2025-09-09 19:01
NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said at a conference in New York that investment banking fees and market revenue are expected to rise by mid-single digits in the third quarter compared to a year earlier. Mason also said the global revenue and expenses for the year may be higher than the guidance of $84 billion and $54.3 billion, respectively. But Mason added the proportion between expenses and revenue did not change, so the impact of the higher numbers would be neutral to positive to earnings. Sign up here. In July, the bank beat estimates for second quarter earnings, fueled by rising revenue in banking, markets and wealth management. At the time, the results drove shares to their highest since 2008, and the bank said it planned to buy back at least $4 billion in stock. On Tuesday, Mason said the bank was on track to keep buying stock at the same rate. Citi's CFO added the bank is 'pleased' with the stance bank regulators are adopting regarding capital, adding transparency. Mason said there is a more 'holistic' approach and willingness to consider changes to the capital models. The second quarter showed CEO Jane Fraser's turnaround is gaining momentum after she sold businesses and simplified the bank's structure. Citigroup expects to be ready to list its Mexican subsidiary Banamex by the end of the year, Mason said, but added that market conditions and regulatory approvals may delay the transaction until early 2026. The Citi CFO said the bank is not seeing any signs of deterioration of credit quality. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/citigroup-cfo-expects-investment-banking-fees-market-revenue-grow-by-mid-single-2025-09-09/
2025-09-09 17:22
SAO PAULO, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that environmental agency Ibama should be satisfied with the results of an emergency drill done by state-run oil firm Petrobras in the country's Foz do Amazonas basin, ahead of Ibama's official assessment. "Petrobras has already carried out the test. Ibama should be satisfied with the results of the research, and Ibama will now grant us the license to carry out the first experiment," Lula said in an interview with local news channel Rede Amazonica. Sign up here. Despite Lula's claims, Ibama's technical staff has yet to finish a report on the test and whether it was a success, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The report needs to be completed before the head of Ibama Rodrigo Agostinho makes a final decision to grant or deny the license. Ibama's staff has in the past recommended the body to deny the license, but was overruled by Agostinho, who gave the go-ahead for the emergency drill. Ibama and Petrobras did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, considers the drill, a pre-operational assessment, the final stage of an environmental licensing process it hopes will ensure it obtains a permit to drill an exploratory oil and gas well in the region. Lula has long pressured Ibama to grant Petrobras a license to drill in the environmentally sensitive offshore region, which is considered the best prospect for it to expand its oil and gas reserves. The oil industry believes there is significant potential for discovering large oil and gas reserves in the Foz do Amazonas basin, based on major discoveries in geologically similar regions in Suriname and Guyana. However, there is resistance from segments of society and within the government itself, due to the socio-environmental risks tied to exploration. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/brazils-environmental-agency-should-be-satisfied-with-petrobras-test-key-2025-09-09/
2025-09-09 16:10
Sept 9 (Reuters) - Gold hit a record high above $3,600 an ounce on Tuesday, spurred by expectations of U.S. rate cuts, concerns about Federal Reserve independence and robust demand from investors and central banks. Having hit a record high at $3,673.95 a troy ounce, spot gold was trading around $3,637.39 by 1524 GMT for a gain of more than 38% so far this year. Sign up here. Analysts expect gold to trade in a $3,600-$3,900 range in the near to medium term and see potential for it to test $4,000 next year if economic and geopolitical uncertainties persist. A Reuters survey published in July showed analysts expected gold prices to average $3,220 this year compared with $3,065 in the April survey and $2,756 an ounce in the January survey. "Supportive for gold is the bearish dollar outlook underpinned by expectations of Fed cuts, investors distancing from U.S. assets and tariff-related economic uncertainty," said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades. The dollar has fallen nearly 11% since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Expectations of further U.S. rate cuts will further undermine the U.S. currency, which when it falls makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies. Traders see a 92% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in September when the Fed meets, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool , opens new tab. Meanwhile, Trump's criticism of Powell and attempts to remove Governor Lisa Cook have heightened concerns over the Fed's independence and sparked further gold purchases. "The most bullish wildcard is ... potential interference with the U.S. Federal Reserve and concerns about the dollar's status as a safe-haven," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke. Among other factors fortifying gold's appeal are security concerns emanating from the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Central bank gold purchases such as those by China have also provided impetus to gold prices. According to the World Gold Council, central banks plan to raise the gold portion of their reserves while reducing dollar reserves over the next five years. Physically-backed gold exchange traded funds have also seen significant inflows. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest physical gold ETF, rose to 990.56 tons on September 2 for an over 12% increase so far this year and its highest since August 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-rallies-new-record-us-rate-cut-hopes-fed-tension-2025-09-09/
2025-09-09 16:07
Sept 9 (Reuters) - A federal judge approved Vanguard Group's $25 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing the U.S. mutual fund company of improperly saddling investors in its target-date funds with inflated tax bills. U.S. District Judge John Murphy in Philadelphia granted preliminary approval on Monday, calling the settlement sufficiently fair, reasonable, and adequate, after rejecting a $40 million settlement on May 19. Sign up here. Murphy objected because Vanguard could have offset the $40 million from its related January settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and investors would be better off with the SEC accord because there were no legal fees. Lawyers for the investors said the $25 million is in addition to a $133 million fair fund set up in the SEC case. Target-date funds contain mixes of stocks, bonds, and cash that are designed to become less risky as investors get older, and to be tax-efficient. Vanguard was sued after deciding in December 2020 to reduce the minimum investment in lower-cost fund classes meant for institutional clients to $5 million from $100 million. Many investors moved to those fund classes from higher-cost retail classes. This forced retail funds to sell assets to meet redemptions and pass taxable capital gains to the plaintiffs and other remaining investors. Vanguard denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based firm had $11 trillion of assets under management as of July 31. Murphy scheduled a January 6, 2026, hearing to consider final settlement approval. The case is In re Vanguard Chester Funds Litigation, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 22-00955. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/judge-approves-vanguards-revised-settlement-over-mutual-fund-tax-bills-2025-09-09/
2025-09-09 15:23
Sept 9 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will likely resume cutting short-term rates next week and continue on for the rest of the year to shore up a labor market that may have begun cooling well before President Donald Trump began imposing sharply higher tariffs, traders bet on Tuesday. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics' preliminary annual revision to its payrolls data showed the U.S. economy likely created 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated, suggesting average monthly payrolls gains were likely less than half of the 147,000 that had been reported. Sign up here. Coupled with recent labor market data that shows monthly employment gains have slowed even further, the report "gives the Fed another reason to lower rates next week," BMO economist Sal Guatieri wrote, and likely cements the case for more rate cuts by year-end than the two that Fed policymakers had projected back in June. After the data, traders stuck to their overwhelming bets that the Fed will reduce the policy rate from its current 4.25%-4.50% by a quarter of a percentage point at the central bank's September 16-17 meeting, and for a same-sized reduction at the Fed's following meeting in October. While traders continue to see a third rate cut in December as far more likely than a pause, they pared their bets slightly on that meeting and further for 2026, slicing the probability of a fourth rate cut by January to less than 40% from nearly 50-50 before the revised data was released. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last month that rising downside risks to the job market may warrant some cautious policy easing, but central bankers remain wary of easing too much while inflation remains above their 2% goal and upside risks from Trump's tariff policy remain. The Fed gets a pair of inflation reports later this week expected to reflect ongoing upward price pressures. https://www.reuters.com/business/fed-seen-track-three-rate-cuts-this-year-starting-next-week-2025-09-09/
2025-09-09 14:40
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Investors snapped up traditional safe-haven assets on Tuesday, sending gold briefly to a new record high, after the Israeli military said it carried out an attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar, marking an escalation of the conflict in the region. The Japanese yen held on to the day's gains, while the price of oil jumped by around $1 to $67 a barrel . Sign up here. COMMENTS: JANE FOLEY, HEAD OF FX STRATEGY, RABOBANK, LONDON: "It's difficult at this stage for the markets to examine this particular geopolitical risk in the context of the risk that is already on the table. Clearly there is a possibility that there is an escalation but I think the market will be fairly cautious about making that assumption until more details are known." MICHAEL BROWN, SENIOR RESEARCH STRATEGIST, PEPPERSTONE, LONDON: "The immediate reaction of a spike in crude benchmarks and some further upside in spot gold makes considerable sense." "It seems unlikely that there will be any significant retaliation from the strikes, especially amid reporting that the U.S. gave their backing for them to take place, while Qatar's immediate response gives no indication that they are seeking to retaliate, or escalate tensions further." "I'd expect the rally in crude to fade relatively rapidly, as we've tended to see with geopolitically-induced gains over the last few months, as focus the dust settles, calmer heads prevail, and focus returns to the fundamentals of an already-oversupplied market, into which OPEC+ are adding even more barrels from the start of next month." CARLO FRANCHINI, HEAD OF INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS, BANCA IFIGEST, MILAN: "Targeting countries that are trying to mediate is far from ideal at this moment. Stock markets aren't reacting much, but gold is: it's at an all-time high. Things appear to be taking a turn for the worse. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/instant-view-oil-spikes-gold-hit-fresh-record-after-israel-attacks-qatar-2025-09-09/
