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☆ Dollar struggles near 2-month low on weak data, focus on RBNZ
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. dollar was stuck near two-month lows on Wednesday as weak economic data bolstered views that the Federal Reserve is near the end of its monetary tightening cycle. The kiwi rose 0.08% to $0.632 ahead of a policy decision from Reserve Bank New Zealand later in the day. The central bank is expected to slow the pace of monetary tightening, raising rates by just 25 basis points. In the U.S. bond market, the two-year Treasury yield , which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was up 1.4 basis points at 3.848%, after sliding 14 basis points on Tuesday. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 1.1 basis points to 3.348%, having slipped 9 basis points overnight.

Easing the reserves accumulation target was part of the fourth review under the country's $44 billion program, with Argentina looking to soften expectations on its economic performance. The IMF board "approved modifications to the reserve accumulation targets to partially accommodate the impact of the severe drought," the fund said in a statement, without detailing the new targets. The change in the targeted reserves lowers the bar for the South American economy to pass future IMF reviews. But weighing on further forex accumulation, Argentina's central bank sold in March the largest monthly amount of dollars since October 2019 as it struggles to prop up the local peso currency. The IMF review included "waivers of non-observance associated with the introduction of policy measures that gave rise to new exchange restrictions and multiple currency practices."

BUENOS AIRES, March 31 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Argentina's fourth review under its $44 billion loan program on Friday, unlocking the disbursement of $5.4 billion to the indebted country, the lender said in a short statement. The country's central bank foreign reserves jumped by $2.5 billion on Friday versus a day earlier, data from the bank showed. That reflected the new IMF funds minus $2.7 billion of repayments Argentina had to make to the lender on Friday. A central bank source told Reuters the funds had arrived and been reflected in reserve levels. Reporting by Jorge Otaola, Rodrigo Campos and Jorgelina do Rosario; Writing by Adam JourdanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

It suspended its probe in November 2021 at the request of the Philippines after Manila said it was carrying out its own investigations. The ICC investigation was reopened in January 2023 and on March 27 the ICC rejected Manila's request to suspend it pending an appeal questioning the court's jurisdiction and authority. It is not clear even among some government officials what cutting contact meant or whether the Philippines will completely drop its appeal against the ICC investigation. Police say they killed 6,200 suspects during anti-drug operations that ended in shootouts but reject accusations by human rights groups of systematic executions and cover-ups. There doesn't seem to be any political will within the Philippine government to seriously investigate," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told CNN Philippines.

☆ Ukraine's tank force shouldn't stand a chance against Russia's on paper, but dumb mistakes keep tipping the scales
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Russia has more tanks than Ukraine, more updated tanks than Ukraine, and more tank options. All three Western tank models are larger than most Russian tanks and are "quite survivable" thanks to their advanced armor, according to Edmonds. It's still unclear when the Western tanks will arrive or what role they will ultimately play in Ukraine's future offensives. "This stalemated frontline where we are right now, this is not a good environment for tanks," Cancian said. But the number of incoming Western tanks — less than 150 — is unlikely to change the tides of war.

☆ U.S. to Provide $25 Million to Costa Rica for Cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( James Rundle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. will provide cybersecurity support to the government of Costa Rica, officials said, almost a year after a ransomware group laid siege to its critical infrastructure and triggered a state of emergency. The funds will also help Costa Rica with strategic and technical cyber planning, training, hardware and software licenses, the official said. The official said the U.S. government believes Costa Rica’s support for Ukraine may have been a factor in Conti’s attack, as the group previously expressed its support for the Russian government’s invasion. PREVIEWThe grant to Costa Rica follows similar efforts from the U.S. to assist Albania in recovering from a cyberattack, which the federal government has since linked to Iran. Costa Rica has applied to join this initiative, which comprises 36 countries and the European Union, the official said.

☆ Philippines' Duterte ready to "face the music" as ICC forges ahead with probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Duterte, whose presidency ended last year, told a gathering of prosecutors: "I did what I had to do. Duterte, who campaigned on promises to kill drug dealers, is being investigated by the ICC for possible crimes against humanity. The probe was reopened in January and the ICC on Monday rejected Manila's request to suspend it pending an appeal questioning the court's jurisdiction and authority. "Disengaging could mean many things, and that is what I want to clarify with the president," Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, who was justice minister under Duterte, told news channel ANC. Asked about the remarks of Marcos, the ICC said it does not comment on ongoing investigations.

[1/3] A 3D printed Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Google logo in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. If upheld, their appeals could establish jurisprudence for future cases concerning liability for internet content, at a time when social media companies are under pressure in Brazil due to a surge of political disinformation. According to Ruf, declaring it unconstitutional would increase removals of subjective content, including critical content that is important for democratic public debate. In mid-March, Brazil's government said it was planning to regulate internet platforms to reduce misinformation but also to tax platforms making money from advertising. Google Brasil lawyer Guilherme Sanchez said the company does not wait for court orders to remove content from its platforms.

☆ Philippines president backs merger of two state lenders to create country's biggest bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MANILA, March 28 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is pushing for the merger of two state-run banks, which will create the country's largest lender by assets, his finance secretary said on Tuesday. The merger of Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) would also be in line with past government efforts for consolidation in the banking sector. "The merger will create a bigger and stronger bank to better serve the country's development needs," Diokno said. The union of DBP and LBP would allow the government to save more than 5 billion pesos ($91.93 million) in operating costs in the first year of their merger, Diokno said. As of end-September, the two banks had combined assets of 3.8 trillion pesos, compared with 3.7 trillion pesos of BDO Unibank (BDO.PS), which is controlled by the Philippines' richest family, central bank data showed.

☆ Philippines' Marcos to shut out ICC after losing drugs war appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MANILA, March 28 (Reuters) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Tuesday said he would cut off contact with the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it rejected an appeal asking it to stop investigating his predecessor's lethal war on drugs. The ICC is a court of last resort that can exercise jurisdiction if states are unable or unwilling to investigate crimes. The treaty stipulates the ICC can investigate crimes that took place while a country was a member. He has said he is willing to go on trial over his drugs war, but only in a Philippine court. His daughter, Sara Duterte, is currently vice president and was the running mate of Marcos.

[1/3] A 3D printed Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Google logo in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoBRASILIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) defended before the Supreme Court on Tuesday a Brazilian law that holds Internet platforms are not responsible for content posted by users unless they are subject to a court order. If upheld, their appeals could establish jurisprudence that will apply to future cases concerning the responsibility for Internet content, at a time when social media companies are under pressure in Brazil due to a surge in the spread of political disinformation. Google Brasil lawyer Guilherme Sanchez said the company does not wait for court orders to remove content from its platforms. By contrast, in the same period Google received just 1,700 requests for the removal of content from its products.

☆ Brazil's monetary policy director leaves office amid government uncertainty over replacement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The central bank stated in a note that Serra's departure follows the end of his term on Feb. 28. The day after Serra's departure, the director of Economic Policy, Diogo Guillen, began temporarily accumulating his function, a common practice at the central bank until substitutions are made. Supervision director Paulo Souza, whose term also expired at the end of February, remains in his current position. Under a 2021 law granting formal autonomy to the central bank, Governor Roberto Campos Neto will remain in office until December 2024. Lula, who has criticized Campos Neto and the central bank for keeping interest rates high to combat inflation, will eventually replace all nine members of the bank's board, which decides monetary policy.

☆ Dollar muted as traders await Fed rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. dollar index , which measures the currency against six peers, was at 103.19, just above the five-week low of 102.99 touched overnight. Markets are now pricing in about a 15% chance of the Fed not increasing rates, with a roughly 85% chance of a 25 basis point hike, showed the CME FedWatch tool. Just a month earlier, the market was pricing in a 24% chance of a 50 basis point hike. Such circumstances would usually be ripe for a return to a 50 basis point hike were it not for worries over financial stability, he said. The Australian dollar rose 0.36% to $0.6694, while the New Zealand dollar gained 0.11% to $0.6199.

☆ Dollar subdued ahead of Fed rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. dollar index , which measures the currency against six peers, was at 103.22, just above the five-week low of 102.99 touched overnight. Markets are now pricing in about a 14% chance of the Fed not increasing rates, with a roughly 86% chance of a 25 basis point hike, showed the CME FedWatch tool. Just a month earlier, the market was pricing in a 24% chance of a 50 basis point hike. Such circumstances would usually be ripe for a return to a 50 basis point hike were it not for worries over financial stability, he said. The Australian dollar rose 0.04% to $0.667, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.16% to $0.618.

Separately, in a televised interview on Wednesday, Erdogan downplayed the significance of the meeting with Simsek, saying such meetings were ordinary. A senior government official told Reuters the AKP was somewhat divided with some members opposed to Simsek's return, and described the outcome of the Erdogan meeting as "undesirable". The party may now need to revise its economic platform ahead of the election campaign, he added. The AKP declined to comment on whether it was revising its economic strategy ahead of the vote. Two recent polls by MAK and Turkiye Raporu show the opposition presidential challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu between 4 and 9 percentage points ahead of Erdogan.

☆ Brazil's Americanas faces more debt, asset sales as it restructures
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sources with knowledge of the situation, however, told Reuters that the company shoulders a higher debt load than previously disclosed. Americanas presented the first draft of a legal recovery plan to a court in Rio de Janeiro state, O Globo newspaper reported. In January, the company entered bankruptcy protection after disclosing accounting "inconsistencies" worth 20 billion reais ($3.78 billion). The company said in early March it had offered a 10 billion reais capital injection to its creditors that will come from top shareholders. Sources close to the matter said the company holds debts of more than 50 billion reais, which exceeds the 42 billion reais previously acknowledged during the bankruptcy proceedings.

☆ Putin has 'aggressively' tried to make China his ally because Russia is running out of ammo in Ukraine, a White House official said
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Putin is "aggressively" trying to make China his ally, a White House official said. John Kirby told MSNBC that Russia needs China because he is "running out of ammunition" in Ukraine. "President Putin needs President Xi because he's running out of ammunition," John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications for the National Security Council at the White House, told MSNBC. Kirby echoed a similar sentiment in his White House briefing on Monday. Earlier this year, US analysis suggested that Russia was running out of munitions, losing as much as half of its tanks, and suffering high casualties.

The global lender said the agreement was expected to help unleash large-scale financing for Ukraine from international donors and partners, but gave no details. IMF staff currently expected the change in Ukraine's real gross domestic product for 2023 to range from -3% to +1%, Gray added. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal hailed the agreement and thanked the IMF for its support. If approved, as expected, the Ukraine program would be the IMF's biggest loan to a country involved in an active conflict. The fund last week changed a rule to allow new loan programs for countries facing "exceptionally high uncertainty", without naming Ukraine.

☆ Asia stocks steady as Credit Suisse buyout brings relief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Over the weekend, UBS said it will buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion francs ($3.2 billion) and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses, in a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities. Central banks including the Fed, the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan pledged to deepen support for liquidity, by increasing the frequency of seven-day dollar-swap operations from weekly to daily. "The best we can say was there are certainly a lot of concerns about Credit Suisse contagion risk," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney. "The news overnight from Switzerland has helped," he said, though added that the central bank moves had also drawn attention to how deep troubles may run. It's great we're seeing this concerted effort from central banks, and it's positive, but it does also highlight how troubling the circumstances are and how worried central banks appear to be as well."

☆ Stock futures nudge higher on Credit Suisse buyout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% in bumpy early trade. Over the weekend, UBS said it will buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion francs ($3.2 billion) and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses, in a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities. "The news overnight from Switzerland has helped," he said, though added that the central bank moves had calmed as well as created nerves. It's great we're seeing this concerted effort from central banks, and it's positive, but it does also highlight how troubling the circumstances are and how worried central banks appear to be as well." In foreign exchange trade, the Swiss franc , which took a beating as worries about Credit Suisse grew last week, rose about 0.4% to 0.9264 to the dollar.

☆ Tottenham squander points in top-four race, Leeds out of bottom three
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Fourth-placed Tottenham have 49 points from 28 games with Newcastle United, who benefitted from a stoppage-time penalty to beat Nottingham Forest on Friday, have 47 points having played two games less. Bournemouth on 24 from 27 along with West Ham United who dropped into the relegation zone courtesy of Leeds United's impressive win at Wolves. Leicester have 25 points with Nottingham Forest, Everton and Leeds all on 26 and Wolves and Crystal Palace on 27. Tottenham substitute Pape Sarr was then adjudged in the 90th minute to have fouled Ainsley Maitland-Niles as he attempted to hack clear a bouncing ball and Ward-Prowse made no mistake to earn his side a point. Leeds will head into the international break above the relegation zone thanks to a superb display at Wolves.

☆ Report on Americanas' woes to be presented to Brazil court next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Rodrigo Viga Gaier | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 17 (Reuters) - A report detailing Brazilian retailer Americanas SA's (AMER3.SA) bankruptcy is being prepared by the trustee's team of over 100 experts and is expected to be presented to a Rio de Janeiro court next Monday, said a source close to the matter on Friday. "The final report will be closed and read on Monday before being presented to the court," said the source. Americanas, backed by the billionaire trio that founded investment firm 3G Capital, has accumulated debt of more than 40 billion reais. After the document is submitted, the court will set a deadline for Americanas to present its judicial recovery plan. On Thursday, Americanas' former chief executive testified at Brazil's securities watchdog, according to a source.

People were sharing photos online from their phones. Since then, Casetify has sold more than 15 million phone cases, topping $300 million in annual revenue last year, according to the company. Early on, Ng sent messages to anyone he saw with lots of Instagram followers, asking if they wanted to turn their photos into customized phone cases. Casetify has also expanded its product offerings — which now include a variety of accessories beyond phone cases — and shifted away from only selling online. In 2018, Nordstrom started selling Casetify products before the startup opened its own retail store in Hong Kong in 2020.

☆ DBRS Morningstar cuts Credit Suisse credit rating to 'BBB'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 16 (Reuters) - DBRS Morningstar became the first global rating agency to cut Credit Suisse’s credit score on Thursday, less than a day after a major share price plunge saw Switzerland’s central bank provide emergency support to the lender. DBRS downgraded the issuer rating of the bank to 'BBB' as it "continues to report missteps and compliance failures, resulting in a visible weakening of the franchise" and said the parent company's "ability to restore stakeholders’ confidence" is concerning. Credit Suisse's share tumble on Wednesday had threatened to spiral into a wider banking crisis, but a lifeline from the Swiss National Bank helped ease fears and at least temporarily stabilize the market. Reporting by Rodrigo CamposOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Next Frontier in Farming? The Ocean.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Somini Sengupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

For centuries, it’s been treasured in kitchens in Asia and neglected almost everywhere else: Those glistening ribbons of seaweed that bend and bloom in cold ocean waves. Far beyond South Korea, new farms have cropped up in Maine, the Faroe Islands, Australia, even the North Sea. But even as its champions see it as a miracle crop for a hotter planet, others worry that the zeal to farm the ocean could replicate some of the same damages of farming on land. “Seaweed is not going to replace all plastic, but seaweed combined with other things can tackle single use plastic,” he said. Seaweed farms are a far cry from the rows of corn and wheat that make up monoculture farming on land.

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