Flash News

TREE NEWS update: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday that South Africa must prepare for the possibility of being excluded from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US duty-free trade program, as relations between Washington and Pretoria deteriorate. AGOA allows eligible African countries to export thousands of products to the US market tariff-free, and South Africa has benefited from it for years.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin is repeatedly testing the same support level as oil at $108 a barrel and 5% yields pressure risk assets. The chart is described as a coiled spring rather than a trend, indicating the cryptocurrency is consolidating at that floor without a clear directional breakout.

TREE NEWS update: France will impose a curfew from 20:00 local time in Lille and several other northern cities, the government announced. The measure takes effect on the same day and covers multiple urban areas in the country’s north. No further details on the duration or scope of the restrictions were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Lombard Odier & Cie has turned bullish on the U.S. dollar, reversing its prior bearish stance, as stronger U.S. economic growth and easing concerns over Federal Reserve independence improve the currency’s outlook. The Swiss private bank cut its euro-dollar forecast to 1.09 from 1.14 and raised its dollar-Swiss franc forecast to 0.85 from 0.83, while shifting its view on dollar-versus-emerging-market currencies to neutral. In June it had already lifted its dollar allocation recommendation from underweight to neutral.

TREE NEWS update: The New York Stock Exchange has extended trading hours for options on a select group of NYSE American-listed securities, including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, iShares Russell 2000 ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, and shares of Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alibaba and TSMC. Pre-market trading runs from 7:30 to 9:25 a.m. ET, with a post-market session from 4:00 to 4:15 p.m. ET. NYSE plans to extend similar hours to stock trading in December.

TREE NEWS update: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued an arrest warrant on 19 May for Cuban revolutionary leader Raul Castro on charges of “participation in first-degree murder.” The move follows a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida agreeing on 20 May to indict Castro. The case is seen as part of US pressure measures against Cuba.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the country has “no choice” but to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. The remark signals Tehran’s intent to press its claim over the strategic waterway through which a large share of global seaborne oil passes. No further details or timeline were given.

TREE NEWS reports: The UK 10-year gilt yield rose 5.9 basis points to a session high of 5.432% in late European trading on Monday, October 19, after a slightly lower open. The two-year yield gained 5 bps to 4.927%, while the 30-year and 50-year yields added 5.1 bps and 4.8 bps respectively. The 2s/10s spread widened 0.987 bps to +50.302 bps.

TREE NEWS reports: BASF said its European plants could cut natural gas consumption further this winter if prices remain elevated. Global procurement chief Matthias Dorn, speaking at a BloombergNEF summit in London, said industry “will have to react” and that companies have several options to curb demand in the coming months. Prices may ease slightly on weather but additional supply risks could push them into triple-digit territory, he said.

TREE NEWS reports: ICE UK natural gas futures rose 0.17% in late European trading on Monday, Oct. 19, while the TTF benchmark Dutch gas contract slipped 0.25%. ICE EU Emissions Allowance futures gained 0.48% over the same session.

TREE NEWS update: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia has no intention of abandoning the implementation of agreements reached with Iran in the economic and investment spheres. He added that Russian specialists are gradually returning to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and that the two sides see broad prospects for cooperation in oil and gas extraction and transportation.

TREE NEWS reports: The MSCI Nordic Countries Index fell 0.7% to 394.02 points, with the Nordic industrials sector posting the steepest decline among the ten sectors. Boliden AB closed down 3.5%, the weakest performer among Nordic stocks.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said European countries are parties to the war, stating that just weeks ago the NATO Secretary General announced more than 500 US fighter jets took off from European air bases to conduct military operations against Iran. The remarks frame Europe as a direct participant in the conflict rather than a bystander.

TREE NEWS update: White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Monday that overall inflation still requires policy attention, even as prices for beef and eggs decline, citing September consumer price data. Hassett said the past three months had suggested inflation was fully under control but now appears to need more work, which could signal either an interruption in the downward trend or a temporary blip. He also said he respects the Federal Reserve’s independence, adding that Warsh would “do what he thinks is right.”

TREE NEWS reports: HSBC Holdings has begun searching for a new chief executive for its asset management business to replace Nicolas Moreau, people familiar with the matter said. Bank representatives have started approaching potential candidates to gauge their interest in the role. Moreau, 61, joined HSBC and took the position in 2019; according to his LinkedIn profile, he previously spent two years at Deutsche Bank as head of asset management and also served as CEO of AXA Investment Managers.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury auctioned three-month bills at a high yield of 4.095% with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.77, and six-month bills at 4.220% with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.84. The auctions set the latest short-term government borrowing costs as investors weighed demand for the debt.

TREE NEWS reports: Germany’s DAX 30 index fell 1.51% in the preliminary close to 25,236.69 points. France’s benchmark index declined 1.43%, Italy’s fell 1.86% with its bank index down 2.75%, and the UK index dropped 1.29%. The declines across major European markets reflected broad selling pressure.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of Canada’s business outlook indicator rose to -0.33 in the third quarter, the central bank said. The reading remains below zero, indicating that firms reporting deteriorating business conditions still outnumber those seeing improvement. The survey gauge is a closely watched input for the central bank’s rate decisions.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq 100 extended its gain to 2%, led by Marvell Technology up 7.2%, SanDisk up 7.8%, Datadog up 7.2% and Western Digital up 6.8%. A storage-chip index climbed 5.9% to a fresh intraday high, while the S&P 500 rose 0.9%.

TREE NEWS reports: Lombard Odier & Cie reversed its bearish stance on the U.S. dollar and turned bullish, citing stronger U.S. economic growth and easing market concerns over Federal Reserve independence. The Swiss private bank lowered its euro-dollar forecast to $1.09 from $1.14 and raised its dollar-franc forecast to 0.85 from 0.83. It also shifted its view on the dollar against emerging-market currencies to neutral.