By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand food prices surged in March as flash floods and a cyclone this year jacked up fruit and vegetable prices, with economists expecting first quarter inflation data due later this week to keep the central bank on its policy tightening path. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Treasurer on Monday said he was close to announcing details of a wide-ranging review into the country’s central bank which would require legal changes for some steps, underlining the scope of the shake-up. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the independent review had provided 51 recommendations for changing how the Reserve Bank of…
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Global copper producers are converging in Chile this week for their largest gathering since 2019, with talks expected to center on the industry’s growing M&A wave amid surging demand and tight supply for the metal anchoring the green energy transition. The buyout trend comes as Indigenous groups, host communities and others increasingly…
By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) – Treasury yields rose and the dollar index bounced off a one-year low on Friday after a decline in U.S. retail sales suggested the economy is slowing but not fast enough to stop the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again in May. Stocks on Wall Street fell and…
By Karen Brettell NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar index bounced off a one-year low against a basket of currencies on Friday after some March retail sales components were not as weak as some economists had feared, while a key Federal Reserve official warned that the U.S. central bank needs to continue hiking interest rates…
By Fabian Cambero and Divya Rajagopal SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Lundin Mining Corp’s bid for control of Chile’s Caserones copper mine comes despite ongoing uncertainty over potential policy changes to royalties and taxes, an indication that investors may be regaining confidence in the world no.1 copper-producing country. Lundin last month agreed to pay $950 million for…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The state of Western Australia will allocate land to a battery metal processing facility proposed by IGO Ltd and Wyloo Metals, which is backed by billionaire Andrew Forrest, as the country pushes to process more critical minerals at home. Australia, which supplies nearly half the world’s lithium and is a major producer…
By David French, Echo Wang and Alun John (Reuters) – Startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis on Friday, in a sudden collapse that roiled global markets, left billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors stranded. California banking regulators closed the bank, which did business…
By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Tuesday set out draft legislation to regulate “buy now pay later” (BNPL) credit, saying the sector posed potential harm to consumers without thorough affordability checks. BNPL companies are largely unregulated and typically offer on-the-spot interest-free short-term loans that spread payments for retail goods like clothing. The sector nearly…
By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) – Cryptomarkets have not been killed off by last year’s turmoil, while the new wave of central bank digital currencies will face geopolitical limits, the Bank for International Settlements’ new innovation head has predicted. Dubbed the central bank to the world’s central bank, the BIS has long been critical of…