2025-09-30 19:52
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Tuesday that U.S. central bankers would have to hunt for alternate data sources to consider at their October 16-17 policy meeting if upcoming government reports on jobs, inflation and other aspects of the economy are suspended because of a government shutdown. The self-funded Fed would remain open even if the rest of government closes. "It pains me that we wouldn't be getting official statistics at exactly a moment when we're trying to figure out is the economy in transition," Goolsbee said on "The Claman Countdown" on Fox Business. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-goolsbee-will-need-turn-other-data-sources-if-us-reports-suspended-during-2025-09-30/
2025-09-30 19:50
External power line to Russian-held plant down for seven days UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA, says no immediate danger IAEA says emergency diesel generators remain in operation Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of endangering nuclear safety Sept 30 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station had become critical, with Russian shelling preventing restoration of a power line needed to cool the reactors and prevent a meltdown. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said it was working with both sides to restore the external power line. Rafael Grossi said there was no immediate danger as long as diesel generators remained in operation, providing emergency power for the facility. Sign up here. Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said one of the diesel generators providing emergency power was no longer working, seven days after external power lines went down. "This is the seventh day. There has never before been such an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant. The situation is critical. Russian shelling has cut the plant off from the electricity network," Zelenskiy said. The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian troops in the first weeks of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and each side regularly accuses the other of attacks that endanger nuclear safety. It produces no electricity at the moment, but needs power to ensure fuel in the reactors remains cool and no meltdown occurs. It was the 10th occasion since the start of the conflict that the plant has been disconnected from the power grid. "This is a threat to everyone. No terrorist in the world has ever dared to do with a nuclear power plant what Russia is doing now. And it is right that the world not remain silent." Grossi, in a statement issued late on Tuesday, said he was "in constant contact with the two sides with the aim to enable the plant’s swift reconnection to the electricity grid." "While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency diesel generators – the last line of defence – and there is no immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety," he said. "Neither side would benefit from a nuclear accident." Grossi said both sides noted military activity had prevented them from carrying out necessary repairs. He said the plant was operating eight diesel generators, with nine units in standby mode and three in maintenance. "I strongly encourage both sides to work with us and enable these essential repairs to take place," he said. Russian officials have not commented on the latest statements on conditions at the plant. Grossi has repeatedly called on both sides to uphold nuclear safety. IAEA monitors are stationed permanently at Zaporizhzhia and at Ukraine's three other nuclear power stations. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ukraine-warns-critical-situation-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-2025-09-30/
2025-09-30 18:36
CHICAGO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The impact of a government shutdown on the economy depends on how widespread the closure is and how long it lasts, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Tuesday. Most shutdowns historically have not lasted long and their impact has been limited, Goolsbee said at an event on the U.S. agriculture economy at the Chicago Fed's headquarters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/government-shutdown-impact-economy-depends-length-breadth-outage-feds-goolsbee-2025-09-30/
2025-09-30 17:24
Sept 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump would like the government to have stakes in a wider array of companies, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday, although Trump's chief trade negotiator sidestepped a question on whether taking a stake in chipmaker Nvidia was under discussion. "Well, I mean ... you talk to President Trump, he'd love a stake in every company that's doing well," Greer said at an event in New York when asked if an Nvidia stake was in the cards following the 10% stake Trump arranged to take in rival chipmaker Intel. Sign up here. "We're trying to be creative about how we do this and how we support business and support U.S. policy at the same time," Greer said at an Economic Club of New York event. He did not specifically address moderator Maria Bartiromo's question about a Nvidia stake. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ustrs-greer-trump-would-love-stake-every-company-thats-doing-well-2025-09-30/
2025-09-30 17:08
World stocks added another $5 trillion as AI surged Dollar stabilises after torrid start to year Gold, silver and weapons stocks biggest gainers Q4 starts with U.S. government in shutdown LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - After the storms earlier in the year, investors have basked in a steamy summer market melt-up that has added another $5 trillion to record-high share markets and lifted almost everything else, too. Those looking after public finances in Paris or London may disagree, but it is as if all the fiscal and trade worries have eased and investors are back to doing what they do best - buying expensive tech stocks. Sign up here. Google's (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab have leapt almost 40% during a quarter when AI darling Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab also became the world's first $4 trillion company, and China's nearest equivalent, Cambricon (688256.SS) , opens new tab, surged 120%. The headscratcher, though, is that the usual go-to asset when traders suspect trouble, gold (.XAU) , opens new tab, has jumped another 17% to fresh record highs too and silver almost 30%. Japan's yen , another safety play, has dropped but the ominous rumblings in the bond markets certainly haven't gone away either, with the collapse of another French government briefly pushing its borrowing costs above Italy's for the first time and 30-year yields hitting a record high in Japan. At the same time, implied U.S. bond volatility (.MOVE) , opens new tab has dropped to its lowest in over three years. That's a sign that markets may be learning to live with the trade war, while Moritz Kraemer, chief economist at LBBW and the former head of sovereign ratings at S&P Global, also points the stocks market's surge. Not only is the price-to-earnings ratio on U.S. stocks now in the top 2-3% in history, just 10 firms now account for 40% of the S&P 500's entire value and all at a time when government debt loads are looking increasing unsustainable. "When you also then throw in all the uncertainty around Trumponomics, that's hard to square," Kraemer said. SILVER SHINING A steadier dollar has also lowered stress levels (.DXY) , opens new tab. While still down nearly 10% for the year - the most at this stage of a year since 1989 - it is up 1% in the third quarter, largely thanks to a weaker yen. Oil prices are pretty much where they started Q3, whereas gold's record run leaves it up 46% and heading for its biggest annual jump since 1979. Silver is over 60% higher. "Gold and silver have been the big trade," said Saxo Bank's head of FX strategy John Hardy, explaining the gains have been driven by worries huge government debt loads will lead to "some form of financial repression". There has also been the ongoing rise in European weapons makers (.SXPARO) , opens new tab, up over 85% this year and leaving everything bar Chinese tech stocks (.HSTECH) , opens new tab and, wait for it, European banks, for dust. That has been driven by U.S. President Donald Trump, too, following signals he will scale back Europe's military protection forcing the region - and other NATO members - to rearm. Another small U.S. interest rate cut and Trump's attacks on the Fed meanwhile have shifted bond markets. The 30-year Treasury yield surged past 5.1% to its highest since 2007 in May, but is now back at 4.7%, while Switzerland has taken its rates back down to 0%. ARGENTINA GOT MESSY AGAIN The dollar's stabilisation leaves the euro up 13% for the year, the yen over 6% higher and the Swiss franc up 13.5%, while some of the fastest-charging emerging market currencies had been checked. Trump's grumbles at Russian President Vladimir Putin have trimmed the rouble's surge, albeit to a still world leading 32%, while gold producer Ghana's cedi has pulled back 16% this quarter having been up over 40% at the end of H2. The Hungarian forint and Czech crown have crept up again in Eastern Europe, and Brazil's real, the Mexican and Colombia's pesos and emerging market local currency debt are all enjoying double-digit gains too. Argentina has been the quarter's standout story though after a corruption scandal and thumping regional election defeat for Javier Milei's party crashed the peso and the rest of its markets. The central bank tried to prop it up but to no avail. Washington then left markets open-mouthed as it rowed in with a Mario Draghi-style whatever-it-takes promise of support. "This is a country that is undergoing a major restructuring of the entire economy," Vanguard's co-head of emerging market debt Daniel Shaykevich said. "There is a lot of risk if that programme doesn't continue as expected". There won't be much downtime in Q4. The U.S. government has just shut down for the first time in almost seven years, Trump is dishing more tariffs out, China's new 5-year economic plan is due October 20-23, Argentine midterms are three days later, and there's all the Fed, growth and AI unknowns, too. "It is a tricky market to read at the moment," Charles Schwab managing director, Richard Flynn, said. "Investors have had a really good time of it in the last five years, but as we know from history it doesn't last forever". https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-quarter-graphics-pix-2025-09-30/
2025-09-30 17:05
BOGOTA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Inflation in Colombia likely stabilized in September compared with the same month last year, but expectations for the remainder of this year and for 2026 have risen again, moving further from the central bank's target, a Reuters poll revealed on Tuesday. According to the median forecast of 21 analysts, consumer prices in September are expected to rise by 0.23%. This is in line with the 0.24% increase in September of last year and up from 0.19% in August of this year. Sign up here. Forecasts for the month ranged from 0.14% to 0.34%. September's inflation was likely driven by a rise in the prices of housing rentals, public utilities, food, education and hotel and restaurant services, analysts said. "A rebound is expected in the price of public utilities, especially gas, while electricity prices could end their recent streak of declines," said Jackeline Pirajan, chief analyst for Scotiabank in Colombia. "A contribution from education-related items is also expected." If the poll's median forecast is met, 12-month inflation through September would stand at 5.10%. This rate is stable compared with the period ending in August, but remains far from the central bank's 3% target. National statistics agency DANE will publish its official September inflation report on October 7. According to the survey, year-end inflation expectations for 2025 have increased to 5.03% from 4.95% in the previous poll, which would mark the fifth consecutive year the target has been missed. For the end of 2026, inflation expectations increased to 4.05% from 3.99% in the last survey, while the forecast for the end of 2027 remained stable at 3.60%. Persistent consumer price pressures have led the central bank to hold its benchmark interest rate at 9.25% since April, the only month this year it was lowered. A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated the monetary authority will likely hold the rate steady again later on Tuesday. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombia-inflation-seen-023-september-2025-2026-forecasts-rise-again-2025-09-30/
