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☆ Brent oil lower amid stronger dollar, caution ahead of Fed minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Brent crude benchmark opened slightly lower on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and traders waited for cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes, after optimism over demand amid tightening supplies drove prices higher on Monday. Brent crude was down 59 cents, or 0.5%, at $83.57 a barrel on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for March, which expires on Tuesday, was up 78 cents, or 1.02%, at $77.12 at 0146 GMT. "The U.S. dollar strengthened and pressed on the oil price in the Asian session today, causing a pullback in the oil markets from yesterday's rebound," said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets. Russia plans to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day, equating to about 5% of its output, in March after the West imposed price caps on Russian oil and oil products.

☆ Oil prices little changed, nurse last week's losses on improved supplies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Florence Tan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The benchmarks closed lower by about 4% last week after the United States reported higher crude and gasoline inventories. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates which could strengthen the dollar also capped oil prices. China is the world's largest crude oil importer. China, along with India, have become top buyers of Russian crude following the European Union embargo. India's Russian oil imports hit a record 1.4 million barrels per day in January, trade data showed.

☆ 'Reality' recreates fateful day for U.S. whistleblower in Berlinale premiere
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Cast members Marchant Davis, Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton and Director Tina Satter attend a photo call to promote the movie 'Reality' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 18, 2023. Director Tina Satter aims to change that with the movie "Reality," a 85-minute re-enactment of the day FBI agents came to Winner's house based off the transcript of the audio they recorded which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday. Winner's sister and mother also attended the premiere, prompting a burst of applause from the crowded theatre. "After spending time speaking with her, I wanted to make sure that I captured her as much as possible," said Sweeney. "I hope that they see this moment in a woman's life, that it was a really hard decision to make, and to not reduce Reality to just a headline," she added.

[1/2] Word "Oil" and stock graph are seen through magnifier displayed in this illustration taken September 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FilesFeb 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices were on track for weekly losses of 2.5% as strong U.S. economic data heightened concerns that the Federal Reserve would further tighten monetary policy to tackle inflation, a move that could hit fuel demand. Data showed that the U.S. producer price index (PPI) rose 0.7% in January, after declining 0.2% in December. "Crude oil prices were also lower due to risk-off trades following the selloff on Wall Street following the PPI data and a strong U.S. dollar," Teng said. Oil prices have seesawed over the past weeks between fears of a recession hitting the United States amid inflation-fighting rate hikes and hopes for a pick-up in demand in China, the world's top oil importer.

[1/2] Word "Oil" and stock graph are seen through magnifier displayed in this illustration taken September 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FilesFeb 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices were on track for weekly losses as strong U.S. economic data heightened concerns that the Federal Reserve would further tighten monetary policy to tackle inflation, a move that could hit fuel demand even as crude stockpiles grow. Data showed that the U.S. producer price index (PPI) rose 0.7% in January, after declining 0.2% in December. "Crude oil prices were also lower due to risk-off trades following the selloff on Wall Street following the PPI data and a strong U.S. dollar," Teng said. Oil prices have seesawed over the past weeks between fears of a recession hitting the United States amid inflation-fighting rate hikes and hopes for a pick-up in demand in China, the world's top oil importer.

☆ Binance reportedly had secret access to its US arm's bank account
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The US partner of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has confirmed that a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao operated as a market maker on its platform. It did not elaborate on when in 2021 the activity ceased, or comment on Zhao’s role at the trading firm. A spokesperson for Binance.US referred CNN to its Thursday tweet, emphasizing the line that reads: “ONLY Binance.US employees have access to Binance.US bank accounts. Before that story’s publication, Binance.US had told Reuters that “Merit Peak is neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform,” without giving further details. Adobe StockBinance.US’s executives were concerned by the outflows from the Silvergate account to Merit Peak because the transfers were taking place without their knowledge, according to the messages reviewed by Reuters.

☆ Dollar jumps to six-week high on higher rate expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The dollar surged on Friday to hit a six-week high against a basket of currencies as a bout of resilient economic data out of the United States raised market expectations that more interest rate hikes were in the offing. The latest data releases gave the U.S. dollar a leg up, knocking sterling to a fresh six-week low of $1.1952 on Friday. Similarly, the kiwi tumbled to a six-week trough of $0.6228, while the euro bottomed at $1.0652, its lowest since Jan. 9. Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index rose to a fresh six-week top of 104.31 and was on track for a third straight week of gains. U.S. Treasury yields have also surged on the back of further hawkish rate repricing, with the two-year yields last at 4.6762%.

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. partner of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has confirmed that a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao operated as a market maker on its platform. It did not elaborate on when in 2021 the activity ceased, or comment on Zhao's role at the trading firm. Binance transferred over $400 million from the account at California-based Silvergate Bank to Merit Peak between January and March of 2021, Reuters reported on Thursday. Before that story's publication, Binance.US had told Reuters that "Merit Peak is neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform," without giving further details. A spokesperson for the global Binance exchange, which did not respond to Reuters' questions for the story on Thursday, told crypto news outlet CoinDesk that the transfers were "a Binance.US issue."

☆ Designer Michael Kors celebrates power of women with new collection
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] A model presents a creation from the Michael Kors spring summer 2023 collection during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 14, 2022. REUTERS/Caitlin OchsNEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Michael Kors celebrated women who inspired him at his New York Fashion Week show on Wednesday, designing his collection with Tina Turner, Jane Fonda and Yoko Ono in mind. Kors put a twist on evening wear by designing sleek jumpsuits and evening gowns with daring cut-outs. I fell in love with women who were very inspiring to me at the time," said Kors. I think it's a nice alternative to black and warm, and people look so great in it," Kors said.

☆ Scottish politics are in turmoil, but it's small fry for the pound
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Naomi Rovnick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Any prospect of Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom used to have momentous implications for U.K. markets. The lack of any discernable reaction in the pound, gilts or London blue-chips to the resignation on Wednesday of pro-independence Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon's resignation showed. "Ten years ago it was a real risk, it was quite close," said Jon Day, global bond portfolio manager at UK-based asset manager Newton Investment Management. Reuters GraphicsThe Scottish independence discourse "doesn't have much of an impact on the pound these days", said George Brown, economist at fund manager Schroders. The U.K. market chaos following former Prime Minister Liz Truss's badly received mini-budget collided with heightened anxiety among investors in general as the U.S. Fed raised interest rates.

☆ Oil prices fall on U.S. crude reserve release
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OPEC+ has recently hinted it could impose deeper output cuts to spur a recovery in crude prices. Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the U.S. government said it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as mandated by lawmakers, defying expectations from some traders that the release could be canceled or delayed. Brent crude futures fell by 70 cents, or 0.81%, to $85.91 per barrel by 0256 GMT, while U.S. crude futures fell by 93 cents, or 1.16%, to $79.21 per barrel. "Any higher-than-expected data may cause a renewed sell-off in risk assets, including oil," Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets said. "Oil is on the defensive and it could get uglier if inflation proves to be harder to tame," OANDA's Moya said.

☆ Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Bacharach was both an innovator and throwback, and his career seemed to run parallel to the rock era. He was an eight-time Grammy winner, a prize-winning Broadway composer for "Promises, Promises" and a three-time Oscar winner. Fellow songwriter Sammy Cahn liked to joke that the smiling, wavy-haired Bacharach was the first composer he ever knew who didn't look like a dentist. Bacharach was essentially a pop composer, but his songs became hits for country artists (Marty Robbins), rhythm and blues performers (Chuck Jackson), soul (Franklin, Luther Vandross) and synth-pop (Naked Eyes). He's everybody's composer ... Burt Bacharach!"

☆ Dollar rally pauses ahead of Powell speech; Aussie lifted by hawkish RBA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six rivals, made a brief breach of Monday's one-month highs, and was last trading at 103.52, roughly flat on the day. Sterling was last 0.1% higher against the dollar at $1.20275, after tumbling to a one-month low of $1.2006 in the previous session. In Asia, the Japanese yen attempted to make back Monday's losses, with the dollar-yen pair down 0.6% at $131.78, moving away from Monday's one-month low of 132.90 per dollar. A newspaper report on Monday said Japan's government has sounded out Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya to succeed incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda as central bank governor. Reporting by Rae Wee and Susan Mathew; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Kenneth Maxwell and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Dollar pauses bullish run; Aussie jumps after RBA rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Australian dollar, meanwhile, surged in the aftermath of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) interest rate decision, rising as much as 1% to an intra-day high of $0.6952. The RBA on Tuesday raised its cash rate by an expected 25 basis points, and signalled further rate hikes ahead. Sterling was last 0.27% higher at $1.2054, after tumbling to a one-month low of $1.2006 in the previous session. U.S. Treasury yields have risen on the back of higher rate expectations, with two-year yields touching a one-month high of 4.4930% on Monday. Elsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 132.24 per dollar, but remained pinned near Monday's one-month low of 132.90 per dollar.

☆ Oil rises on China outlook, supply worries after Turkey earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Sudarshan Varadhan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Crude prices are rising on expectations that China's recovery will take hold and on supply outages from the earthquake that devastated Turkey," said Edward Moya, analyst at OANDA. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects half of this year's global oil demand growth to come from China, the agency's chief said on Sunday, adding that jet fuel demand was surging. Operations at Turkey's 1 million barrel per day (bpd) oil export terminal in Ceyhan were halted after a major earthquake hit the region. The BTC terminal, which exports Azeri crude oil to international markets, will be closed on Feb. 6-8. The oil markets will closely watch the U.S. Federal Reserve's chair Jerome Powell's speech on Wednesday, analysts said.

☆ Dollar climbs as Treasury yields pop on further Fed hike forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Markets were still reeling from the shock of Friday's jobs report, which showed that non-farm payrolls surged by an eye-watering 517,000 in January, well above expectations. "I don't think the jobs number is key ... but it's definitely a major impact on (the Fed's) monetary policy." U.S. Treasury yields have risen on the back of higher rate expectations, with two-year yields touching a one-month high of 4.493% on Monday. Futures pricing show that markets are expecting the Fed funds rate to peak just above 5.1% by July, compared with expectations of less than 5% prior to Friday's jobs report. Elsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 132.37 per dollar, but remained pinned near Monday's one-month low of 132.90 per dollar.

A day after announcing that Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov would be replaced, a top ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to row back for now, saying no personnel changes in the defence sector would be made this week. Two senior lawmakers on Monday noted that rules require Ukraine's defence minister to be a civilian, which would appear to put an obstacle in the way of the immediate appointment of Budanov, a 37-year-old military officer. 'WAR DICTATES CHANGES'Arakhamia said Ukraine's armed forces should not be overseen by politicians during wartime, but by people with a background in defence or security. As a wartime defence minister, Reznikov, 56, fostered ties with Western defence officials and helped oversee the receipt of billions of dollars of military aid to help Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion. During his tenure as defence minister, he spoke out strongly about wartime corruption, which he said was akin to "marauding".

☆ Democrats renew push for national paid family and medical leave program
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Had a federal paid leave policy been in place, many of those women may have been able to stay employed, she said. "Imagine if, during the pandemic, we had had a national paid leave program," Gillibrand said. The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, or FAMILY Act, was reintroduced by lawmakers including Gillibrand and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., with the goal of creating the first paid national family and medical leave program. "It is a reasonable, pragmatic way to get to paid family leave," Duckworth, who is a co-sponsor of the bill, told CNBC.com in an interview. The Education Support Professionals Family Leave Act would provide education support workers such as school bus drivers with unpaid leave under FMLA.

Google said the new DOJ case, filed jointly with eight states last month, which also alleges advertising-related abuses, overlaps with multidistrict litigation in New York that formed in 2021. Google has disputed the claims in the new lawsuit, saying it "duplicates an unfounded" one that Texas filed and now is part of the New York litigation. "They just want DOJ versus Google, nobody else," Vladeck said. Fox also said there is a new federal law that gives state plaintiffs their preference for venue in antitrust litigation. The case is In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1:21-md-03010-PKC.

SummarySummary Companies OPEC+ seen sticking with oil output policy at Feb. 1 meetingInvestors watch for central bank rate hikesPositive China data caps weaknessJan 31 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday as the threat of further interest rate increases and ample Russian crude flows outweighed demand recovery expectations from China. March Brent crude futures declined 25 cents to $84.65 per barrel by 0715 GMT. The March contract expires on Tuesday and the more heavily traded April contract fell by 38 cents, or 0.45%, to $84.12. Likewise, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped by 44 cents, or 0.56%, to $77.46 a barrel. Higher rates could slow the global economy and weaken oil demand.

☆ Man accused of torturing woman he held captive is using dating apps while on the run, police warn
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

SALEM, Ore. — A man accused of torturing a woman he held captive in Oregon, and who was convicted in Nevada of keeping another woman in captivity, is using dating apps to find people who can help him avoid the police or to find new victims, authorities said Friday. Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, is the subject of an intensive, round-the-clock search by police after a woman was found unconscious, bound and near death in Grants Pass, Oregon, on Tuesday. Foster’s public defender in the Las Vegas case did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment on Foster’s behalf. In 2019, before moving to Oregon, Foster held his then-girlfriend captive inside her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks. Hensman said he didn’t have time to think about how authorities in Nevada handled Foster’s crimes there.

SARASOTA, Fla.—Christopher Rufo was set to start his first public event as a trustee at New College of Florida this week when campus administrators considered pulling the plug on the meetings with faculty and staff. Someone had sent an email threat against Jason “Eddie” Speir, another of the six trustees Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis named this month to shake up the 700-student state honors college. A staff member asked the men to leave the campus building. Mr. Rufo, a conservative activist known for his battles against critical-race theory, refused.

☆ Oil prices advance on U.S. growth, Chinese recovery hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Sudarshan Varadhan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged ahead for a second session on Friday, buoyed by stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth and hopes of a rapid recovery in Chinese demand as COVID-19 cases and deaths plunged from last month's peak levels. Brent futures gained 30 cents, or 0.34%, to $87.77 a barrel by 0321 GMT, while U.S. crude rose 34 cents to $81.35 per barrel, a 0.42% gain. OPEC+ delegates will meet next week to review crude production levels, amid steady support for crude prices from strong demand for jet fuel and diesel. Gains on U.S. crude were limited by a 4.2 million barrel build in stocks at Cushing, the pricing hub for NYMEX oil futures, earlier this week. "The short-term bullish factor is that the recent outage in the U.S. refineries helped push up gasoline prices, though the U.S. crude inventories hit a 16-month high," Teng said.

☆ Some critically acclaimed films by and about Black people don’t make the Oscars list in a major letdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Michelle Garcia | Michelle Garcia Is The Editorial Director Of Nbcblk | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

While the Golden Globes brought several notable nominations and wins for Black performers in television and film, this year’s Oscar nominations look very different. “Till,” starring Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, chronicles the 14-year-old’s mother during her quest for justice after her child was brutally murdered. The film earned no Academy Award nominations. “Wakanda Forever” also failed to match the best picture nod earned by 2018’s “Black Panther” — the first superhero movie nominated for the top Oscar. Bassett is also the second oldest Black woman ever nominated for an acting Oscar, behind supporting actress nominee Ruby Dee, who appeared in 2007’s “American Gangster.”

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