2024-08-29 10:28

MANILA, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The Philippines wants to upgrade its military with mid-range missiles and advanced fighter jets, two senior security officials said on Thursday, spending at least $33 billion as it modernises its defence in the face of growing regional tensions. The military wants to acquire more cutting-edge weaponry, armed forces chief Romeo Brawner told reporters, hours after Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro announced the Philippines was reviewing offers to buy more weapons. "We are wanting to get more of the latest weapons systems. That includes the mid-range capability," Brawner told a joint media conference with U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Samuel Paparo in the northern city of Baguio. Both the Philippines and ally the United States are preparing for what could be the largest joint military exercises next year, Paparo said, as security engagements between the two nations have increased to counter what they perceive as China's growing assertiveness. In April, the United States deployed its intermediate range missile system in the northern Philippines during military drills, angering China which said its presence "brought huge risks of war into the region". The missile, which remains in the Philippines, was not fired during the exercises, but was shipped to test the feasibility of transporting the 40-ton weapon system by air. The Philippines has been embroiled in frequent run-ins at sea and on air with China in the South China Sea. It plans to spend at least 1.894 trillion pesos ($33.74 billion) to modernise and boost its military's external defence capabilities, which could include buying the 40 jets, Teodoro earlier said during a congressional hearing on his department's budget. He declined to the name the countries that had submitted tenders or the fighter jet model it plans to acquire, adding: "The bidding is a secret process right now, but we are continuing to review tenders that are acceptable." "We are also investing in other deterrent capabilities that are deterrents, not necessarily multi-role fighters," he said. To fund the jets which could cost between 300 to 400 billion pesos ($5.3 to $7.1 billion), the government is looking at reasonable financing schemes, including tapping syndicated loans from private lenders, Teodoro added. Military chief Brawner had previously said the Philippines needed "faster and more lethal" multi-role jet fighters on top of its South Korean FA-50s. Teodoro said the Philippines aims to award tenders "as soon as possible as long as our financial requirements are met". ($1 = 56.14 Philippine pesos) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/philippines-seeks-offers-procurement-40-multi-role-fighter-jets-2024-08-29/

2024-08-29 10:27

Aug 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said on Thursday it had finalized a plan to expand solar energy on federal lands in 11 western states, part of a broader push to speed the permitting and construction of big infrastructure projects. The White House wants to accelerate approval of projects ranging from power transmission to wind and solar farms as it seeks to decarbonize the power sector to fight climate change, and is eager to tout its "Investing in America" agenda ahead of the November presidential election. "We've been really pushing ourselves to use our executive authority wherever possible to improve the federal permitting process," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said in an interview. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's plan identified 31 million acres (12.5 million hectares) best suited for solar development in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. The lands identified have high solar potential and low conflicts with wildlife and plant habitats, giving projects proposed in these locations a jumpstart on permitting. The White House also said the Environmental Protection Agency had conditionally approved a rule creating emissions reduction credits for companies in Maricopa County, Arizona to transition vehicle fleets to cleaner alternatives. Those credits can be sold to the owners of planned semiconductor factories in the region to offset air emissions and help the area comply with federal air quality standards, the White House said. The EPA is tasked with approving state plans to reduce pollution in areas like Maricopa County, home to Arizona's capital of Phoenix, because it has elevated ozone emissions. The county has attracted an influx of investment in chip manufacturing from companies like Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab and Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW) , opens new tab tied to federal incentives, and the new credits will help those facilities get up and running, the White House said. The administration said the plan will add to gains it has already made in speeding environmental permitting, which it said had so far shaved six months from the median time required to complete a review. It added U.S. agencies had permitted more projects than the administration of former President Donald Trump, who is challenging Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-finalizes-solar-lands-plan-touts-permitting-progress-2024-08-29/

2024-08-29 10:18

MUMBAI, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee strengthened on Thursday, tracking a similar move in its Asian peers and in anticipation of MSCI-related inflows as domestic equities' weightage in the index is set to rise. The rupee closed at 83.8700 against the U.S. dollar at, up 0.1% from 83.9525 in the previous session. Asian currencies rose, while the dollar index slipped to 100.89, before recovering through the session. Indian equities' increased weightage in MSCI's emerging market index, effective Friday, is expected to attract as much as $3 billion in inflows, according to Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research. "Stronger Asian currencies along with strong inflows in domestic equity markets have also been supportive to the rupee," said Kunal Sodhani, vice president at Shinhan Bank. For the USD/INR pair, 83.70 acts as a support, while 84.00 is a resistance, he added. Still, currency traders said, the equity inflows may be just a temporary relief to the currency, which may again see depreciating pressure in the coming weeks. The rupee's annualised realized volatility, based on changes in daily prices, is at less than 2%. The Reserve Bank of India is expected to keep the currency on a tight leash, as it has for a while now. Markets are keenly awaiting the release of core Personal Consumption Expenditure index data, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, after Indian market hours on Friday. But the bigger factor to gauge the quantum of U.S. rate cuts in September is the non-farm payroll data next Friday, traders said. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned any further cooling in the labour market would be unwelcome, although the Fed is prepared to cut rates in September. However, without any clear indication it that would be a 25 or 50 bps move, the market has remained divided since then. The odds of a 50 bps cut are around 37%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/india-rupee-gains-tracking-asian-peers-hopes-equity-inflows-2024-08-29/

2024-08-29 10:10

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan After all that, Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab beat expectations - which has become "expected" - and the stock retreated about 5%. This is still August, after all. To be fair, the negative market reception to the artificial intelligence pacesetter's quarterly results overnight was typical of the reaction to other ostensible "beats" in the sector in this earnings season. These stocks are expensive, have come a long way in a short space of time and the bar to impress is now sky high. And while the hoopla around the $3.1 trillion-valued Nvidia's earnings this week reflects long-standing concerns about over-concentration of the market on the fortunes of a handful of companies, the wider disturbance has been limited. There were some clouds on the horizon of the megacap chip designer, but the main concern was simply that the "beat" wasn't as big as it has been recently. For all the reasonable concerns, this was far from a fatal blow to the AI theme. Spin out to other related readouts and the sky still looks pretty clear. Salesforce (CRM.N) , opens new tab beat Wall Street expectations on revenue and profit too amid higher spending on its enterprise cloud products - sending its shares up 3% in extended trading. Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) , opens new tab did tumble almost 20% on Wednesday - but that was after the AI server maker said it would delay the filing of its annual report a day after Hindenburg Research disclosed a short position in the company. And away from the Big Tech and AI world, the market value of billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) , opens new tab surpassed $1 trillion for the first time with a modest 1% gain in its class B stocks. The upshot ahead of Thursday's bell? U.S. stock futures , were steady to higher after the indexes ebbed marginally in the previous session. ATTENTION BACK ON MACRO WORLD Attention now switches back to the macro world, with the significant backdrop of a likely first Federal Reserve rate cut in the cycle next month. Even hawkish Atlanta Fed boss Raphael Bostic said overnight that it may be "time to move", even though he retained the right to see some more data before making up his mind. On that score the next ingredients come later today with another critical health check on the labor market and weekly jobless claims, with the Fed's favored PCE inflation gauge due out tomorrow. A punchy 100 basis points of Fed easing is still priced into the futures market by year-end - so perhaps there's some room to row that back, regardless of thinking on the first move in September. Despite a heavy week of Treasury debt sales, that Fed picture remains a balm for the bond market. Two-year yields recorded their lowest New York close in more than a year on Wednesday and remained subdued at 3.86% first thing today, and 10-year yields slipped back too. The global inflation picture still appears benign. Oil prices remain under wraps even against unsettling supply threats and continue to register year-on-year losses of up to 7%. U.S. retail gasoline prices are down more than 14% on this time last year, the deepest annual loss in 12 months. Inflation fell in six important German states in August due to lower energy prices, suggesting Germany's national inflation rate could decline noticeably this month. Economists polled by Reuters forecast a harmonised national inflation rate in Germany - the euro zone's largest economy - of 2.3% in August, down from 2.6% the previous month. But the readout from the states means than could now come in even lower. With markets already pricing a second interest rate cut this year from the European Central Bank even before the Fed meets next month, the euro fell back sharply on Thursday and lifted the dollar index (.DXY) , opens new tab more broadly. Just as important, money markets now see a 70% chance of third ECB cut in October. And in China, the offshore yuan surged to its strongest level in more than three weeks despite mainland stocks (.CSI300) , opens new tab there ending in the red again. UBS on Wednesday cut its 2024 economic growth forecast for China to 4.6% from 4.9%, as it expects weaker property activity to have bigger than previously assumed drag on the overall economy. But in some sign of detente between the world's two biggest economic powers, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday and wrapped up three days of wide-ranging talks aimed at easing tensions between the two ahead of November's U.S. election. Key developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Thursday: * US Q2 GDP revision, weekly jobless claims, July trade balance, July wholesale/retail inventories, July pending home sales; Canada Q2 current account * Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks * US corporate earnings: Best Buy, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, Lululemon, Athletica, Autodesk, Campbell Soup, Brown-Forman, MongoDB * US Treasury sells $44 billion of 7-year notes, $85 billion of 4-week bills, $80 billion of 8-week bills Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/global-markets-view-usa-pix-2024-08-29/

2024-08-29 09:45

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Sterling hit a one-month high versus the euro after inflation data from Germany and Spain led investors to increase their bets on European Central Bank interest rate cuts. Inflation fell in six important German states in August due to lower energy prices, and dropped to its slowest pace in a year in Spain. The pound was up 0.25% to 84.05 pence per euro, after hitting 84.00, its strongest since July 25. It was roughly unchanged versus the dollar at $1.3190, having climbed to its highest since March 22 at $1.3269 on Tuesday. It was also on track for a 3.2% rise in August, its biggest monthly gain since November 2023. The greenback rose, and the euro dropped, after the data. A cautious monetary policy easing stance from the Bank of England (BoE) has supported the pound since the central bank's cut to its Bank Rate at its August meeting. The BoE will cut rates just once more this year, in November, a majority of economists said in a Reuters poll, as British inflation is expected to stay above target. UK finance minister Rachel Reeves' first budget at the end of October is in focus. Citi's economists expect a revenue-raising package of around 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) overall, which should weigh on growth through next year. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he would have to take unpopular decisions, raising the possibility of "painful" taxes on the wealthy and spending cuts to try to fix Britain's myriad of problems he blamed on the previous government. "However, this (20 billion pounds) may not represent fiscal tightening since she will be using the money to address the real-terms cut in public spending under the previous Conservative government," said Chris Turner, head of forex strategy at ING. "For sterling, that may mean this is a fiscally neutral budget and one that could see the pound continue to outperform," he added. ($1 = 0.7582 pounds) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-hits-one-month-high-vs-euro-after-german-spanish-inflation-data-2024-08-29/

2024-08-29 08:44

TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The Japanese government has upgraded its economic assessment for the first time in more than a year on signs of improved consumption, fostering optimism for a broader recovery. "The Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace, although it appears to be still pausing in parts," the Cabinet Office said in its monthly economic report for August, raising the assessment for the first time since May 2023. Consumption is picking up as the impact of shipping stoppage at some automakers is easing, the government said. The increase in household disposable income, coupled with temporary cuts in income and resident taxes, also helped consumption. However, the extreme heat this summer yielded mixed consumption results, the report said. While demand for air-conditioning, parasols and ice creamed increased, customer traffic at theme parks and restaurants declined. The report also anticipated a fall in import prices, primarily due to the recent correction in the yen's weak trend. The government also upgraded its assessment on housing construction to "almost flat" from "in a weak tone" for the first time in more than two years, attributing the change to a halt in the decline of owner-occupied house construction. Assessments for the remaining sub-sectors, including exports, remained unchanged. The report was presented at a meeting attended by relevant cabinet ministers and Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda. Earlier this month, government data showed Japan's economy expanded by a much faster-than-expected 3.1% annualised rate in the second quarter. The rebound, after a slump at the start of the year, was largely attributed to a robust increase in consumption. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japan-raises-economic-assessment-first-time-15-months-2024-08-29/