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☆ Euro nears nine-month peak as ECB hawks let fly
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Wayne Cole | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The euro crept ahead to $1.0870 and nearer its recent nine-month peak of $1.08875. It was aided by European Central Bank (ECB) governing council member Klaas Knot, who said interest rates would rise by 50 basis points in both February and March and continue climbing in the months after. Much the same argument goes for sterling, with markets wagering the Bank of England will hike by half a point to 4.0% at its policy meeting next week. Analysts assume the BOJ will stand the line until at least the next policy meeting in March, though one hurdle will be the expected naming of a new BOJ governor in February. For now, the dollar was holding at 129.40 yen , following last week's wild gyrations between 127.22 and 131.58.

☆ Morning bid: Who let the hawks out?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It's a good opportunity for policy hawks at the European Central Bank to get their message across. The ECB is likely to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in February and March and will continue to increase rates in the months after, ECB governing council member Klaas Knot said at the weekend. ECB chief Christine Lagarde meanwhile has reiterated the central bank will keep raising rates at a brisk pace to bring inflation down to its 2% target. Euro at nine-month highs vs dollarThe Bank of Canada, meanwhile, is expected to hike interest rates by 25 bps on Wednesday. Trade in U.S. stock futures suggested a flat open for Wall Street , , although the signals from other major stock markets boded well for U.S. trading later on.

☆ NBA roundup: Celtics run win string to nine by edging Raptors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Reserves Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon added 25 and 23 points for the Celtics. Gary Trent Jr. added 22 points, Precious Achiuwa had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Scottie Barnes scored 10 points. Jrue Holiday led Milwaukee with 28 points and 10 assists, while Bobby Portis Jr. had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Franz Wagner added 20 points, Paolo Banchero notched 15, and Wendell Carter Jr. went for 11 points and nine rebounds. Montrezl Harrell had 17 points and seven rebounds and Georges Niang also scored 17 points for the 76ers.

☆ NBA roundup: Lakers rally, end Grizzlies' 11-game win streak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Ja Morant scored 22 points while Brandon Clarke and Tyus Jones added 20 points each for the Grizzlies. Paul George chipped in 16 points and 12 assists, Marcus Morris Sr. scored 15 points and Ivica Zubac racked up 12 points and 16 rebounds. Murray finished with 29, going 14-for-25 from the field and adding 12 assists to record his sixth double-double of the season. Domantas Sabonis contributed 18 points, 14 assists and 14 rebounds as Sacramento notched its sixth straight victory, one shy of its season high. Gilgeous-Alexander also had seven assists but couldn't prevent the end of the Thunder's four-game winning streak.

Waller said he remained "cautious" about the path of inflation and expected it would take "continued tightening of monetary policy" to return the rate of price increases to the Fed's 2% target. That process seems to be underway, Waller said, all while the unemployment rate remains, at least so far, at a half-century low of 3.5%. The Fed used a series of aggressive-three-quarter point rate increases last year to push the target federal funds rate from near zero to a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. At the Fed's last meeting in December, however, policymakers eased the pace and approved just a half-point increase. While supporting the use of quarter point hikes, Waller did not indicate in his prepared remarks how much further he feels rates need to rise from here.

☆ NBA roundup: Grizzlies edge Cavs for 11th straight win
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Jaden McDaniels put up 18 points for the Timberwolves, who lost their second game in a row. Kevin Huerter scored 18 points for the Kings, who went down by 14 points in the first quarter before pushing ahead by halftime. Andrew Nembhard produced 18 points and seven assists for the Pacers, who have dropped five consecutive games. Murray was 12-for-18 from the field and added seven rebounds and four assists. Jalen Green matched his career high with 41 points and added seven assists for the Rockets, who lost their 12th game in a row.

☆ Australia to spend $2 billion on 40 U.S. Black Hawk choppers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Lewis Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Australia confirmed on Wednesday it would buy 40 Black Hawk military helicopters from the United States for an estimated A$2.8 billion ($1.96 billion), finalising a sale signed off by the U.S. State Department last August. The Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) UH-60M Black Hawks will replace the Army's fleet of MRH-90 Taipan choppers, which have been plagued for years by maintenance issues. "We're confident that we can get that from the Black Hawks. A 2021 decision to ditch French-made submarines for nuclear submarines to be built by the United States and Britain sparked a bitter diplomatic dispute with France. Australian industry will be involved in logistics, warehousing, engineering as well as the helicopter's global supply chain, said the Defence Department in a statement.

☆ NBA roundup: Jayson Tatum (51) guides Celtics past Hornets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Randle had 21 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the Knicks, who had their three-game winning streak end. Mikal Bridges tallied 21 points and seven assists to lead Phoenix, while Deandre Ayton added 18 points. Jazz 126, Timberwolves 125Jordan Clarkson hit a game-winning free throw with four seconds remaining and scored 21 points to lead Utah to a victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis. Kessler finished with 20 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, while Agbaji added 17 points off the bench, including nine in the fourth quarter. CJ McCollum scored 25 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Pelicans.

☆ NBA roundup: Joel Embiid, Sixers sink Jazz in final seconds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

NBA scoring leader Doncic had a season-worst 15 points -- 19 below his average -- to go with 10 assists and six rebounds. LaMelo Ball's 31 points led the Hornets, while Terry Rozier posted 21 points and P.J. Mason Plumlee added nine points and 16 rebounds. Murray came back with four straight points. Naz Reid's 17 points and Jaylen Nowell's 16 points paced the Minnesota reserves, who combined to outscore the Cleveland bench by a 29-point margin.

A high school football coach in Texas was taken off the job this week after multiple student-athletes had to be hospitalized following a strenuous off-season workout, officials said. Rockwall-Heath HS coach John Harrell was put on paid administrative leave on Tuesday following the workout a week ago Friday that led to player hospitalizations, Rockwall Independent School District representative Renae Murphy said in a statement to NBC News on Friday. Harrell is also athletic coordinator at Rockwall-Heath HS, which is about 25 miles northeast of downtown Dallas. He was named head varsity coach in January 2022 and the Hawks went 7-5 in his season at the helm. The Hawks' final game of the season was a 52-7 loss to DeSoto HS in the 6A DII playoffs on Nov. 17.

☆ Poland, Lithuania want nuclear curbs in new EU sanctions on Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustrations/File PhotoBRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Poland and Lithuania want the European Union to impose restrictions on Russia's nuclear sector as part of new sanctions against Moscow and Minsk for the war in Ukraine, senior diplomats from the two EU countries said on Friday. They said the 10th EU package of sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine should be ready in time for the first anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24. They wanted new sanctions against Russia's ally Belarus, where they said loopholes allowed it to bypass European sanctions against Moscow in trading goods including furniture. They proposed that Rosatom and/or its leadership be blacklisted as a first step that should then lead to winding down cooperation in the EU with Russia's nuclear industry. The senior diplomats said they would also try again to end Belgium's diamond trade with Russia through new EU sanctions and expand bans on trade in goods that can be used for military purposes.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, center, with soldiers in what they said was a salt mine in Soledar, Ukraine in this image released on Jan. 11. By contrast, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed that Soledar had fallen to Russian forces or mentioned the Wagner group’s involvement in attempts to take it. Russia has consistently denied the involvement of the Wagner Group in its official military operations. Prigozhin during the funeral of Wagner group fighter near St. Petersburg, on Christmas Eve. To date, the hawks have been far louder than the pragmatists, and a chorus of hard-right bloggers have excoriated Russia’s military performance, while television pundits have called for a tougher approach.

☆ Polish central banker Kotecki says no room for rate cut this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Double-digit inflation in Poland leaves no room for loosening monetary policy this year but interest rates will not rise further, central banker Ludwik Kotecki told Reuters. Kotecki said even talking about lower rates at the moment risked weakening the impact of monetary policy. Kotecki's views follow comments last week by Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski, who said he remained hopeful a rate cut could happen this year, despite still rising inflation rates. The MPC has de facto ended the hike cycle, although formally it is in a phase of monetary policy tightening. Talking about rate cuts at the moment is, in my opinion, a communication error," that weakens the impact of monetary policy, he said.

☆ Explainer: Washington creeps toward a debt catastrophe, again
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - An expected showdown between President Joe Biden's Democrats and a newly minted Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives over the debt ceiling is threatening to push Washington to the brink of a debt crisis. WHAT'S THE DEBT CEILING? IS THE DEBT CEILING GOOD FOR ANYTHING? Others argue the debt ceiling itself violates the U.S. Constitution. In a 2011 showdown, House Republicans successfully used the debt ceiling to extract sharp limits on discretionary spending from Democratic President Barack Obama.

☆ Explainer: Washington edges closer to debt ceiling deadline
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WHAT IS THE DEBT CEILING? IS THE DEBT CEILING GOOD FOR ANYTHING? Few counties in the world have debt ceiling laws and Washington's periodic lifting of the borrowing limit merely allows it to pay for spending Congress has already authorized. Others argue the debt ceiling itself violates the U.S. Constitution. In a 2011 showdown, House Republicans successfully used the debt ceiling to extract sharp limits on discretionary spending from Democratic President Barack Obama.

☆ NBA roundup: Bucks survive scare, finally solve Hawks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Jaren Jackson Jr. (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Steven Adams (11 points, 18 rebounds) recorded double-doubles. Jakob Poeltl (17 points, 12 rebounds) added his ninth double-double of the season. Bojan Bogdanovic supplied 27 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Killian Hayes had 18 points and nine assists. Jaden Ivey contributed 18 points and eight assists and Hamidou Diallo also scored 18 points. Immanuel Quickley scored 11 points off the bench for the Knicks, who have won five of their last six games overall.

☆ Russia appoints new ground forces chief despite hawks' disapproval
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Russia has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country's ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine. Lapin, previously commander of Russia's central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub. On Oct. 8, Russia named Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of its forces in Ukraine, shortly after the reported sacking of the commanders of the Eastern and Western military districts. Kadyrov said Lapin should be stripped of his medals and sent to the front with a gun to wash away his shame with blood. Prigozhin backed Kadyrov's comments, saying: "All these bastards should be sent barefoot to the front with automatic guns."

☆ I'm a 24-year-old virtual assistant making $8,000 a month. Here's how I built my business and find clients.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She shared her experience building a virtual-assistant business and finding clients. There, she came across a video posted by Jessica Hawks, a virtual assistant and business coach, explaining the virtual-assistant business model and how she'd made six figures doing what she loved. "I can't even express how far I've come into my business and how much it's grown," Carrasquillo said. "I would've never imagined it, knowing that it all came from a single TikTok that I saw." I think finding a business coach was a huge stepping stone in building my business.

☆ NBA roundup: Nets sneak by Heat in final seconds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The Nets, who have won 14 of their past 15 games, also got 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks from Nic Claxton. 76ers 123, Pistons 111James Harden delivered a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, Tyrese Maxey had 23 points and visiting Philadelphia rolled past Detroit. Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points, Fred VanVleet had 14 points and seven assists and O.G. Anfernee Simons added 22 points, Josh Hart had 18 points, Jusuf Nurkic had 14 points and 18 rebounds and Jerami Grant also scored 14 points for Portland. Luguentz Dort added 18 points for the Thunder.

☆ NBA roundup: Hornets come out firing, blow out Bucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 26 points and Tobias Harris had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Romeo Langford added 15 points for San Antonio, with Malaki Branham hitting for 14 and Jeremy Sochan 10. Daniel Gafford had 15 points and nine rebounds, and Kristaps Porzingas added 14 points and 10 rebounds. John Wall had 14 points and eight assists, and Moses Brown produced 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bam Adebayo recorded 21 points and 11 rebounds and Jimmy Butler added 20 points and six assists for the Heat.

☆ Exclusive: TikTok freezes hiring for U.S. security deal as opposition mounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Echo Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Jan 6 (Reuters) - TikTok has stopped a hiring process for consultants that would help it implement a potential security agreement with the United States, according to two people familiar with the matter, as opposition to such a deal among U.S. officials grows. As part of these negotiations, TikTok has been putting together a program to assure the U.S. government that it would comply with their security agreement. In its explanation to consultants for the move, TikTok cited "recent developments", without elaborating, one of the sources said. A spokeswoman for TikTok confirmed that the company had paused the hiring process for third-party security vendors because CFIUS has not yet approved the security agreement. TikTok had hoped it would have reached a deal with the U.S. government by now, the spokeswoman added.

The longer that job market strength persists, the more Fed officials may feel compelled to break it with ever-higher interest rates. "I don't think we can understate the importance of labor market outcomes," Duy wrote. Reuters Graphics'SURGE PRICING'The job market has befuddled central bankers during the COVID-19 pandemic as much as inflation. Early expectations that a flood of workers back into the labor market would ease wage and hiring conditions proved optimistic. Officials then expected inflation to rise for any number of reasons, from the Fed's own massive bond purchases to a steadily falling unemployment rate.

☆ Morning Bid: New year, same ol' Fed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Much has happened since that Fed meeting in December, with China taking further steps to dismantle its "zero-COVID" policy and the Bank of Japan shocking the market by widening the range for its 10-year bond yield cap. What has not changed is the market's desire (hope, even) for the Fed to pivot away from its monetary tightening path. When the Fed raised interest rates by 50 bps last month, after four straight 75-bps hikes, it stressed that rates may need to remain higher for longer to tame sticky inflation. Markets, though, are pricing in rate cuts for late 2023. The U.S. dollar is swaying after spiking 1% overnight, while oil slid some more after diving 4% on Tuesday.

☆ Dollar steady as investors await economic data, Fed minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was mostly flat on Tuesday as investors awaited slew of economic data this week along with minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting that will shed light on the Central bank's thinking around interest rates and inflation. The index rose 8% last year in its biggest annual jump since 2015 on the back of the Fed raising interest rates to tackle inflation. The dollar is likely to consolidate as "market activity gradually picks up this week," said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC Bank in Singapore. After delivering four consecutive 75 basis points hikes, the U.S. Central Bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points last month. The minutes of the December meeting is due to be released on Wednesday, with investors looking for cues on what path the Fed is likely to take in 2023.

☆ Biden signs TikTok ban for government devices amid security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

President Joe Biden approved a limited TikTok ban Thursday when he signed the 4,126-page spending bill into law. The ban prohibits the use of TikTok by the federal government’s nearly 4 million employees on devices owned by its agencies, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes. Since 2020, a bubbling movement led largely by conservatives has maintained a minor interest in a TikTok ban. “We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices — a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests — rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” the company said in a statement. It added that the proposed security agreement with the Biden administration would address the security concerns of lawmakers and regulators.

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