CNA938 Rewind - Was the bid for Japan's 7-Eleven doomed from the start?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
7 hours ago
- CNA
Australia's Champion Iron secures $179.1 million from Nippon Steel, Sojitz for Canada project
Australia's Champion Iron Ltd said on Tuesday Japan's Nippon Steel and Sojitz Corp will invest an initial C$245 million ($179.11 million) in its Kami iron ore project in Canada for an aggregate 49 per cent interest. The investment follows an agreement that the three companies entered into in December 2024 for the project, which Champion Iron acquired in 2021. Following the initial closing, Champion will hold a 51 per cent interest in the project, while Nippon Steel and Sojitz will have 30 per cent and 19 per cent stakes, respectively. Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steelmaker, recently closed its $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel after an 18-month-long pursuit. Champion expects the initial closing of the deal to occur in the second half of 2025. Shares of Champion Iron rose as much as 4.6 per cent to A$5.04 in early trade. ($1 = 1.3679 Canadian dollars)
CNA
12 hours ago
- CNA
Yen gains broadly as Japan's Ishiba stays on; dollar weakens
NEW YORK :The yen climbed across the board on Monday after beleaguered Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to hang on as leader even though his ruling coalition lost its majority in Sunday's upper house elections, an outcome that was not exactly a shock and has been mostly priced in. Investors braced for market disquiet ahead of a deadline on U.S. tariff negotiations. Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday, leaving the yen as the main indicator of possible investor angst. The dollar, on the other hand, fell against most currencies, in line with the decline in U.S. Treasury yields, analysts said. In afternoon trading, the Japanese currency gained 1 per cent to 147.315 yen per dollar, although not far off from the 3-1/2-month low of 149.19 yen hit last week as investors fretted about Japan's political and fiscal outlook. The yen also nudged 0.4 per cent higher against the euro to 172.27 and against sterling to 198.64, up 0.4 per cent. Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party returned 47 seats, short of the 50 it needed to ensure a majority in Japan's 248-seat upper chamber, where half the seats were up for grabs. He vowed to stay on in his role even as some of his own party discussed his future and the opposition weighed a no-confidence motion. "The elections were not as awful an outcome for the Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as analysts had predicted. The PM's party managed to minimize seat losses and Ishiba was not forced to resign his position," said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA in Washington. "This overall plays as a welcome tune for Japanese yen developments since the reality is far more optimistic than anticipated with the PM promising to stay in power and work out differences in coming up with fiscal policy." The election result, while not entirely a shock to markets, also comes at a tricky time for a country trying to get a tariff deal with U.S. President Donald Trump before an August 1 deadline. TARIFF UNCERTAINTY Investor focus has also been firmly on Trump's global tariff salvos, with a Financial Times report last week indicating the U.S. president was pushing for steep new tariffs on European Union products. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday he was confident the United States can secure a trade deal with the EU, but said August 1 was a hard deadline for tariffs to kick in. EU diplomats said the bloc was exploring a broader set of counter measures against the U.S. as prospects for an acceptable trade agreement fade, even though a negotiated solution was still their preferred option. The euro was up 0.4 per cent at $1.1681, while sterling last fetched $1.3488, up 0.6 per cent. The European Central Bank is due to meet this week and is expected to hold rates steady after a string of cuts, while investor attention has been on whether the Federal Reserve succumbs to pressure from Trump to cut interest rates. In the United States, Trump appeared near the point of trying to dismiss Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week, but backed off with a nod to the market disruption that would likely follow. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady at its July meeting. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said the entire Fed needed to be examined as an institution and whether it had been successful. Speaking with CNBC, he cited what he called "fear-mongering over tariffs" despite the emergence thus far of little, if any, inflationary effect. "If this were the (Federal Aviation Administration) and we were having this many mistakes, we would go back and look at why. Why has this happened?" he said. "All these PhDs over there, I don't know what they do." Traders are fully pricing in a Fed rate cut by the October meeting with the odds of a second rate cut this year not fully priced in yet. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, was down 0.5 per cent at 97.969. "I think the dollar topped out last week, while foreign currencies have bottomed, so foreign currencies have come back stronger here," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist, at Bannockburn Forex in New York. "I think the dollar is very much connected to interest rates. The 10-year yield is off more than six basis points." In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell more than 1 per cent to $116,788, with investors profiting from recent gains in the run-up to the signing into law the GENIUS Act last Friday. Currency bid prices at 21 July 07:54 p.m. GMT Descripti RIC Last U.S. Pct YTD Pct High Low on Close Change Bid Bid Previous Session Dollar 97.87 98.402 -0.53 per cent -9.79 per cent 98.507 97.6 index 98 Euro/Doll 1.169 1.1631 0.51 per cent 12.92 per cent $1.1717 $1.1 ar 615 Dollar/Ye 147.34 148.74 -0.98 per cent -6.4 per cent 148.51 147. n 1 Euro/Yen 172.25 172.97 -0.42 per cent 5.53 per cent 172.83 171. 93 Dollar/Sw 0.7982 0.8019 -0.46 per cent -12.04 per cent 0.8021 0.79 iss 67 Sterling/ 1.3486 1.341 0.58 per cent 7.84 per cent $1.351 $1.3 Dollar 405 Dollar/Ca 1.3684 1.3726 -0.3 per cent -4.83 per cent 1.3731 1.36 nadian 72 Aussie/Do 0.6523 0.6509 0.25 per cent 5.45 per cent $0.6538 $0.6 llar 5 Euro/Swis 0.933 0.9317 0.14 per cent -0.67 per cent 0.9334 0.93 s 14 Euro/Ster 0.8666 0.8661 0.06 per cent 4.75 per cent 0.8673 0.86 ling 51 NZ 0.597 0.5961 0.2 per cent 6.74 per cent $0.5984 0.59 Dollar/Do 39 llar Dollar/No 10.1656 10.1576 0.02 per cent -10.62 per cent 10.2129 10.1 rway 413 Euro/Norw 11.882 11.8169 0.55 per cent 0.96 per cent 11.8933 11.8 ay 18 Dollar/Sw 9.5816 9.6426 -0.63 per cent -13.03 per cent 9.6812 9.55 eden 14 Euro/Swed 11.2018 11.2214 -0.19 per cent -2.32 per cent 11.2539 11.1 en 899
CNA
15 hours ago
- CNA
US Treasury chief says Fed's performance must be examined
WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday (July 21) that the role and performance of the Federal Reserve should be scrutinised, as President Donald Trump intensified pressure on the independent central bank. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term ends in May 2026, but Trump has recently targeted the Fed's US$2.5 billion renovation project as a potential justification for removing him. The fresh criticism follows months of attacks on Powell for keeping interest rates steady this year, despite Trump's push for aggressive cuts to offset the economic impact of his tariffs. Asked whether he supported firing Powell, Bessent told CNBC: 'I think that what we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful.' Bessent added he would speak later Monday on regulatory issues, another area in which the Fed plays a key role, one day before the opening of a Fed-hosted conference. He did not respond to a Wall Street Journal report claiming he had privately advised Trump against firing Powell, citing risks to financial markets, economic stability and the legal hurdles such a move would face. Bessent told CNBC there had been 'very little, if any, inflation' from Trump's sweeping tariffs and suggested Fed officials 'appear unable to break out of a certain mindset.' Since returning to office in January, Trump has imposed a 10 per cent tariff on goods from most trading partners and higher duties on imports of steel, aluminium and automobiles. While inflation has remained muted so far, partly because Trump delayed some of the harshest measures, economists say price data over the summer will offer clearer insight into the tariffs' full impact.
