dip to 1.7% next year before rising back to target in subsequent years, fuelling concern among some policymakers, particularly around the bloc's southern edge, that price growth could get stuck below target. "I don’t see any major risks for inflation either on the upside or downside," Wunsch said. "But I also don’t get nervous about numbers like 1.8% or 2.2%," he added. Wunsch also said that not all deviations from the target required the same policy response and the ECB needed to study the underlying fundamentals in determining the intensity of its policy action. "If we’re growing at potential, the labour market is healthy, but inflation is still below target, I would support a mildly supportive stance but definitely not aggressive accommodation," he said. Wunsch also said he was comfortable with market pricing for interest rates, which sees close to no chance of a rate cut this year and see a one in two probability of a move by next June. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/chances-further-ecb-rate-cuts-declining-wunsch-says-2025-10-17/