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☆ Japan slammed by torrential rain as tropical storm nears
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TOKYO, June 2 (Reuters) - Parts of Japan were slammed by torrential rain on Friday as Tropical Storm Mawar neared, with authorities advising more than a million people to evacuate, many flights and other transport cancelled and power outages in thousands of homes. Mawar, which wreaked havoc on Guam earlier this week, has weakened to a tropical storm from its earlier super typhoon status. Shinkansen bullet train service was halted from Tokyo to Osaka, western Japan, as well as some other parts of the nation, NHK public broadcaster reported. Similar weather patterns have caused flooding and landslides in the past, most notably in the summer of 2018, when more than 200 people were killed in western Japan. Though heavy summer rains are not uncommon in Japan, June is unusually early for a typhoon-type storm to near the islands.

Persons: Mawar, Hirokazu Matsuno, Elaine Lies, Mayu Sakoda, Kaori Kaneko, Shri Navaratnam, Lincoln, Frances Kerry Organizations: Disaster Management Agency, Transport Ministry, NHK, Toyota, JMA, Japan Meteorological Agency, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, Okinawa, Guam, Honshu, Wakayama prefecture, Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi prefecture, Shizuoka prefecture, Shikoku

☆ Several top House Democrats want to get rid of the debt ceiling and economic 'hostage taking'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

House Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agreed to cut spending. Many progressive and moderate Democrats want to repeal the debt ceiling to prevent more brinkmanship. "For many, many, many years, people recognized that Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass a clean debt ceiling. "We need to pass the bill to eliminate the debt ceiling limit." Raskin reiterated an argument that the 14th Amendment could be used to eliminate the debt ceiling.

Persons: —, Pramila Jayapal, Kevin McCarthy, Joe Biden, shutdowns, we've, Rep, Teresa Leger Fernández, Jamie Raskin, Raskin, Lincoln, Shri Thanedar, Jayapal, Dan Kildee, Kildee, Jeff Jackson of Organizations: Service, House Republicans, Democrats, Senate, Republicans, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Washington State, Republican, US, Democrat, New, Maryland, Democratic, Rep, Michigan, New Democrat Coalition Locations: New Mexico, United States, California, Denmark, Jeff Jackson of North Carolina

[1/2] Staff members work at a packing section at a garment factory in Colombo after the International Monetary Fund's executive board approved a $3 billion bailout for Sri Lanka. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) cut its standing deposit facility rate and standing lending facility rate to 13% and 14%, respectively, from 15.5% and 16.5% previously. The central bank raised rates by a record 950 basis points last year to tame inflation and by 100 bps on March 3 this year. "There is a need to bring the interest rates down because the cost of government financing is high," said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at equity research firm CAL. Sri Lanka secured a $2.9 billion bailout from the IMF in March and aims to complete restructuring debt talks by September, coinciding with the first review by the lender.

Persons: Dinuka, Udeeshan Jonas, Uditha Jayasinghe, Swati Bhat, Shri Navaratnam, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Staff, Monetary Fund's, Sri, REUTERS, Central Bank of Sri, Colombo, Monetary Fund, Reuters, CAL, Thomson Locations: Colombo, Sri Lanka, Lanka's, Central Bank of Sri Lanka

☆ Former Australian SAS veteran loses defamation case over reports of Afghan execution
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The ruling marks a win for media outlets seeking greater accountability for Australia's military, typically bound by confidentiality. A 2020 report found credible evidence that members of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) killed dozens of unarmed prisoners in the lengthy Afghan war. Roberts-Smith sued the papers for portraying him as someone who "broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement". The papers had reported that Roberts-Smith pressured a lower-ranking Australian soldier to execute an elderly, unarmed Afghan to "blood the rookie", said Judge Besanko, adding they proved that account true. "This case is an important reminder that we need courageous public interest journalism to help us get there."

Persons: Ben Roberts, Smith, Anthony Besanko, Roberts, Judge Besanko, James Chessell, Chessell, Arthur Moses, Besanko, inadvertentely, Fiona Nelson, Byron Kaye, Shri Navaratnam, Michael Perry Organizations: SYDNEY, SAS, Australia's Special Air Service Regiment, China, Victoria Cross, Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, Nine Entertainment Co, Australian Centre for International, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Afghanistan, Afghan, Australian, Australia

The easiest trade of the year is fizzling, and the lost momentum is keeping investors' money out. "I will not put any more money into stocks until all my losses are recovered," he said. Interviews with a dozen more small investors showed the sentiment to be reasonably widespread. Brokerage account creation, while volatile, likewise dropped off in April after promising momentum in February and March, China Securities Depository and Clearing data showed. "It is as if stocks are losing faith in the China recovery story," said Grow Investment Group chief economist Hong Hao.

"We expect inflation to quite clearly slow below 2%" toward the middle of the current fiscal year, Ueda told parliament. "Inflation is likely to rebound thereafter ... though there is high uncertainty" on the outlook, he added. Positive signs included a likely big increase in pay in this year's annual wage negotiations, which could help shake off Japan's deflationary mindset. The BOJ will review its quarterly growth and inflation forecasts at the July 27-28 policy meeting. Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman & Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The easiest trade of the year is fizzling, and the lost momentum is keeping investors' money out. Interviews with a dozen more small investors showed the sentiment to be reasonably widespread. Brokerage account creation, while volatile, likewise dropped off in April after promising momentum in February and March, China Securities Depository and Clearing data showed. "It is as if stocks are losing faith in the China recovery story," said Grow Investment Group chief economist Hong Hao. China's April industrial output and retail sales growth undershot forecasts as the recovery turned wobbly.

Persons: Eric Yu, Yi Huiman, Hong Hao, Wang Zaizheng, Chi Lo, Hayden Briscoe, Meng, Jason Xue, Winni Zhou, Tom Westbrook, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: China Securities Regulatory, JPMorgan, China Securities Depository, Mutual, Grow Investment Group, Management, UBS Asset Management, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, China's, Shanghai, China, United States, Hong Kong, Asia, Pacific, Singapore

HANOI, May 30 (Reuters) - Samsung and other foreign companies are pushing Vietnam to introduce a multi-million-dollar reform that would compensate them for higher levies they face from next year under a global overhaul of tax rules, a source involved in the talks said. The discussions precede the introduction from January of a minimum tax rate of 15% for large multinationals under a landmark global reform led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The global rule requires companies paying less in a low-tax jurisdiction to face a top-up levy in their home country. Samsung's tax rate varies by district, and ranged between 5.1% and 6.2% in 2019 in the two northern provinces where it produces smartphones, according to government data cited by local media. Smaller companies that are not within the scope of the new global rules may also receive handouts, the source said.

[1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) before a summit with presidents of South America to discuss the re-launching of the regional cooperation bloc UNASUR, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 29, 2023. "We won't decide anything at tomorrow's meeting, it is just about discussing possibilities," Lula told a news conference on Monday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first visit to Brazil in eight years. Lula said the leaders did not have to recreate a new Unasur but could come up with a different sort of organization. Maduro is hoping the South American countries will unite in calling on the United States to lift its sanctions against Venezuela, which he and Lula assailed at their news conference. "The aim of this initiative is to unite all the countries of the region once again," she told reporters on Friday.

[1/2] The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, May 26, 2023. U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reached a tentative deal on Saturday to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, aiming to stop the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. The deal is expected to provide only short-term relief for markets, as worries linger about inflation and further rate increases. European stock indexes initially opened higher, then faltered, with Europe's STOXX 600 down 0.1% on the day (.STOXX). If the debt ceiling deal passes through Congress, then market attention will return to the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans for rates, according to Samy Chaar, chief economist at Lombard Odier.

☆ Stocks rise on US debt ceiling deal but China drags
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Stella Qiu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% while Nasdaq futures firmed 0.5%. After weeks of negotiations, congressional Republican McCarthy and Biden agreed on Saturday to avert an economically destabilising default by suspending the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until 2025. In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.2%, with falls in Chinese and Hong Kong shares offsetting gains seen elsewhere. U.S. shares rallied at the end of last week on hopes of a debt ceiling deal and bets on artificial intelligence firms. Elsewhere in the currency markets, the dollar index - a measure of the greenback against its major peers - was a touch lower at 104.17 as risk-sensitive currencies staged a rebound.

☆ AMP names Blair Vernon as CFO, dissolves Australian wealth management structure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 29 (Reuters) - Australia's AMP (AMP.AX) said on Monday Blair Vernon will take over from Peter Fredricson as its chief financial officer and will dissolve the structure of its local wealth management arm in a bid to simplify its operational model. Shares of the 174-year-old wealth manager traded 1.4% higher as at 0224 GMT, marking their second straight session of gains. The move comes as assets under management at AMP's flagship Australian wealth management (AWM) unit fell about 13% to A$124.2 billion ($84.24 billion) for the year ended Dec. 31, affected by the decline in investment markets, and net cash outflows of A$5.3 billion. The company will also dissolve the AWM CEO role as part of its simplified structure, resulting in the current chief Scott Hartley leaving the Australian wealth manager in six months. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)Reporting by Navya Mittal and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sherry Jacob-Phillips & Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Asian shares, US futures rise on debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Stella Qiu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The positive news lifted S&P 500 futures 0.2% in Asia while Nasdaq futures firmed 0.4%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) gained 0.3%, after a 1.1% drop the previous week. Two-year yields hit a 2-1/2 month high of 4.6390% on Friday on markets bets of higher Federal Reserve rates for longer. U.S. shares rallied at the end of last week on hopes of a debt ceiling deal and on optimism about artificial intelligence. However, it is still not too far from a two month high hit on Friday.

☆ NZ central bank to hike by 25 bps, risk grows of higher peak for rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Yet, while back in February the RBNZ forecast the cash rate would peak at 5.5%, a growing minority of economists expect a further tightening is possible in July. Four economists in a Reuters poll of 21 economists now expect the cash rate to reach 5.75 or higher. Fourteen expect rates to hold at 5.50% next quarter. After the April surprise, markets remain wary of another outsized 50-basis-point rate hike this week. The money market is now pricing 39 basis points of hikes, up from 20 basis points last week.

☆ Academics weigh in on how BOJ's Ueda can exit easy policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

At the meeting on Monday, Ueda - himself a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-educated academic - said the BOJ will maintain ultra-loose policy as it would take time for inflation to sustainably hit its 2% target, the minutes showed. Keeping long-term interest rates low for too long would also expose Japan to speculative market attack, Kiyotaki said. University of Tokyo professor Tsutomu Watanabe said Japan's inflation expectations have heightened to levels close to those in the United States and Europe, the minutes showed. But Shinichi Fukuda, also an University of Tokyo academic, said achieving wage growth alone won't fix economic woes. "Japan is no longer in a state of deflation thanks to the BOJ's extraordinary monetary easing.

☆ US dollar advances to seven-week peak after data, debt ceiling hopes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Another piece of data indicated a milder-than-expected fall in a business index to -10.4 from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. The dollar index touched a new seven-week high of 103.38, and was last up 0.5% at 103.34 after the economic numbers. Against the yen, the dollar rose to a fresh five-month peak of 138.39 after the data and was last up 0.5% at 138.35 . Traders are pricing in around a 20% chance that the Federal Reserve raises its interest rate at its June meeting. The focus was also on debt ceiling talks.

☆ Debt ceiling hopes lift dollar to seven-week peak
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Samuel Indyk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar hit a seven-week peak on Thursday after President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy worked towards avoiding a damaging debt default, while investors scaled back Federal Reserve easing expectations. Biden and McCarthy on Wednesday underscored their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, having agreed a day earlier to negotiate directly after a months-long standoff. "In the short-term, the debt ceiling is win-win for the dollar," said Viraj Patel, global macro strategist at Vanda Research. "If it gets worse, you're going to see a global hard landing and you will want to be owning dollars. Traders are pricing in around a 20% chance that the Federal Reserve raises its interest rate at its June meeting.

Biden and McCarthy on Wednesday underscored their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, having agreed a day earlier to negotiate directly after a months-long standoff. "In the short-term, the debt ceiling is win-win for the dollar," said Viraj Patel, global macro strategist at Vanda Research. Traders are pricing in around a 20% chance that the Federal Reserve raises its interest rate at its June meeting. The dollar index firmed 0.2% to 103.08, near Wednesday's seven-week peak of 103.12. Elsewhere, the dollar rose to a ten-week high of 137.89 yen , extending Wednesday's nearly 1% gain against the Japanese currency.

☆ Dollar firms on optimism over US debt ceiling talks, Aussie down after jobs data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar held near a seven-week peak on Thursday, after President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy worked towards avoiding a damaging debt default, while the Aussie dollar slipped after disappointing jobs data. Biden and McCarthy on Wednesday underscored their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, having agreed a day earlier to negotiate directly after a months-long standoff. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar index firmed near its seven-week peak hit in the previous session, and last stood at 102.86. "We got some positive headlines over the debt ceiling negotiations ... so that obviously supported market sentiment," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The Japanese yen last bought 137.50 per dollar, having fallen nearly 1% on Wednesday.

☆ Japan visitors rise to nearly 2 mln in April after China eases travel curbs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) - Visitors to Japan rose to a post-pandemic high of almost 2 million in April, official data showed on Wednesday, benefiting from a relaxation of travel restrictions in China. The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure climbed to 1.95 million last month from 1.82 million in March, the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) said. Arrivals were still down 33% from April 2019, before pandemic travel curbs were adopted the next year. China last month eased outbound travel restrictions that had cut off a lucrative flow of visitors during the pandemic. A record 9.5 million Chinese visitors landed in Japan in 2019, a third of all visitors.

☆ Dollar edges lower after US retail sales data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] A picture illustration shows U.S. 100-dollar bank notes taken in Tokyo August 2, 2011. REUTERS/Yuriko NakaoTOKYO, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slipped on Tuesday after data showed retail sales in April came in lower than expected, backing expectations that the Federal Reserve will pause raising rates next month. The dollar index was last down 0.1% at 102.33Reporting by Kevin Buckland Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] British Pound and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken March 10, 2023. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six main peers, was down 0.14% at 102.29, having reached 102.75 in early trading on Monday, its highest since April 10. "With all of that, do you really want to buy a lot of risky assets this year?" The weak Chinese data was also weighing on the Australian dollar which dropped as much as 0.5% to $0.6665. The dollar also gained on China's offshore yuan , rising to as much as 6.981, its highest since March 10.

[1/2] British Pound and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken March 10, 2023. Broader factors are also weighing on the pound as well, said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank: "A lot of the better news for sterling is already in the price. "With all of that, do you really want to buy a lot of risky assets this year?" The weak Chinese data was also weighing on the Australian dollar which dropped as much as 0.5% to $0.6665. The dollar also gained on China's offshore yuan , rising to as much as 6.9795, its highest since March 10.

☆ Dollar weighed down by US default risks; Aussie, yuan hurt by weak China data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. dollar index - which measures the currency against a basket of six major peers - was little changed at 102.47. "The interesting thing is the dollar is weak, and usually when there's risk off, people buy the dollar," he said. The euro , which has the greatest weight in the dollar index, was little changed at $1.0870 on Tuesday, after bouncing off a five-week low overnight. The Australian dollar , which is not part of the dollar index, erased small early gains ahead of Chinese retail sales and industrial production data, then sank after the release. The dollar gained 0.2% to 6.9723 yuan in the offshore market , after touching 6.9749 on Monday for the first time since March 10.

☆ FOREX Dollar heavy amid U.S. default risks; Aussie, yuan slip on China data miss
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Westpac sees the potential for the dollar index to drop to around 101.05 in the near term. The euro , which has the greatest weight in the dollar index, was little changed at $1.0873 on Tuesday, after bouncing off a five-week low overnight. The offshore Chinese yuan weakened towards a two-month low. The dollar gained 0.14% to 6.9674 yuan, after touching 6.9749 on Monday for the first time since March 10. (This story has been corrected to say the dollar index retreated from 5-week high, not 5-month high, in paragraph 3.)

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