Latest News

See the latest news and get GPT analysis of articles

Bitcoin up as market digests PayPal stablecoin launch 2023-08-08 - Bitcoin edged up on Tuesday morning in Asia after U.S. multinational payment giant PayPal launched a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin on Monday. Ether was still treading water, however, as all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded flat to lower. Dogecoin led the losers. Meanwhile, the Forkast 500 NFT index rose, as NFT trading volume also picked up. U.S. stock futures traded flat after Wall Street closed higher on Monday, as investors await the release of U.S. inflation data Thursday. Pivotal role for PayPal stablecoin? Bitcoin edged up 0.28% in the last 24 hours to US$29,133.55 as of 07:30 a.m. in Hong Kong but remained down 0.25% for the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s leading cryptocurrency briefly dropped to a low of US$28,724.14 on early Tuesday morning. Digital asset investment products saw outflows totaling US$107 million in the week ending August 4, according to a Monday report by European alternative asset manager CoinShares. That marked the fourth consecutive week of outflows as profit taking gathered pace in recent weeks. Bitcoin-related products saw weekly outflows totaling US$111 million, the largest for a week since March. However, outflows into Bitcoin short positions stopped for the first time in the past 14 weeks, according to the CoinShares report. Allowing investors to profit when the token’s price drops, the report’s authors said that the stall in short position outflows suggests institutional investors may be adjusting their Bitcoin strategies. Ether dipped 0.13% to US$1,824.53, and lost 1.72% over the past seven days. Paypal ramped up its efforts in the Web3 space by launching the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin on Monday. The Ethereum-based token is issued by Paxos Trust Company — the U.S.-based issuer of Binance’s BUSD stablecoin — and is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. treasuries and similar cash equivalents. Paypal’s stablecoin project was reportedly halted in February 2023 amid increased scrutiny from U.S. regulators toward stablecoins — including an order for Paxos to stop minting BUSD. Story continues Today, we’re unveiling a new stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD). It’s designed for payments and is backed by highly liquid and secure assets. Starting today and rolling out in the next few weeks, you’ll be able to buy, sell, hold and transfer PYUSD. Learn more https://t.co/53RRBhmNHx pic.twitter.com/53ur2KmjU7 — PayPal (@PayPal) August 7, 2023 “PayPal’s news today is a testament to the burgeoning popularity of DeFi,” said Tony Petrov, chief legal officer at identity verification platform Sumsub. The move highlights the “pivotal role” to be played by stablecoins as a bridge between digital and fiat currencies, Petrov continued. “This rapid ascent signals a major transformation in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and the potential impact of stablecoins on the global financial landscape is an exciting development to monitor closely,” he added. Other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies all traded lower, with Dogecoin leading the losers. The meme token dropped 1.65% to US$0.07325 and logged a weekly loss of 5.86%. The month of July saw a decrease in crypto trading activities, with Bitcoin volume decreasing 13.1% during the month, Ether falling by 21.9% and stablecoins volumes down 12.3%. “The data emphasizes a moment of low activity in the market, which follows a strong uptrend in the first half of 2023,” said Greco, research analyst at Canada-based digital asset and fintech investment firm Fineqia International. “Summer months are notoriously among the ones with the lowest level of trading activity and 2023 data are perfectly aligned with historical metrics on the matter. The overall outlook for 2023 remains extremely positive so far as the institutional / service providers’ news seen in the past few weeks still indicates strong interest towards the market,” Greco added. For Greco, signs of that interest include multiple applications in the U.S. for exchange-traded funds (ETF) for Bitcoin and Ether. He also pointed to Hong Kong, where regulators have granted crypto exchanges HashKey Exchange and OKX licenses to offer crypto trading services to retail investors. The total crypto market capitalization edged up 0.11% in the past 24 hours to US$1.16 trillion, while trading volume gained 59.07% to US$32.76 billion. Tremors of NFT excitement following PayPal news The indexes are proxy measures of the performance of the global NFT market. They are managed by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast.Labs umbrella. The main Forkast 500 NFT index gained 0.62% in the past 24 hours to 2,478.88 as of 10:50 a.m. in Hong Kong. However, it was still down 1.36% lower for the week. Forkast’s Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Cardano indexes logged losses. Total NFT trading volume rose 15.80% in the past 24 hours to US$13.09 million, according to data from CryptoSlam. The volumes on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Bitcoin and Cardano blockchains all logged increases. “Paypal announcing the launch of a stablecoin has excited the NFT market a bit, as they look forward to an easy way to onboard the masses to crypto,” said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist for Forkast Labs. However, NFT trading activity remains downbeat compared to the meteoric highs of late 2021 and 2022. Total NFT trading volume last week totaled US$87.76 million, over 60% lower than the start of the year, according to CryptoSlam. “Now, sales volume is clearly lower. (But) It’s not the only measurement of growth,” said Petscher in a Youtube video posted Monday. Unique buyers, unique sellers and total transactions have all grown considerably since this time two years ago, he added. “But the ecosystem has matured. The NFTs are getting cheaper. The supply is getting greater. It’s a different space. And it’s exactly what we need to reach the masses,” Petscher said. In terms of NFT collections, Mythos Chain-based NFT marketplace DMarket posted the largest 24-hour trading volume but still dipped 4.48% to US$931,685. ImmutableX-based Gods Unchained Cards and Ethereum-based Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) ranked second and third. Grails IV, the latest NFT collection issued by NFT startup Proof, started minting on Monday. The collection features artwork from 20 artists whose identities will be revealed when minting is completed Friday. The Grails minting window has opened. In less than an hour, more than 450 pieces have been minted. Grails #3, 4, 5, 18, and 19 are sold out! Which did you choose? https://t.co/PquuNwVUOl — PROOF (🥃,🦉) (@proof_xyz) August 7, 2023 “Proof’s Grails IV collection has started minting, so expect some movement with art in general as collectors welcome some new future grails to their wallets. Artists will reveal soon which should add some excitement to the space,” said Petscher. China export woes and more US rate hikes ahead? Image: Getty Images U.S. stock futures traded lower as of 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday in Hong Kong after the three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher in regular trading on Monday. In Asia, the main stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday morning. China’s Shanghai Composite and South Korea’s Kospi remained flat, Japan’s Nikkei logged gains, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped. Amid the U.S. second-quarter reporting season, 79% of S&P 500 companies have released earnings higher than analyst expectations. That is the highest beat rate since the third quarter of 2021, Reuters reported on Monday citing data from Refinitiv. Investors now await U.S. consumer price index (CPI) data on Thursday. Analysts expect core CPI to rise 0.2% in July, which would be the smallest monthly increase in the past two and a half years. Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Monday that multiple interest rate hikes may still be needed to curb inflation. “We have made progress in lowering inflation over the past year, but inflation is still significantly above the FOMC’s two percent target, and the labor market continues to be tight, with job openings still far exceeding the number of available workers,” said Bowman in a Monday speech. “Given these developments, I supported raising the federal funds rate at our July meeting, and I expect that additional increases will likely be needed to lower inflation to the FOMC’s goal,” said Bowman. The Fed meets on September 19 to make its next move on interest rates, which are now between 5.25% to 5.50%, the highest level in the past 22 years. Analysts at the CME FedWatch Tool predict a 86.5% chance there will be no interest rate hike in September, and a 13.5% chance the Fed will raise rates by a further 25-basis-points. Elsewhere, China’s exports in July slid 14.5% year-on-year to US$201.16 billion. Imports also posted an annual decrease of 12.4%, Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. As the country attempts to support its economic recovery by stimulating domestic demand, the drop in July exports was the biggest decline since February 2020. The figure fell well below analyst expectations. “The government policy so far has changed but more on the property sector, and not much on boosting demand,” Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd, told Bloomberg. “So the economic situation is still quite challenging.” (Updates to add equities section.)

Moody's downgrades US banks, warns of possible cuts to others 2023-08-08 - (Reuters) — Moody's cut credit ratings of several small to mid-sized U.S. banks on Monday and said it may downgrade some of the nation's biggest lenders, warning that the sector's credit strength will likely be tested by funding risks and weaker profitability. Moody's cut the ratings of 10 banks by one notch and placed six banking giants, including Bank of New York Mellon (BK), US Bancorp, State Street (STT) and Truist Financial (TFC) on review for potential downgrades. "Many banks' second-quarter results showed growing profitability pressures that will reduce their ability to generate internal capital," Moody's said in a note. "This comes as a mild U.S. recession is on the horizon for early 2024 and asset quality looks set to decline, with particular risks in some banks’ commercial real estate (CRE) portfolios." Moody's said elevated CRE exposures are a key risk due to high interest rates, declines in office demand as a result of remote work, and a reduction in the availability of CRE credit. The downgraded banks by Moody's include M&T Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Prosperity Bank and BOK Financial Corp. A Capital One bank in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) The agency also changed its outlook to negative for eleven major lenders, including Capital One, Citizens Financial and Fifth Third Bancorp. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this year sparked a crisis of confidence in the U.S. banking sector, leading to a run on deposits at a host of regional banks despite authorities launching emergency measures to shore up confidence. Still, Moody's cautioned that banks with sizable unrealized losses that are not reflected in their regulatory capital ratios are vulnerable to a loss of confidence in the current high-rate environment. The sweeping report comes against the backdrop of tightening monetary conditions after the fastest pace of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve in decades slows demand and borrowing. Story continues The higher rates have also raised the spectre of recession and put pressure on sectors such as real estate to adjust to post-pandemic realities. Federal Reserve survey data released last week showed U.S. banks reported tighter credit standards and weaker loan demand from both businesses and consumers during the second quarter. Morgan Stanley analysts said the loan demand is likely to continue to weaken, with the rate of change slowing further. Rating agency peer Fitch has downgraded the United States by a notch to AA+ due to fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-to-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengalurua and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Stephen Coates)

Asia markets mixed as China trade tumbles more than expected 2023-08-08 - Cargo ships stop at their berths to load and unload containers at the container terminal in Lianyungang Port, East China's Jiangsu province, June 5, 2023. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Tuesday as China's July trade came in lower than expected. China saw a 14.5% year-on-year drop in exports, while imports came in 12.4% lower year-on-year. Economists polled by Reuters expected a 12.5% slide in exports and a 5% drop in imports. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 1.74% in its final hour, and mainland Chinese markets are all lower. the Shanghai Composite fell 0.25% to end at 3,260.62 and the Shenzhen Component was down 0.42%, closing at 11,098.45. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.38% to take its winning streak to three days and end at 32,377.29, while the Topix was up 0.34% and closed at 2,291.73 as the country's household spending remained in negative territory for the fourth straight month. Overall household spending fell 4.2% year on year in June, compared with 4% in May, official data showed. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed marginally and ended at 7,311.1, while South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.26% to mark five straight days of losses and the Kosdaq slipped 0.65% to 892.34.

YouTuber Mr Beast sued by Mr Beast Burger food delivery service partner 2023-08-08 - Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast to his 172 million subscribers on YouTube, is being sued by his food delivery service partner, Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC), over their MrBeast Burger agreement. Donaldson filed a lawsuit against VDC last week, alleging the Florida-based “virtual dining” brand damaged Donaldson’s reputation by serving customers “low quality” and, occasionally, “inedible” food. In their lawsuit, VDC and its subsidiary, Celebrity Virtual Dining, LLC, assert that Donaldson and his company, Beast Investments, failed to keep contractual obligations and are suing over intentional tortious interference. “This case is about a social media celebrity who believes his fame means that his word does not matter, that the facts do not matter, and that he can renege and breach his contractual obligations without consequence,” the lawsuit, which was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York on Monday, states. “He is mistaken.” The company says in the lawsuit that damages caused by Donaldson are in the “nine-figure range.” An attorney for Donaldson declined to comment on Monday. An attorney for VDC said they had no additional comment. Variety first reported news of the lawsuit. Donaldson, famous for his expensive stunts and viral charity projects, and VDC first teamed up in December 2020 when they began selling branded burger-and-fries combos through restaurants and commercial kitchens across the nation. Customers order through major food delivery service apps or via the MrBeastBurger website, which states menu items are available “for restaurants to prepare out of their existing kitchens as a way to generate a new revenue stream.” Donaldson’s original suit cited social media posts in which customers called the burgers, “‘disgusting,’ ‘revolting,’ and ‘inedible.’” VDC’s lawsuit also says that Donaldson leveraged his massive social media presence to make “disparaging comments” about VDC. “In an effort to pressure Plaintiffs into transferring to him part of their interests in MrBeast Burger, Donaldson bullied Plaintiffs on social media and threatened to terminate the parties’ agreements if Plaintiffs did not accede to his demands,” the lawsuit states. “In so doing, he fabricated a number of purported “breaches” of the parties’ agreements, each of which was demonstrably false.” Attorneys for VDC cited various social media posts from Donaldson, in which he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he signed a “bad deal.” In one post shown in the lawsuit, Donaldson wrote that “the company I partnered with won’t let me stop even though it’s terrible for my brand. Young beast signed a bad deal.” In another post shown in the lawsuit, which remains on Donaldson’s social media account, Donaldson wrote, “Yeah, the problem with Beast Burger is i can’t guarantee the quality of the order. When working with other restaurants it’s impossible to control it sadly.” The lawsuit states that “Donaldson’s baseless and unlawful disparagement had the intended effect: MrBeast Burger’s reputation was materially damaged if not destroyed." VDC, which was co-founded by Robert Earl, the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, lists Mariah Carey’s “Mariah’s Cookies,” Bravo’s “The Real HouseBowls,” and baker Buddy V’s “Cake Slice” as some of its other ventures. VDC’s “hard-won relationships with vendors, partners, and suppliers were shattered,” the lawsuit states. Lawyers for VDC argue in the suit that “every restaurant gets periodic bad reviews and every company that sells product to the public has unsatisfied customers.” “The reality is that the overwhelming majority of customers were highly satisfied, and the product was excellent,” according to the lawsuit. In his original complaint, Donaldson said he is seeking to end his agreement with VDC, citing a lack of quality control and noting that his complaints “fell on deaf ears.” His suit states that MrBeast Burger generated “millions of dollars,” but adds that “MrBeast has not received a dime.” The VDC lawsuit states that Donaldson is attempting to get out of his contract with VDC because he is seeking a “‘better,’ more lucrative deal” after the success of MrBeast Burger. “Like any party to a contract, Donaldson must be held to his word,” the VDC lawsuit states, “and held accountable for his contractual breaches and other misconduct.”

Moody’s places credit ratings of 6 major U.S. banks on review for downgrade 2023-08-08 - Moody’s Investors Services may downgrade its credit ratings on six major U.S. banks, including U.S. Bancorp, State Street Corp., and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., and has downgraded its debt ratings on several small and mid-sized banks as part of the credit ratings agency’s rash of rating actions on U.S. banks late Monday. The U.S. banking industry, rattled in March by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and others, “continue to contend with interest rate and [asset and liability management] risks with implications for liquidity and capital,” the credit ratings agency said.

Investors bet on state-backed developers as Chinese property begins recovery 2023-08-08 - A Chinese flag is seen near a construction site in Beijing's central business area, China, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Investors betting on recovery in China's battered property sector are favouring the stocks and bonds of state-backed firms that are more likely to benefit from government support, market participants said. The hugely leveraged sector has been gutted by three years of measures aimed at curbing speculative price rises and reducing developer debt, and has seen a string of major names defaulting on bonds or otherwise in dire financial straits. Last month, however, the Politburo signalled change to real estate policy, and the People's Bank of China pledged reasonable financing for developers and lower mortgage rates. Some cities, such as Zhengzhou, have started easing property market curbs. For wary investors keen to return to a sector that accounts for a quarter of the economy, state-owned developers may offer government endorsement and better access to cheap funding. Such sentiment is reflected in markets. Hong Kong's price index of mainland developers (.HSMPI) - composed mainly of private firms - has fallen almost 30% this year. China's more mixed domestic real estate benchmark (.CSI000952) is down 13%. State-owned developers including Yuexiu Property (0123.HK) and China Resources Land (1109.HK) are trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of eight, whereas some private developers such as Country Garden Holdings (2007.HK) are trading at less than two. The bonds of some private developers such as Country Garden and CIFI Holdings (0884.HK) are rated below investment grade. "Developers that are either state-owned, or investment-grade rated, or those that are owned by or associated with local financial institutions will be the ones that are able to borrow long-term, cheap financing," said Jenny Zeng, chief investment officer for Asia fixed income at Allianz Global Investors. Meanwhile investors have taken a dim view of the private sector. Short interest in Asian real estate - mostly private Chinese property firms - has been rising since April, with shares loaned as a proportion of market capitalisation hitting 0.75% in July, showed data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Country Garden topped the list of most-heavily borrowed stock for short-selling, the data showed. Wai Mei Leong, fixed income lead portfolio manager at Eastspring Investments, said her fund only buys into very high-quality property firms which are either government-owned or have a government policy objective. Lower debt and better financing have helped state-owned enterprises (SOEs) gain market share. They have historically generated around one-third of property sales but that share has risen in recent years to about 59%, Capital Economics estimates. The top five developers by sales in the first half year were state-backed, showed data from China Real Estate Information Corp. Long-time leader Country Garden was sixth. The share prices of state-backed firms such as Poly Developments (600048.SS) have outperformed the CSI 300 real estate index (.CSI000952). Country Garden stock has slumped more than 80% since mid-2021. Guangzhou local government-backed Yuexiu has seen its five-year bond due January 2026 bounce back to about 92 cents on the dollar from a trough of 60 cents in November. The offshore five-year bond of private firm CIFI , due October 2025, is around 8 cents. "The latest property sales data for some of the performing non-SOE developers triggered fear that they would also need to default which sent shock waves through the market," said Philip Meier, head of emerging market debt and multi-asset portfolio manager at Gramercy. Reporting by Georgina Lee and Summer Zhen in Hong Kong and Li Gu in Shanghai; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Christopher Cushing Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Japan’s tech investor SoftBank trims losses and promises offensive turnaround 2023-08-08 - TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. continued to rack up losses for the fiscal first quarter as technology investments soured amid a market downturn. But SoftBank’s April-June red ink, at 477.6 billion yen ($3.4 billion), was smaller than a year ago, when losses totaled 3.16 trillion yen ($22 billion), the Tokyo-based company said Tuesday. Losses came from what SoftBank calls its Vision Funds, as well as from other investments including those in telecommunications in Japan. Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto struck an upbeat tone, stressing that the environment for technology issues was improving. “We must pay attention to the conditions and adjust stepping on the gas pedal, as well as on the brakes on investments accordingly,” he told reporters. SoftBank Vision Fund 1 marked a $12.4 billion gain since its inception, while SoftBank Vision Fund 2, set up after the first fund, was still performing at a loss of $18.6 billion, according to SoftBank. Over the latest period, Vision Fund 1 saw the value of its holdings rise in South Korea e-commerce company Coupang and Singaporean technology outfit Grab. That was offset by declines in its portfolio of Didi and other Chinese companies, it said. In SBVF2, the strong performance of American warehouse robotics company Symbotic shares was offset by a decline in WeWork, a U.S. workspace-sharing startup. SoftBank recently announced a joint venture with Symbotic. Goto insisted that the overall performance on the Vision Fund investments was improving. Much of the latest quarterly loss came from the recent declining value of the yen, which negatively impacts Japanese investors, he said. If that were taken out of consideration, investments were basically breakeven, said Goto. Quarterly sales were little changed, edging down nearly 1% to 1.56 trillion yen ($11 billion). The company does not give full year forecasts. SoftBank, which invests in a sprawling array of companies, including British semiconductor and software design company Arm, has tended to suffer during technology downturns. It was also negatively hit by the U.S. banking crisis earlier this year, as well as by uncertainties set off by geopolitical developments like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Still, the technology sector woes around the world appear to be gradually improving, as seen in the rise of shares lately in big names like Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet. SoftBank used to own significant stakes in all three companies but sold them in 2021. SoftBank more recently sold its stake in Uber to ride out hard times, and dramatically reduced its stake in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and technology company. SoftBank was founded by Masayoshi Son, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, who is known as a defiant visionary in a Japanese corporate world dominated by tradition-bound conformists. The billionaire has indicated he intends to turn bullish after a period of being cautious, and lead in investments in artificial intelligence, using the Japanese term for “shifting from the defensive to the offensive.” One of the companies it’s investing in is Telexistence, which develops robots that stock shelves at Japanese convenience stores. SoftBank is also planning a U.S. initial public offering of Arm, which should work as a plus for its bottom line. The company offered few details. SoftBank Group Corp. shares rose 1.5% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. ___ Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Stock market today: Global markets lower ahead of US inflation update 2023-08-08 - BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures declined Tuesday after Chinese exports fell ahead of this week’s U.S. inflation update, which might influence Federal Reserve plans for possible interest rate hikes. London, Shanghai, Paris and Hong Kong retreated. Tokyo advanced. Oil prices lost more than $1 per barrel. On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rallied 0.9%, recovering one-third of a loss from last week. “U.S. stocks started the week in better form,” said ING analysts in a report. “It is not clear that this is going to last, though.” In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.4% to 7,528.15. The CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4% to 7,288.73, and the DAX in Frankfurt shed 0.5% 15,884.94. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 future was off 0.3%, and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%. The Dow rose 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6% on Monday. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,260.61 after Chinese exports fell 14.5% from a year earlier in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to reverse an economic slump. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.8% to 19,184.17. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.4% to 32,277.29 after official data showed labor cash earnings rose 2.3% in June. The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.3% to 2,573.98, and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained less than 0.1% to 7,311.10. India’s Sensex opened up 0.1% at 65,872.98. New Zealand, Bangkok and Jakarta retreated while Singapore rose. U.S. corporate profits have mostly beat forecasts for the April-June period. Nearly four out of five companies in the S&P 500 have topped expectations so far, according to FactSet. But they’re still on track to report their sharpest drop in profit since summer 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the global economy. Investors hope Thursday’s U.S. inflation data will help to persuade the Fed that upward pressure on prices is under control and no more rate hikes are needed. Forecasters expect Thursday’s data to show consumer prices rose by 3.3% in July over a year ago, an acceleration from June’s 3%. Inflation has gradually declined since soaring to a two-decade high above 9% last year. Some forecasters warn traders are assuming too early that rate hikes are finished and the Fed can achieve a “soft landing” of extinguishing inflation without tipping the world’s biggest economy into a recession. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.05 to $80.89 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 88 cents on Monday to $81.94. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, declined $1.12 to $84.22 per barrel in London. It lost 90 cents the previous session to $85.34. The dollar rose to 143.08 yen from Monday’s 142.44 yen. The euro declined to $1.0984 from $1.1007.

US inflation has steadily cooled. Getting it down to the Fed’s target rate will be the toughest mile 2023-08-08 - WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past year, inflation in the United States has tumbled from 9% all the way to 3%, softening most of the price pressures that have gripped the nation for more than two years. Now comes the hard part. Squeezing out the last bit of excess inflation and reducing it to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate is expected to be a much harder and slower grind. A measure called “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is even higher than overall inflation. It, too, seems likely to slow only gradually. The Fed pays particular attention to core prices as a signal of where inflation might be headed. In June, core prices were up 4.1% from a year earlier, according to the Fed’s preferred gauge. “We see some challenges in getting that all the way back to 2% quickly,” said Michael Hanson, senior global economist at J.P. Morgan. The stickiness of inflation could endanger the possibility that the Fed will achieve a rare “soft landing” — a scenario in which it manages to slow inflation down to its target level through higher interest rates without derailing the economy. If inflation were to remain elevated for too long, the Fed might feel compelled to further raise its key rate from its current 5.4%, a 22-year high. Most economists say they think the central bank is done hiking, but only if inflation continues to cool. At the same time, the Fed has acknowledged that inflation pressures have eased significantly over the past year. Encouragingly, that slowdown has occurred even while the economy has continued to expand and employers have steadily hired at a healthy pace. On Thursday, when the government will issue inflation data for July, economists expect it to show a slight pickup in year-over-year inflation to 3.3%. It would be the first such increase after 12 months of declines. In part, any rebound in annual inflation for July will reflect higher gas prices. Unless they ease, gas prices could keep overall inflation above 3% through the end of the year. The national average pump price has jumped about 30 cents, to $3.83, in the past month, partly because the cost of oil has risen. One obstacle in bringing inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target is that the price slowdown so far has reflected mainly relatively painless changes not likely to be repeated. Until last month, for example, gas prices had already plunged from a peak national average of $5. And supply-chain snarls that had swollen the prices of cars, furniture, appliances and other physical goods have mostly unwound. The cost of long-lasing manufactured goods actually declined slightly in June from a year ago. Another factor is that prices had soared in the first half of 2022 before slowing in the second half. So any increase in July would have the effect of boosting the year-over-year inflation rate. What’s now sending prices up is mostly the cost of services — everything from dental care and auto insurance to restaurant meals and summer concerts. Those costs mostly reflect healthy wage gains for workers, which are often passed on to customers in the form of higher prices. “Energy prices are off, commodity prices off, core goods fell,” said Kristin Forbes, an economist at MIT and a former member of the Bank of England’s interest-rate setting committee. “That’s the quick, easy stuff. What’s left is this underlying wage-service inflation. And that’s the part that’s harder to slow down and will take take longer.” Many employees, especially in the economy’s service sector, could push for further raises in the coming months. With labor shortages still a problem for service industries, workers have leverage to demand higher pay. For most Americans, pay gains have trailed inflation over the past two years. Higher pay is one key issue driving strikes among Hollywood writers and actors. It was also a focus of the Teamsters union in its negotiations with UPS, which led to large pay gains. The United Auto Workers is also pushing for robust raises in its talks with U.S. automakers. Hanson, of J.P. Morgan, notes that measures of health insurance costs will start to rise this fall because of quirks in how the government measures them. And auto insurance and repair costs have been surging. A key reason is that vehicle prices soared after parts shortages developed when the pandemic erupted; costlier cars are more expensive to fix and insure. Auto insurance prices have soared nearly 17% in the past year. As a result, economists generally expect core prices, under the Fed’s preferred measure, to still rise at a 3.5% annual pace by year’s end — far above its 2% target. The Fed’s latest forecasts show that its policymakers expect core inflation to still be 2.6% at the end of 2024. Still, there are some hopeful signs that hiring and wages are slowing, which would cool inflation over time. On Friday, the government reported that employers added 187,000 jobs in July, a solid total but still reflective of a slowdown: Job growth over the past three months has averaged only about half the pace of the same period in 2022. And wage growth slipped to 4.6% in the April-June quarter, the government said, the slowest pace in a year and a half. “That trajectory tells us where things will go in the next 12 months,” said Skanda Amarnath, executive director of Employ America, an advocacy group. At his most recent news conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell sounded some cautious but hopeful notes about the prospect of a soft landing. “I wouldn’t use the term optimism about this yet,” he said. “I would say though that there’s a pathway....We’ve seen so far the beginnings of disinflation without any real costs in the labor market. And that’s a really good thing.” Yet a defining characteristic of the post-pandemic economy has been resilience, with consumers in particular showing a surprisingly persistent willingness to spend. Some economists worry that it will take a sharp rise in unemployment to reverse that trend and finally conquer inflation. The Fed has already been coming under some criticism for sharply raising rates and potentially putting the job market at risk. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote Powell before the Fed met last month and urged him to forgo another rate increase. The central bank, though, went ahead with its 11th rate hike since March 2022. “The Fed’s aggressive rate hikes disproportionately threaten Black workers and their families and risk fully reversing the extraordinary labor market gains we have seen,” Warren, a frequent Fed critic, wrote. With political pressure on the Fed rising, Powell and other officials may soon see the precipitous drop in inflation in the first half of this year as having been the easy part. “The Fed has got lucky so far in what it’s gotten,” said Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at GlobalData TS Lombard. “Most of the decline in inflation was going to happen anyway. They really own the part that’s to come.”

Thousands of Los Angeles city workers walk off job for 24 hours alleging unfair labor practices 2023-08-08 - LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of Los Angeles city employees, including sanitation workers, lifeguards and traffic officers, walked off the job Tuesday for a 24-hour strike alleging unfair labor practices. Picket lines went up before dawn at Los Angeles International Airport and other locations and a rally was planned for later in the day at City Hall. SEIU Local 721 said airport custodians, heavy duty mechanics and engineers are among the more than 11,000 LA city workers who are striking. The union said its members voted to authorize the walkout because the city has failed to bargain in good faith and also engaged in labor practices that restricted employee and union rights. “City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Monday. “They deserve fair contracts and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January. The city will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” It’s the latest strike to overtake the nation’s second largest city in recent months. Hollywood writers have been striking since May, and actors joined them last month. Los Angeles hotel workers have staged staggered walkouts all summer, and earlier this year school staff walked picket lines and there was also a contract dispute at Southern California ports. “The City of Los Angeles is not going to shut down,” Bass insisted. But her office said some services would be affected, including parking enforcement and some traffic operations. This week’s trash pickup will be staggered by one day citywide until normal service resumes Monday, officials said. Los Angeles International Airport officials urged travelers to allow for extra time for travel to and from LAX during the strike. “LAX is working diligently with our airport partners to ensure that our operations will continue as close to normal as possible and to mitigate the impacts of the work action to our guests,” airport spokesperson Dae Levine said in an email Monday. The union said it expects about 300 lifeguards working at dozens of city swimming pools would strike. Rose Watson, spokesperson for the Department of Recreation and Parks, said Monday afternoon that it wasn’t immediately clear whether pools would be closed. Approximately 300 Port of Los Angeles employees were expected to participate in the walkout, according to port spokesperson Phillip Sanfield. “The Port of Los Angeles respects the fair bargaining rights of all employees,” Sanfield said in an email Monday. “With an anticipated job action, Port of Los Angeles operations will continue.” The union approved a one-year deal with the city in November 2022 with the understanding that they would return to the bargaining table in January, said SEIU Local 721 Chief of Staff Gilda Valdez. With the broader agreement in place for the next year, the city and the union would then negotiate over a number of “specials,” or smaller specific proposals, Valdez told The Associated Press. But the city reneged on the promise to negotiate on those issues and “only gave us some small agreements that basically amount to peanuts,” Valdez said. The union filed an unfair labor practice claim with the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board over this issue, along with previous claims filed over several other issues. “This strike is a very strong message: ‘come to the table,’ ” Valdez said, noting that the union’s members had worked throughout the pandemic to keep the city running. The union plans to return to the bargaining table with the city the week of August 14 to resume talks, she said. In Northern California, two unions that represent nearly 4,500 San Jose city employees voted Monday to authorize a three-day strike for next week.

New Zealand is partnering with BlackRock in aim to reach 100% renewable electricity 2023-08-08 - WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government said Tuesday it will partner with U.S. investment giant BlackRock in its aim to become one of the first nations in the world to have its electricity grid run entirely from renewable energy. The government said it was helping BlackRock launch a $1.2 billion fund to ramp up investments in wind and solar generation, as well as battery storage and green hydrogen. Some of the investment is expected to come from government-owned companies. New Zealand’s electricity grid already runs off about 82% renewable energy after it damned rivers decades ago to produce hydroelectric power. The government said it aims to reach 100% renewable generation by the end of this decade. The announcement comes two months out from an election, with the government hoping to burnish its green credentials. Critics point out the nation’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have barely budged since the government symbolically declared a climate emergency in 2020. “This is a gamechanger for the clean-tech sector, and an example of the pragmatic and practical steps the government’s taking to accelerate climate action while actually growing our economy and creating jobs,” Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told reporters in Auckland. Hipkins said the fund would allow New Zealand companies to produce intellectual property that could be commercialized across the world. “Partnering with, and supporting, industry to solve the climate crisis is a no-brainer,” Hipkins said. BlackRock released few details about the planned 2 billion New Zealand dollar ($1.22 billion) fund, but did say it would initially target institutional investors. It was the first time BlackRock had launched an initiative of its kind, said Andrew Landman, the head of BlackRock in Australia and New Zealand. “The level of innovation is far greater in this country than we see elsewhere in clean tech,” Landman told reporters. “We are seeing enormous visionary capabilities out of those investee companies.” BlackRock said making the grid completely green would require a total investment of about US$26 billion. BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said on social media that “the world is looking for models of cooperation between the private and public sectors to ensure an orderly, just and fair energy transition.” David Seymour, the leader of New Zealand’s libertarian ACT Party, said the plan would push up power prices for little environmental gain. “New Zealanders don’t want to be subject to a ‘world first’ climate change experiment that will mean the government micromanages their lives,” Seymour said in a statement. ___ This story has been updated to correct the attribution of the quote in the 9th graf to Andrew Landman.

China’s July exports tumble by double digits, adding to pressure to shore up flagging economy 2023-08-08 - BEIJING (AP) — China’s exports plunged by 14.5% in July compared with a year earlier, adding to pressure on the ruling Communist Party to reverse an economic slump. Imports tumbled 12.4%, customs data showed Tuesday, in a blow to global exporters that look to China as one of the biggest markets for industrial materials, food and consumer goods. Exports fell to $281.8 billion as the decline accelerated from June’s 12.4% fall. Imports sank to $201.2 billion, widening from the previous month’s 6.8% contraction. The country’s global trade surplus narrowed by 20.4% from a record high a year ago to $80.6 billion. Chinese leaders are trying to shore up business and consumer activity after a rebound following the end of virus controls in December fizzled out earlier than expected. Economic growth sank to 0.8% in the three months ending in June compared with the previous quarter, down from the January-March period’s 2.2%. That is the equivalent of 3.2% annual growth, which would be among China’s weakest in three decades. Demand for Chinese exports cooled after the Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Asia started raising interest rates last year to cool inflation that was at multi-decade highs. The export contraction was the biggest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to Capital Economics. It said the decline was due mostly to lower prices, while volumes of goods were above pre-pandemic levels. “We expect exports to decline further over the coming months before bottoming out toward the end of the year,” said Capital Economics in a report. “The near-term outlook for consumer spending in developed economies remains challenging.” The ruling party has promised measures to support entrepreneurs and to encourage home purchases and consumer spending but hasn’t announced large-scale stimulus spending or tax cuts. Forecasters expect those steps to revive demand for imports but say that will be gradual. “Domestic demand continues to deteriorate,” said David Chao of Invesco in a report. “Policymakers have pledged further policy support, which could buoy household spending and lead to an improvement in import growth for the coming few months.” Exports to the United States fell 23% from a year earlier to $42.3 billion while imports of American goods retreated 11.1% to $12 billion. China’s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States narrowed by 27% to a still-robust $30.3 billion. China’s imports from Russia, mostly oil and gas, narrowed by just under 0.1% from a year ago to $9.2 billion. Chinese purchases of Russian energy have swelled, helping to offset revenue lost to Western sanctions imposed to punish the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine. China, which is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the war, can buy Russian oil and gas without triggering Western sanctions. The United States and French officials cite evidence China is delivering goods with possible military uses to Russia but haven’t said whether that might trigger penalties against Chinese companies. Exports to the 27-nation European Union slumped 39.5% from a year earlier to $42.4 billion while imports of European goods were off 44.1% at $23.3 billion. China’s trade surplus with the EU contracted by 32.7% to $19.1 billion. For the first seven months of the year, Chinese exports were off 5% from the same period in 2022 at just over $1.9 trillion. Imports were down 7.6% at $1.4 trillion. ___ General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cn

Biden will announce a historic Grand Canyon monument designation during his Arizona visit 2023-08-08 - TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes’ and environmentalists’ decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality. Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, national climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed. It will mark the Democratic president’s fifth monument designation. Tribes in Arizona have been pushing Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create a new national monument called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni. “Baaj Nwaavjo” means “where tribes roam,” for the Havasupai people, while “I’tah Kukveni” translates to “our footprints,” for the Hopi tribe. Tribes and environmentalists for decades have been trying to safeguard the land north and south of Grand Canyon National Park, while Republican lawmakers and the mining industry tout the economic benefits and raise mining as a matter of national security. The designation is a reminder of a “new era” in which collaboration and stewardship with tribes is valued, said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary. “It will help ensure that indigenous people can continue to use these areas for religious ceremonies, hunting and gathering of plants, medicines and other materials, including some found nowhere else on Earth,” said Haaland, who recently visited the Havasupai Indian Reservation. “It will protect objects of historic and scientific importance for the benefit of tribes, the public and for future generations.” Biden arrived Monday evening at Grand Canyon National Park Airport, where he was greeted by Democratic congressmen Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego. Biden embraced them when he got off Air Force One, and the trio chatted for a few minutes. Grijalva, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly introduced legislation to create the monument. Biden will be speaking in an area that is between Pinyon Plain Mine, which is being developed and has not opened, and Red Butte, a site culturally significant to the Havasupai and Hopi tribes. Representatives of various northern Arizona tribes have been invited to attend the president’s remarks. Among them are Yavapai-Apache Nation Chairwoman Tanya Lewis, Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores, Navajo President Buu Nygren and Havasupai Tribal Councilwoman Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla. Uqualla is part of a group of tribal dancers who will perform a blessing. “It’s really the uranium we don’t want coming out of the ground because it’s going to affect everything around us — the trees, the land, the animals, the people,” Uqualla said. “It’s not going to stop.” The Interior Department, reacting to concerns over the risk of contaminating water, enacted a 20-year moratorium on the filing of new mining claims around the national park in 2012. Existing mining claims will not be affected by this designation, senior Biden administration officials countered. Furthermore, the monument site encompasses around 1.3% of the nation’s known and understood uranium reserves. Officials say there are significant resources in other parts of the country that will remain accessible. A U.S. Geological Survey in 2021 found most springs and wells in a vast region of northern Arizona known for its high-grade uranium ore meet federal drinking water standards despite decades of uranium mining. In 2017, Democratic President Barack Obama backed off a full-on monument designation. The idea faced a hostile reception from Arizona’s Republican governor and two senators. Then-Gov. Doug Ducey threatened legal action, saying Arizona already has enough national monuments. Opponents of establishing a monument have argued it won’t help combat a lingering drought and could prevent thinning of forests and stop hunters from keeping wildlife populations in check. Ranchers in Utah near the Arizona border say the monument designation would strip them of privately owned land. The landscape of Arizona’s political delegation has since changed considerably. Gov. Katie Hobbs, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, are all on board. Hobbs, a Democrat, has openly urged Biden to issue a designation. In a letter sent to Biden in May, Hobbs claimed that she heard from people across the political spectrum, including sporting groups and outdoor groups, in support of a monument. Mining companies and the areas that would benefit from their business remain vehemently opposed. Buster Johnson, a Mohave County supervisor, said the monument proposal feels solely politically driven and there should have been another hearing on the matter. He doesn’t see the point of not tapping into uranium and making the country less dependent on Russia. “We need uranium for the security of our country,” Johnson said. “We’re out of the game.” No uranium mines are operating in Arizona, although the Pinyon Plain Mine just south of Grand Canyon National Park has been under development for years. Other claims are grandfathered in. The federal government has said nearly a dozen mines within the area that has been withdrawn from new mining claims could still potentially open, even with the monument designation, because their claims were established before 2012. After Arizona, Biden will go on to Albuquerque on Wednesday, where he will talk about how fighting climate change has created new jobs. He’ll then visit Salt Lake City on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the PACT Act, which provides new benefits to veterans who were exposed to toxic substances. He’ll also hold a reelection fundraiser in each city.

Italy shocks banks with 40% windfall tax for 2023 2023-08-08 - [1/2] Intesa Sanpaolo bank logo and decreasing stock graph are seen in this illustration taken March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Summary Companies To tax income from gap in lending, deposit rates Govt had criticised lenders for keeping deposit rates low Banks have earned record profits in recent quarters ROME, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Italy has approved a one-off 40% tax on profits banks reap from higher interest rates after reprimanding lenders for failing to reward deposits, in a surprise move that sent banking shares plunging across Europe. Sharply higher official interest rates have yielded record profits for banks, as lenders hike the cost of loans while holding off paying more on deposits. Countries such as Spain and Hungary have already imposed windfall taxes on the sector and others may now follow suit. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government had floated the idea of a windfall tax on banks earlier in the year but appeared to have cooled on the plan. A senior banking executive told Reuters that lenders had been ready for "the chopping block, but then the axe didn't come down." Since then, however, bumper first-half results from banks brought the issue starkly into focus once again and prompted the government to act on the eve of the summer political shutdown. One source said the plan came as a surprise even to some ministers at Monday night's cabinet meeting. Italy's banking share index plunged 7.4% by 0915 GMT on Tuesday, with top bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) down 8% and rival heavyweight UniCredit (CRDI.MI) down 6.5%. Italian banks dragged the European index (.SX7E) down 2.4%, with a Moody's downgrade of some U.S. banks also weighing on bank shares. "One has only to look at banks' first-half profits ... to realise that we are not talking about a few millions, but ... of billions," Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told a news conference in Rome late on Monday. "If (it is true that) the burden deriving from the cost of money has ... doubled for households and businesses, what current account holders receive has certainly not doubled," Salvini said. The government wants to use the proceeds to help those struggling with the cost of living such as mortgage holders. WINDFALL FOR THE TREASURY Citi analysts calculated the tax could wipe nearly a fifth off Italian banks' 2023 net income. Bank of America estimated proceeds of between 2-3 billion euros for the government. Sources said the Treasury expected to collect less than 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from the measure. That would be similar to the figure of 2.8 billion euros raised by this year's windfall tax on energy companies. Italy will apply the tax only in 2023 with banks paying the sums by June 30, 2024. The measure applies to the net interest margin (NIM), a measure of income banks derive from the gap between lending and deposit rates. Italy will tax 40% of to the NIM earned in 2022 or 2023 - depending on which sum is bigger - and above given thresholds for a yearly increase. Intesa at the end of last month said it expected to pocket more than 13.5 billion euros this year from its net interest margin alone. All main Italian lenders reported much stronger than expected results for the first six months and upgraded their profit outlook thanks to the boost from higher rates. Unlike peers in some other European countries, Italian banks never charged for deposits when official rates fell below zero. Since rates rose, they have cut current account costs but have refused to reward cash held there saying that money is held there for day-by-day use not as an investment. ($1 = 0.9112 euros) Additional reporting by Federico Maccioni and Danilo Masoni; Editing by Keith Weir and Susan Fenton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Exclusive: Defying war risk, European traders store gas in Ukraine 2023-08-08 - Pressure gauges, pipes and valves are pictured at an "Dashava" underground gas storage facility near Striy, Ukraine May 28, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich//File Photo PRAGUE/WARSAW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - European gas traders have begun storing natural gas in Ukraine to take advantage of lower prices and available capacity there, regardless of the risks from the ongoing war, three traders and company officials said. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, begun in February last year, the European Union (EU) has sought high levels of gas storage to compensate for reduced Russian supply, especially during the peak demand winter months. The bloc is expected to reach a target of filling its storage facilities to 90% full by Nov. 1. Traders said there was commercial logic in storage in Ukraine, in addition to on EU soil, to take advantage of cheaper prices now versus for future delivery. Gas for September delivery is priced at 30 euros ($32.96) per MWh compared with forward prices for first quarter of 2024 at 49 euros, according to prices from the TTF Dutch gas futures market. Czech EPH group told Reuters its decision to use Ukrainian storage was also a sign of confidence in the country. "EP Commodities transports natural gas to Ukraine and uses Ukrainian gas storage facilities," Miroslav Hasko, chairman at EPH's EP Commodities, said. "We believe in the reliability of the Ukraine’s gas transport and storage systems, which proved themselves even in such an immensely difficult wartime situation." He did not disclose volumes. EU countries' gas storage facilities were 87% full on Aug. 7, according to transparency platform GIE. "We see a positive trend in gas injection by foreign traders into our (storage) facilities," said Ukriane's state-owned Ukrtransgas, part of Naftogaz Group. Naftotgaz said foreign customers could use more than 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of storage of the country's around 30 bcm capacity, mostly in the country's west, which is far from the front lines. Slovakia state-owned SPP, which supplies most of the Slovak market, in part with Russian gas, said it was looking at the possibility of using Ukrainian storage given Slovak storage was already 90% full. "We consider gas storage in Ukraine as one of the interesting business opportunities that we are currently considering," SPP told Reuters. Other European traders said there are risks due to possible military strikes or questions over what happens to the network if Russia stops pumping the gas it still sends westward via Ukraine. "Imagine a well-targeted missile hits a compressor station or some other infrastructure. You have to take that risk," said Martin Pich, head of trading at Czech firm MND. He said volumes at current spreads may not be large but could pick up if spot prices drop. He did not comment on MND's trading. The Bruegel think tank said last month Ukraine could increase Europe's storage capacity by about 10%. "Utilising the extra 100 TWh capacity available in Ukraine will provide a nice boost to Europe’s winter outlook, and a welcome boost to Ukraine’s income," Bruegel said. Gas for storage in Ukraine can be purchased anywhere and pumped using real or virtual flows in pipelines from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Nominations have risen for the pipeline that transports Russian gas from Ukraine to Slovakia at the Velke Kapusany border for flows into Ukraine - virtual reverse flows. They have been up to 10 mcm per day since July. Physical flows from Slovakia into Ukraine also started in August through the Budince point with daily volumes of around 17 mcm. (This story has been refiled to correct a typo in paragraph 5) ($1 = 0.9103 euros) Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Marek Strzelelcki, additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; editing by Barbara Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Video-gaming revenue to grow 2.6% in 2023 on console sales strength - report 2023-08-08 - A worker holds a Playstation 5 at a Best Buy store during Black Friday sales in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., November 25, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska Aug 8 (Reuters) - Global video-games market would return to growth in 2023 on the back of strong sales of consoles such as Sony's Playstation 5, according to gaming market research firm Newzoo. Newzoo said it expects industry revenue to rise 2.6% to $187.7 billion in 2023, driven by a 7.4% rise in console sales in the year. Gaming revenue fell 5% in 2022, according to the research firm's data. "Many highly anticipated delayed titles launched in 2023, with more scheduled for release in H2 (second half), and the supply of new consoles has finally caught up to demand," said Newzoo analyst Tom Wijman. PlayStation maker Sony (6758.T) said in July it expects to sell 25 million units of PS5 consoles this year, a record for any PlayStation devices, as supply chain issues ease. Market research firm Circana said U.S. consumer spending on video-game hardware was up by 23% in the first half of 2023. But spending on video game content was flat during the period, as gamers stuck with proven franchises such as Activision Blizzard's (ATVI.O) "Call of Duty". Earlier this month, "Apex Legends" publisher Electronic Arts (EA.O) forecast downbeat net bookings for the September quarter due to lower in-game spending on items such as character skins. However, the company maintained its 2024 bookings forecast as it expects to debut "EA Sports FC", its football franchise game, in September. Newzoo expects mobile games to account for nearly 50% of global gaming revenues in 2023 even as privacy policies of Apple and Google hamper their monetization. Newzoo also said cloud gaming, which allows gamers to stream titles directly on devices irrespective of their technical specifications, has the potential to rack up 43.1 million paying users by the end of the year. Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Oil hedge funds place their bets on heat-fueled hurricane season 2023-08-08 - An oil pumpjack is pictured in the Permian basin, Loco Hills regions, New Mexico, U.S., April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Liz Hampton LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Bullish gasoline positions have hit their highest since the day Russia invaded Ukraine and will almost certainly rise further if record Atlantic Ocean heat draws a hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico and disrupts refineries, investors and analysts said. Many traders have been unnerved as crude markets were whipsawed by a banking crisis in the United States and inflationary pressures. Some have found better returns in refined products. Gasoline prices usually rise ahead of the U.S. summer driving season. This year's seasonal rally has been super-charged by a ten-week low in supplies caused in part by refinery outages in the US east and Gulf Coasts and strong exports to global markets from the United States, which typically imports from other countries to supplement its own production. Already the strength of gasoline and gasoil has helped to reverse energy funds' losses following the banking crisis stirred by the March collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to figures from Societe Generale and calculations by Reuters. Money managers in the week to Aug. 1 boosted their net long holdings of NYMEX RBOB gasoline futures to the highest since late February 2022. On a seasonal basis, this position is at a three-year high, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows. Reuters Graphics Now traders are focusing on the weather, as Atlantic waters have climbed to the highest temperatures in 120,000 years, heightening the risk of storms. Meteorologists in July increased the number of storms forecast for this year, although they have also said the combination of rising sea temperatures and the El Nino weather pattern has increased uncertainty. A hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. Gulf Coast - where nearly half of US oil refining capacity is located - could damage oil refinery units, or cause refiners to temporarily shut them down until the storm passes. Refinery outages caused by plant shut-ins or damaged equipment in that region would likely increase fuel prices. Tom Kloza, founder of the Oil Price Information Service, said he multiples the category of the storm by itself and by itself again to find the minimum increase gas price a hurricane would cause. "The Gulf of Mexico may be the biggest choke point (for oil product exports) this year if we get any disturbances and I think we're all going to be on tenterhooks this hurricane season," he said. HEDGE FUND-FUELED TURNAROUND Gasoline futures have risen around 14% this year, compared with a roughly 2% rise for U.S. crude futures . Fuel strength pushed gasoline margins to one-year highs around $40 a barrel in July . "The gas crack has been propelled by CTA buying, as well as refinery outages in the US and because extreme heat meant lower refinery runs in Europe," said Vincent Elbhar, co-founder of hedge fund GZC Investment. Commodity trading advisers (CTAs) use systematically programmed algorithms to track asset performance. Reuters Graphics One of these computer-led funds, the roughly $8 billion Aspect Capital, considered gasoline futures were among the best energy asset performers in its Diversified Fund portfolio, a source said on condition of anonymity. The fund was up 4% for the year to end-June, according to Societe Generale. Aspect Capital declined to comment on the performance. Active managers also benefited. "Unleaded gasoline has been the top performing commodity within the petroleum sector year-to-date," said Eliot Geller, a partner at CoreCommodity Management, who declined to give detail on the performance. July performance in CoreCommodity Management’s Founders Fund rose over 8%, a Barclays note said. But now, hedge funds must decide whether to stick with these trades. To guarantee a profit, they need the rise in gasoline prices to be sustained until hurricane activity is confirmed. "Look at the rally in gasoline and heating oil cracks over the last two or three weeks and you can see, everyone is positioned for a very interesting hurricane season," said Brent Belote, who previously traded at JP Morgan's oil desk and now runs his own $25-million hedge fund, Cayler Capital. Cayler is up 24% this year, said a separate source with knowledge of the matter. Belote declined to comment. Belote believes other refineries could shut down due to the effects of delayed maintenance. Outages at ageing refineries hampered by a lack of capital expenditure and interest in renewable energies has underpinned gasoline prices, said a trader from the oil trading desk at Arion, a $100 million hedge fund. But for gasoline to continue its rise against the price of crude oil, there needs to be a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, they said. Reuters Graphics The El Nino weather pattern, which disperses the winds that whip up into Atlantic hurricanes, may divert storms away from the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes anywhere else matter much less for energy prices, the trader said. Reporting by Nell Mackenzie, Additional reporting by Laura Sanicola in Washington; editing by Barbara Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Siemens cooperating with Austrian authorities in corruption probe 2023-08-08 - [1/2] The logo of German industrial group Siemens is seen at an office building in Zug, Switzerland December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Companies Siemens AG Follow VIENNA/MUNICH, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Siemens (SIEGn.DE) is cooperating with authorities in Austria on an investigation into allegations of possible corruption related to hospital building contracts. Several people are being investigated for serious fraud, the prosecutor's office in Feldkirch said on Tuesday, adding that the sums involved are believed to be less than 10 million euros ($10.99 million). Siemens said the investigation was based on information the company had provided to the public prosecutor's office in the course of an ongoing compliance investigation. "Siemens is cooperating fully with the authorities," the engineering company said, adding that it would not comment on ongoing investigations. Austrian prosecutors said that five people had been arrested as part of the investigation, with several house searches taking place last week. The prosecutor declined to confirm the name of companies or individuals involved. German newspaper Die Welt on Tuesday said the alleged fraud concerned a "criminal system" in which suspects used forged documents to enrich themselves. The allegations relate to inflated invoices for the delivery of building technology from Siemens' Smart Infrastructure division, the paper said, adding that the invoices were paid in connection with extensions and new buildings used by a public health operator in Vorarlberg. The operating company, known as Vorarlberger KHBG, said it believed it was one of several companies affected by the alleged fraud. "We are likely to have been overcharged over a long period of time," said supervisory board chairwoman Martina Ruescher in a statement. "The financial damage caused is considerable." The company, which runs five hospitals in Vorarlberg, said it was considering seeking damages from Siemens, as well as examining its entire internal accounting systems. (This story has been refiled to remove superfluous phrase 'been of' in paragraph 9) ($1 = 0.9098 euros) Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich in Vienna and Alexander Huebner in Munich Writing by John Revill Editing by Friederike Heine, Miranda Murray, David Goodman and Louise Heavens Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. stock futures slip after weak China data damps sentiment 2023-08-08 - U.S. stock futures were lower as markets displayed a cautious tone following weak China trade data. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 408 points, or 1.16%, to 35473, the S&P 500 increased 40 points, or 0.9%, to 4518, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 85 points, or 0.61%, to 13994. What’s driving markets A broad, though fairly mild, risk-off tone was enveloping global markets — and suppressing U.S. equity futures — after weak China trade data heightened concerns about a slowing global economy. China’s exports fell 14.5% for the year to July, the biggest decline since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, while imports slid 12.4%, worse than forecast. The news highlighted “that the world’s second biggest economy is being dragged lower by weakness in global demand and a domestic slowdown,” said Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank. Assets sensitive to China demand were hit, with industrial commodities like crude oil CL and copper HG00 lower. Shares in London-listed miners were under pressure. Perceived havens were firmer, with the dollar gaining ground and government bonds attracting buyers, pushing Treasury yields lower. Also weighing on sentiment was a possible downgrade by Moody’s of six major U.S. banks, adding to concerns about the fragility of the financial sector as it deals with the sharp rise interest rates since March 2022. Meanwhile, the second quarter earnings season continues, with UPS UPS, Barrick Gold GOLD, Eli Lilly LLY and Under Armour UAA before the bell, and Super Micro Computer SMCI, AMC Entertainment AMC and Lyft LYFT after the close among those presenting their numbers. U.S. economic updates set for release on Tuesday include the U.S. trade balance for June at 8:30 a.m. and the June wholesale inventories report at 10 a.m., both times Eastern. There will also be more Fedspeak, with Philadelphia Fed President Harker making comments at 8:15 a.m. and Richmond Fed President Barkin talking at 8:30 a.m.

If you want to avoid student loans, your parents better be willing to shell out 57% of the total price of college 2023-08-08 - Student loans are a trillion-dollar problem facing some 44 million federal student loan borrowers in the U.S., but this money accounts for only a small portion of the total cost of college. A much bigger portion comes directly out of the pockets of parents, according to the latest “How America Pays for College” study by student-loan lender Sallie Mae, and that burden hasn’t shifted in decades. “Parent income and savings always lead the pack. The numbers fluctuate here or there, but when it comes to paying for college, families consistently dip into their own pockets,” says Rick Castellano, vice president of corporate communications at Sallie Mae. This year’s report shows that parents pay the majority of college costs for those attending four-year public colleges, averaging $11,657 per year from their income and savings. Student borrowing, on the other hand, was $2,519 per year, and parent borrowing was $2,441. Sallie Mae For those attending four-year private colleges, the parental contribution averaged $13,168, and borrowing jumped to $5,239 for students and $2,933 for parents. At these institutions, scholarships and grants counted for more current dollars. But that may be just a displacement of spending for parents, too, because that “earned” money no doubt came on the back of years of piano lessons, club sports, SAT tutors and the like. “The planning doesn’t necessarily start in junior or senior year of high school,” says Castellano. “Some of that has to do with researching and finding scholarships and setting up appropriate extracurricular activities well in advance.” Borrowing is rarer than you think Sallie Mae There are some demographic differences between borrowers and non-borrowers, but the differences aren’t all that statistically significant, according to Jenny Berg, vice president at Ipsos, which administered the survey. The mean income of the families not borrowing is about $10,000 more than the families that borrow. But at the same time, non-borrowers were also more likely to attend two-year programs instead of four-year ones, so were spending much less. Only four out of 10 families borrow for college, and not every family borrows for every year of tuition, according to Sallie Mae. The study found that for the 2022-2023 academic year, 28% of families used student borrowing and 18% used parent borrowing, and only 5% used both at the same time. For those that weren’t borrowing, the money that made up the difference came out of parent spending. What parents can do Student loan repayments are getting most of the attention today, because the pause of federal loans lifts on Oct. 1. That isn’t likely to alleviate the parental tuition burden, but there are some self-help steps that families can take to alleviate the financial strain of paying for college. The first, notes Castellano, is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, even if you don’t think you qualify. The Sallie Mae survey found that only seven out of 10 families complete the form. “It’s the gateway to federal grants and aid,” he says. Ironically, while the Education Department is attempting to simplify the form, the rollout is causing more confusion than usual, because 72% of those surveyed don’t even know when the form is going to be available – including Castellano – because there’s no final date. The FAFSA moved to an Oct. 1 release in 2016, but this year it will be available sometime in December. The earlier you fill out the form the better, because some state aid is given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. Another parameter in parents’ control is where kids apply to college. Castellano suggests having an honest conversation about this as early as possible – even years ahead of any applications being due. And one thing to be clear about is who is paying for those student loans – some 44% of families never discuss this, according to Sallie mae. “You have to come into the process with eyes wide open. If you haven’t had that conversation and made a budget, no time like the present,” says Castellano. Perhaps most important, try to win some money outside of the college application process. Scholarships don’t have to just come from the college a student is going to attend. There are millions of dollars available for every possible interest group. “The last thing any family wants to do is leave free money on the table,” says Castellano. More from Beth Pinsker