LONDON (Reuters) – Global shares eased on Monday and the dollar hit a two-month high against a basket of currencies as markets counted down to a likely cut in U.S. interest rates this week, with much riding on whether the Federal Reserve signals yet more are t... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar clung to a two-month high against a basket of currencies in Asia on Monday after better-than-expected U.S. GDP data last week enhanced its yield attraction against rival currencies. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Surprisingly upbeat economic soundings from China lifted the global markets mood on Monday, pushing world shares toward an 18-month high and steering the Aussie dollar and copper upwards. Investors were waiting for a torrent of second-quarte... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission lowered its estimates on Wednesday for euro zone growth and inflation, saying uncertainty over U.S. trade policy posed a major risk to the bloc. In its quarterly economic forecasts, the European Union’s executive ar... More »
SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s fuel producers are making extended curbs to their output in the third quarter after supply from mammoth new refineries stoked an already-sizeable glut, potentially dragging on crude oil demand from the world’s biggest impo... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Crude prices were little changed on Monday as traders weighed geopolitical risks against the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war on the global economy, although last week’s better-than-expected U.S. jobs data offered some supprt. Brent crude fu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A truce in the trade war between the United States and China that pushed large-cap stocks to new record highs Monday does not appear to be enough to buoy the shares of small U.S. companies that are struggling under the weight of higher tar... More »
DALIAN, China (Reuters) – China’s economy is likely to hit its growth target this year provided a bitter trade dispute with the United States does not worsen, and hence will not need “very big” stimulus measures to prop up growth, a central bank adviser said o... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC and its allies look set to extend oil supply cuts this week at least until the end of 2019 as Iran joined top producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia in endorsing a policy aimed at propping up the price of crude amid a weakening global ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices rose over $2 a barrel on Monday as OPEC and its allies looked on track to extend supply cuts until at least the end of 2019 at their meeting in Vienna this week. Front-month Brent crude futures touched an intraday high of $66.75 a... More »
(Reuters) – European shares rose broadly on Monday with the STOXX 50 index hitting its highest level in 17 months, as investors piled into riskier assets after the United States and China agreed to restart trade negotiations after a long lull. President Donald... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Factory activity in the euro zone shrank faster last month than previously thought in a broad-based downturn, according to a survey on Monday that suggested there would be no quick turnaround. The downbeat data will likely add to calls for t... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Factory activity shrank in most Asian countries in June as the simmering U.S.-China trade conflict put further strains on the region’s manufacturing sector, keeping policymakers under pressure to deploy stronger steps to avert a global recess... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar was on the back foot on Monday after sustaining its biggest weekly drop in four months last week as traders remained cautious about the prospects of trade talks between the United States and China at this week’s G20 summit. The gr... More »
TOKYO/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Stock markets in Asia inched higher on Monday on hopes that U.S. and Chinese leaders will be able to get trade talks back on track this week, while oil prices bounced on political tensions between Tehran and Washington. European mar... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Mario Draghi’s dramatic Tuesday hints of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank has stabilized collapsing euro zone inflation expectations, but the departing ECB chief will struggle to calm market fears of Japan-style economic ... More »
(Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer of DoubleLine Capital, said on Thursday the odds of the United States sliding into a recession in the next six months have risen to 40-45% and the odds were 65% within the next year. Gundlach, who oversees ... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia said producer club OPEC and Russia should restrict supplies to current levels, while Washington’s withdrawal of a tariff threat against Mexico removed a cloud over the global economy. However, ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports unexpectedly returned to growth in May despite higher U.S. tariffs, but imports fell the most in nearly three years in a further sign of weak domestic demand that could prompt Beijing to step up stimulus measures. Some analy... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – After almost three years of successfully predicting a global economic revival, world bond markets are furiously flagging the risk of yet another recession, as well as low inflation for a generation. Spooked by the escalating U.S.-China trade... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors plowed a record $12.3 billion into investment grade bond funds and ditched equities over the past week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as worries over trade tensions and the world economy reinforced a run for safe-ha... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Factory activity contracted in most Asian countries last month as an escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing raised fears of a global economic downturn and heaped pressure on policymakers in the region and beyond to roll out m... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. stock futures, Asian share markets and oil prices slipped to multi-month lows on Monday on worries intensifying Sino-U.S. tensions and Washington’s new tariff threats against Mexico could tip the global economy into a recession. The E-mi... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday the global economic outlook is highly uncertain, and there are downside risks due to trade friction, China’s slowing economy and Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union. “There ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone banks are turning away from cross-border activity, putting at risk the bloc’s banking union and raising the risk of dangerous fragmentation, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday. With national ru... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global equities have seen outflows of $20.5 billion in the past week as “trade deal trauma” pushed more money into bonds, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, the latest sign of how growing global trade tensions are roiling financia... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Chinese yuan was set for its biggest drop in 10 months on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China while perceived safe-haven currencies such as the yen surged amid a broad-based rout for risky assets... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global equity markets edged higher on Tuesday as the Dow and S&P 500 indexes erased early lows caused by weak Chinese business surveys and a tumble in shares of Google parent Alphabet, while the euro strengthened on the heels of data that ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A jump in U.S. consumer spending propelled U.S. shares to a record high on Monday and global equities edged upwards, helping offset a weak euro zone sentiment survey and political uncertainty over Spain’s elections. Major U.S. indexes adva... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s central bank will keep interest rates on hold on Thursday, a Reuters poll showed, though some economists say a rate cut to bolster economic growth is coming – and one sees a possible trim next month. All 23 analysts in the poll ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares slipped on Monday, weighed down by underperforming Chinese stocks, while oil prices rallied on news the United States is likely to ask all importers of Iranian oil to end their purchases or face sanctions. Brent and U.S. crude fu... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar edged up against key peers such as the euro and the yen on Monday, boosted by the relative strength of the U.S. economy, while losing ground against the Canadian dollar following a rise in crude oil prices. Financial markets in Aus... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – It looks like something has to give in global markets. Stocks and bonds around the world have rallied atypically together since the start of the year, rewarding investors both bullish and bearish on the direction of global growth. The main... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Short positioning on European equities was the “most crowded trade” for the second straight month in April, a survey of fund managers by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found. Investors called bearish positions on Europe a crowded trade once a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Greece is looking to strike a deal this weekend to repay early about half of the loans it received from the International Monetary Fund, in a bid to lower the euro zone member’s burden of debt servicing, a senior official said on Friday.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An internal European Central Bank model indicates the euro zone’s economic growth could slow further in the second quarter, suggesting the projected recovery may be delayed even further, two sources familiar with the discussion said on F... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest lender UniCredit said it is among a group of banks accused of running a cartel in trading euro zone government bonds between 2007 and 2012, years when financial crises dragged down banks and several European countries. UniCred... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Mergers in Europe’s fragmented banking sector are necessary to make the sector more resilient as the euro zone seeks to protect itself from future crises, France’s finance minister told Reuters in an interview. Bruno Le Maire, who joined ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Investors ditched shares on Monday and fled to the safety of bonds as risk assets fell out of favor on growing fears of a U.S. recession, sending global yields plunging. The gloomy mood was expected to spread across Europe and U.S. markets, ... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s core inflation rate eased to a nine-month low in February, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will keep monetary policy unchanged when it meets next month. The core inflation rate was 1.5 percent on a year-on-year ... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – With downside risks looming and uncertainties rife, the U.S. Federal Reserve is prudent to wait for more economic data before deciding whether its next move will be to raise rates, or cut them, Chicago Fed Bank President Charles Evans sai... More »
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s blunt-force use of tariffs in pursuing his “America First” trade agenda has angered many, from company executives to allied governments and members of both parties of Congress. But there’s o... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple chief executive Tim Cook nudged China on Saturday to open up and said the future would depend on global collaboration, as the United States and China remained locked in a bitter trade dispute. “We encourage China to continue to open u... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone banking watchdogs said banks planning mergers should make sure they could be wound down in a crisis, a warning likely to resonate with executives seeking to merge German giants Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. The two lenders confi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fund managers have named bearish bets in European equities as the “most crowded” trade in Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s survey for the first time in its history, suggesting sentiment for one of the world’s most shunned markets may rise fro... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Having spent three years and more than 2.6 trillion euros ($3 trillion) trying to boost economic growth across the euro zone, the European Central Bank’s mixed record may open the door for a high-spending, radical alternative. With populist ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British companies look set to cut investment by the most in 10 years in 2019 because of Brexit, even if Prime Minister Theresa May gets a deal to ease the country out of the bloc, an employers group said on Monday. Business investment was fo... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s machinery orders fell in January at the fastest pace in four months as the U.S.-China tariff war hit global trade, knocking demand from the country’s auto and telecommunications equipment manufacturing sectors lower. The 5.4 percent d... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A plunge in car production drove an unexpected drop in German industrial output in January as the engine room of Europe’s largest economy, which narrowly avoided recession last year, stuttered amid trade friction and unease about Brexit. Ind... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s fourth round of cheap long-term loans targeted at banks may steer euro zone lenders away from a cliff edge in funding. But it is a symptom of, rather than a cure for, the bloc’s economic malaise that appears to... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank changed tack on its tightening plan on Thursday, pushing out the timing of its first post-crisis rate hike until 2020 at the earliest and offering banks a new round of cheap loans to help revive the euro zone eco... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi caught even dovish rate-setters off guard by pushing on Thursday for unexpectedly generous stimulus after forecasts showed a large drop in economic growth, four sources familiar with the discus... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is expected to give banks fresh long-term loans known as TLTROs to keep credit flowing to companies in the euro zone, in the hope that an already marked economic downturn will not be exacerbated by a sudden crunc... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Two months after ending its massive stimulus scheme, the European Central Bank faces growing pressure to address how it will protect the euro zone economy from a protracted slowdown. Thursday’s policy meeting, news conference, and updated ec... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The Australian dollar and the Chinese yuan inched up on hopes Washington and Beijing were close to a trade deal after a bitter year-long tariff dispute. Fuelling such expectations was a report from the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that said ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank has downplayed a global slowdown for months, but it will finally take a tentative step next week to prop up the euro zone economy, signaling fresh stimulus to keep banks lending. With a global trade war already b... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – High-grade euro zone debt remains scarce even though the European Central Bank has stopped its huge purchases of new bonds, intensifying concerns that banks will face future collateral shortages and highlighting the need for safe assets. The... More »
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Global funds recommended a bigger safety buffer in February, with cash holdings raised to their highest in more than three years and equity allocations cut to the lowest in nearly two, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. Many top equity in... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone headline consumer inflation slowed slightly in January because of a sharp deceleration of energy price growth, but core inflation watched closely by the European Central Bank in policy decisions edged slightly higher, data showed... More »
(Corrects Feb. 20 story to remove incorrect reference to sale of loans by Varde and Oakhill) By Jonathan Saul and Maiya Keidan LONDON (Reuters) – A growing number of hedge funds are moving into shipping debt, an asset class few have invested in before, looking... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in Beijing this week as Chinese and American negotiators try to hammer out a trade deal to ease a trade war and avert an increase in U.S. tariffs ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks fell for a third straight day on Friday, and were set for their first weekly loss in seven, as investors worried about a broadening global economic slowdown and the lack of any sign of a resolution to the U.S.-China trade row. ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A key euro zone banking supervision role is set to go unfilled for an indefinite time after ECB chief Mario Draghi failed to pick a successor in an unprecedented impasse at the crucial euro zone institution, sources familiar with the matt... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt have paid a relatively modest 380 million Swiss francs ($379 million) for fifth-generation wireless frequencies that will tighten their grip on the Swiss mobile market. The three were able to secure an attractively... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. central bankers are done raising domestic interest rates amid signals from Asia and Europe that global economic growth is sputtering, according to RBC Wealth Management’s lead fixed-income strategist. America’s nearly 10-year domestic... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Small-cap stocks were among the biggest losers during the stock market’s rout late last year as investors worried about high leverage, but they have outperformed in 2019’s rebounding market, with shares of debt-laden companies leading the ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S.-China trade talks will reach a pivotal phase this week when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He comes to Washington for negotiations with his U.S. counterparts, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven ... More »
