Trump to sign executive order making English the official U.S. language, WSJ reports
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru)
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Al Etihad
20 minutes ago
- Al Etihad
Shares steady, yen up as markets unfazed by Japanese politics
21 July 2025 12:33 SYDNEY/LONDON (Reuters)European shares held steady and the yen firmed on Monday, as markets shrugged off the Japanese ruling coalition's defeat in upper house weekend elections and turned to focus on this week's US tech earnings and European Central Bank policy were also hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of US President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick still confident a deal could be reached with the European were reports Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were closer to arranging a meeting, though likely not until October at the earliest. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Xi on pan-European benchmark STOXX 600 index was flat, while the UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.1%. The euro was 0.1% higher at $ focus was on weekend news out of Japan, where the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday, further weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as a tariff deadline vowed to stay on, which along with a market holiday, limited the reaction. The yen was 0.5% firmer at 148.065 to the dollar and up 0.3% against the euro."The loss was within the range of expectations, and actually the outlook was even more pessimistic," said Nissay Research Institute chief economist Tsuyoshi Ueno."In terms of negotiations with the US, it is easy to doubt whether a government with such a weak foundation is reliable as a negotiating partner," he added. "For the Bank of Japan, if there is political instability, it will be difficult to raise interest rates, and pressure on the yen will continue."The BOJ still has a bias to raise rates further, but markets imply little chance of a move until late the Nikkei was shut, futures traded at 39,885, up on the cash close of 39,819. MEGA CAPS KICK OFF S&P 500 futures edged 0.2% higher, while Nasdaq futures were up 0.3%. U.S. indexes are already around record highs in anticipation of more solid quarterly earnings are gearing up for a host of big tech company results this week, including Google owner Alphabet, Tesla and IBM."They are going to be key for sentiment because frankly there's not a lot else to drive things," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone."We saw the banks deliver decent results last week, so you'd certainly be looking for the big tech names to keep up with that to reinforce the bull case (for equities)," he also expect upbeat news for defence groups RTX , Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Higher government spending around the globe has seen the S&P 500 aerospace and defence sector rise 30% this year, while defence stocks in Europe have also hit record tech news, Microsoft issued an alert about "active attacks" on server software used by government agencies and businesses, urging customers to download security euro zone government bond yields eased ahead of euro zone PMI data and the European Central Bank meeting later this week, at which it is expected to leave rates at 2% following a string of euro dipped 0.5% last week, moving off a recent near-four-year top of $1.1830. The dollar index was a fraction lower at Treasury yields fell, leaving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down 4.5 basis points at 4.286%. Bonds got a boost late last week after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller repeated his call for a rate cut this of his colleagues, including Chair Jerome Powell, have argued a pause is warranted to judge the inflationary impact of tariffs and markets imply almost no chance of a move in July. A September cut is put at 61%, rising to 80% for reticence on rates has drawn the ire of Trump who threatened to fire the Fed chief, before backing down. The spectre of a potential political appointee who would seek to ease policy sharply has investors on edge. In commodity markets, gold firmed 0.5% to $3,365 an ounce , with all the recent action in platinum, which last week hit its highest since August 2014. Stock Markets Continue full coverage
Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
Gold steady as investors await US trade updates, central bank meetings
Gold prices were little changed on Monday as investors monitored developments in U.S. trade talks and awaited potential market-moving catalysts, including the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled for next week. Spot gold held its ground at $3,352.19 per ounce, as of 0250 GMT. U.S. gold futures were steady at $3,358.70. "Dollar has made a subdued start to the week, which has left the door open for gold to post gains early doors with tariff deadlines looming large," KCM Trade Chief Market Analyst Tim Waterer said. "The closer we move towards the key August 1 deadline without any new trade deals emerging, the more likely gold is to start fancying another run to towards the $3,400 level and perhaps beyond." Investors are eyeing developments in trade negotiations ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline, as U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remains optimistic about reaching a deal with the European Union. Trump might visit China before going to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit between October 30 and November 1, or he could meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC event in South Korea, reports said. At its meeting later this week, the European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates steady at 2.0% following a string of cuts. Last week, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he still believes that the U.S. central bank should cut rates at its policy meeting next week. Gold, often considered a safe-haven asset during economic uncertainties, tends to do well in a low interest rate environment. In Japan, the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday, further weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as the U.S. tariff deadline looms. Elsewhere, spot silver edged 0.1% higher to $38.22 per ounce, platinum added 0.3% to $1,425.11 and palladium gained 0.2% to $1,243.47. (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
Trump's push for a comeback in coal may turn to ashes: Maguire
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) LITTLETON, Colorado - U.S. President Donald Trump has singled out the coal industry as a key driver of U.S. energy dominance, but there are currently no new U.S. coal plants under construction and utilities have identified quicker and cheaper paths to boost power supplies. In the first few months of Trump's second term, he has signed several executive orders and deployed federal funding aimed at reviving the coal mining and power sectors. But U.S. utilities continue to prioritize adding renewables, batteries, gas and nuclear power ahead of new coal-fired capacity based on the cost and efficiency. Even the coal export market has only limited growth potential, as Indonesia and Australia - much larger exporters - boast far quicker and cheaper access to key buyers in Asia, the only region showing a sustained increase in coal demand. That means that even with strong support from the federal government, the U.S. coal sector may still struggle to generate any sustained growth over the near to medium term as global energy systems continue to lean towards cleaner power supplies. AGING OUT There's been six times more coal power plants retired than constructed in the U.S. this century, which underscores the scope of the challenge facing even the most ardent coal bulls as they try to engineer an industry revival. Between 2000 and 2024, nearly 166,000 megawatts (MW) of outdated coal capacity was retired in the United States, according to data from Global Energy Monitor (GEM). And even though around 26,000 MW of new U.S. coal plants have been constructed since 2000, the newest - the Sandy Creek Energy Station in Texas - came online over a decade ago. This has caused total U.S. coal power generation capacity to drop by around 42% in the last quarter century, to around 194 gigawatts, according to Ember. The rapid retirement pace reflects the age of the U.S. coal power network, as more than 80% of all U.S. coal power plants were built between 1950 and 1990, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). And over 75% of the remaining plants are already 40 years old or more, exceeding their expected lifespan. Several power networks have delayed the closure of some aged plants on the grounds that keeping them operating will avert potential power shortages. And the Trump administration has exempted several coal plants from new emissions standards that would have forced them to close within the next decade. However, the power generation sector is handling less and less coal as more plants have been retired and replaced by other forms of generation. Indeed, since 2000 there has been a 65% decline in the amount of coal used by the power sector, data from the Energy Institute shows. There is thus little appetite among utilities to construct new coal plants, given the plethora of alternatives available to them that can generate power more quickly and cheaply and with fewer emissions. COAL CRUTCH The drop in coal-fired U.S. power has led to a sharp fall in domestic coal mine output, which has more than halved since 2000 to just over half a billion short tons in 2024, EIA data shows. Wyoming (237 million tons), West Virginia (85 million tons), Pennsylvania (43 million tons) and Kentucky (28 million tons) were the top coal producing states in 2023. Lower mine output has triggered steep cuts to the number of people engaged in coal mining, which peaked this century in 2011 at around 91,600, but contracted to around 45,500 by 2023, EIA data shows. Every major coal mining state has been affected by layoffs, with some harder hit than others. Kentucky has seen coal employee levels drop by over 70% since 2011, while Pennsylvania and Virginia have seen employee numbers fall by nearly half. EXPORT CHALLENGE The hardships resulting from these mass layoffs have helped turn the coal mining sector, which is primarily found in Republican "red" states, into an influential political force, as candidates look to tout their industry-friendly credentials. This has certainly been the case with Trump. Beyond encouraging power networks to increase use of coal in generation, the Trump administration has recently approved mine expansions on federal land in order to boost supplies for export to Japan and South Korea. Targeting Asia makes sense given that the region's buyers already account for over half of all U.S. thermal coal shipments, data from Kpler shows, as well as 80% of global coal consumption. However, U.S. market share in the region can only grow so much, as rival exporters such as Indonesia still boast a significant advantage in terms of shipping times and cost. The journey time for a possible coal shipment from Westshore export port in British Columbia - the main exit point for coal mined in the Western U.S. - to Japan is around 15 days, according to LSEG. In contrast, the journey time from the largest coal export point in Indonesia to Japan is nine days. In addition to cutting the journey time by over a third, Indonesian coal exporters can also offer lower coal costs and larger cargo volumes, an attractive combination for large-scale importers. That means that U.S. vendors will likely only be able to eke out piecemeal sales to Asian buyers, while bigger exporters secure larger and more regular trade flows to the region's utilities. In combination with declining coal demand by power plants at home, this will likely leave the coal mining sector struggling to generate sustained demand for its output, regardless of how much support it enjoys in Washington, DC. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis of everything from swap rates to soybeans. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn and X. (Reporting by Gavin Maguire; Editing by Anna Szymanski and Marguerita Choy)
