By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar edged higher on Tuesday in choppy trading, with no clear direction, as investors kept an eye on debt ceiling talks to avert a possible default that could reverberate across asset markets and damage confidence in the world’s largest economy. The dollar index, a measure of the…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chinese wine sales will not return to the same level for Australia’s Treasury Wine Estate even if high tariffs imposed during a political dispute with Canberra are dropped, its chief executive said. The world’s biggest standalone winemaker drew a third of its profits from China before anti-dumping and subsidy tariffs of up…
By Elvira Pollina and Giuseppe Fonte MILAN (Reuters) -Australian fund Macquarie is raising legal hurdles over a plan backed by Italy’s Treasury for state lender CDP to join forces with U.S. fund KKR to buy Telecom Italia’s (TIM) landline grid, three sources said. TIM <TLIT.MI> directors have set a final deadline of June 9 for…
By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s big banks are pivoting to what analysts say could be a risky fight for growth in the country’s unloved business loans market as a price war ends a decade-long profit bonanza in the mortgage sector. The country’s four largest lenders said this month they would redirect capital and…
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said that the United States had been a “silent” security partner to his nation but that a defence cooperation pact to be signed when Joe Biden arrives Monday will see Washington “stepping out”. Biden will be the first sitting U.S. president to…
By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Labour government is set to reveal a worse budget bottom line and economic outlook on Thursday as it delivers what it calls a “no frills” 2023-24 budget to avoid fuelling inflation. Since coming into power, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has cut costly programmes and reiterated the government’s…
By Stephen Culp NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks slouched to a higher close on Monday, and benchmark Treasury yields rose amid flickering optimism that Washington will get past partisan wrangling and reach a debt ceiling deal. While all three major U.S. stock indexes ended green, market participants appeared to show little conviction as first-quarter…
SYDNEY(Reuters) – Australia’s central bank decided to hike at its May meeting due to inflation risks from weak productivity growth, persistently high services inflation and faster-than-forecast rental increases, saying more rate rises may be required. Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s May 2 policy meeting released on Tuesday said board members also considered a…
SYDNEY (Reuters) -A measure of Australian consumer sentiment fell in May after a surprise hike in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and a “mildly disappointing” federal budget clouded the outlook for family finances and the economy. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment out on Tuesday slid 7.9% in May from…
By Carolina Mandl (Reuters) -Big investment firms including Macquarie, Fidelity, Tiger Global and Coatue were among the largest buyers of U.S. listed shares of Taiwanese contract chipmaker TSMC in the first quarter, while Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold its remaining stake in the company, according to regulatory filings. Berkshire said in February it had reduced…
