GLOBAL NEWS-
Venezuela is open to barter payment arrangements with India as it seeks workarounds to U.S. sanctions imposed in late January, Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said on Monday.Caracas, which buys medicines and other products from India, is looking for alternative payment methods to keep oil flowing to what is now its first destination for crude exports after its U.S. customers froze purchases due to sanctions. Quevedo said he wants to double sales to India, which last year bought more than 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Venezuela.The relationships with India will continue, the trade will continue,” Quevedo said, adding that Venezuela wanted to expand trade in services and technology with New Delhi.
Britain’s economy slowed sharply in late 2018, pushing annual growth to a six-year low as worries about Brexit hammered business investment and a weakening global economy weighed on trade, data showed on Monday.Quarterly growth fell to 0.2 percent between October and December from 0.6 percent in the previous quarter, in line with forecasts in a Reuters poll, while output in December alone dropped by the most since 2016.“Brexit uncertainty, a slowing global economy and the persistent financial squeeze on consumers and businesses (are) increasingly having a suffocating effect on economic activity,” British Chambers of Commerce economist Suren Thiru said.Sterling fell a third of a cent to below $1.29 after the data, before recovering.
Asian shares edged up on Tuesday as investors hoped a new round of U.S.-China trade talks would help to resolve a dispute that’s dented global growth and some corporate earnings.Improving market sentiment was news that U.S. lawmakers reached a tentative deal on border security funding that would avert another partial government shutdown due to start on Saturday. The S&P 500 e-mini futures were up more than 0.5 percent.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3 percent.The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.4 percent and Australian shares were up 0.4 percent.Japan’s Nikkei advanced 2 percent after a market holiday on Monday, lifted by a weaker yen.
China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties.White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday also expressed confidence in a possible deal. Asked if the two countries were getting close to a trade agreement, she told Fox News in an interview, "It looks that way, absolutely."
The United States is expected to keep pressing China on longstanding demands that it reform how it treats American companies' intellectual property in order to seal a trade deal that could prevent tariffs from rising on Chinese imports.The latest talks kick off with working level discussions on Monday before high-level discussions later in the week. Negotiations in Washington last month ended without a deal and with the top U.S. negotiator declaring work was needed.
China’s trade engine likely remained stuck in reverse in January, with imports and exports expected to fall for the second month in a row, adding to concerns the economy may be at risk of a sharper slowdown.China is the world’s largest trading nation, and the extent of the declines will be closely watched by international investors and policymakers as anxiety grows over cooling global demand.Imports are expected to have fallen 10.0 percent in January from a year earlier, which would be the biggest decline since July 2016, according to the median estimate of 30 economists in a Reuters poll. That compared with a 7.6 percent drop in December.
European Union finance ministers will Discussed how to set up a budget for countries sharing the single euro currency to help the euro zone integrate more closely.The starting point is an agreement by EU leaders from December, under which a euro zone budget is to be part of the broader, seven-year EU budget, with a yet to be decided exact size and features.
It is to be for "convergence and competitiveness" of the 19 countries that share the euro and, on a voluntary basis, those countries that have locked their exchange rate in the Exchange Rate Mechanism II -- the two-year waiting room for the euro.Officials expect a tough discussion, because views differ widely.France, representing the most ambitious view, has been pushing hard for a large, separate pool of money for the euro zone, financed from dedicated taxes and national contributions.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia would need oil priced at $80-$85 a barrel to balance its budget this year, an International Monetary Fund official said.Riyadh's breakeven oil price depends on several factors, including the level of oil production, how much of Saudi oil revenues are transferred to the budget, and how non-oil revenues perform this year.
"But if you take the (2019) budget as presented with everything remaining equal, a breakeven point would be around $80-$85 dollars," Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department.Curde oil prices have dropped more than 30 percent from a peak above $86 dollars a barrel hit in October. Benchmark was trading at around $62 a barrel on Monday.Such price volatility has had an impact on the public finances and economic growth of all oil-exporting countries.
U.S. congressional negotiators said on Monday they reached a tentative deal on border security funding to avert another partial government shutdown due to start on Saturday, but an aide said it did not include the $5.7 billion President Donald Trump wants for a border wall."We reached an agreement in principle" on funding border security programs through Sept. 30, Republican Senator Richard Shelby told reporters.
"Our staffs are going to be working feverishly to put all the particulars together,” Shelby said. He did not say whether Trump would get any money for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.It was not clear if Trump would embrace the agreement. His December demand for $5.7 billion to help pay for the wall - rejected by congressional Democrats - triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without him getting wall funding.
Russia’s economic growth of 2.3 percent in 2018 was largely boosted by one-off factors and is not sustainable, the economy ministry said on Tuesday, predicting the pace would slow to 1.3 percent in 2019.The ministry also said in a monthly report that it expected annual consumer inflation to pick up to 5.2-5.4 percent in February, and peak at 5.5-5.7 percent in the period from March to May.Inflation will slow below 5 percent by the end of the year should the rouble exchange rate remain steady.
Gold prices held steady on Tuesday as investors kept a cautious stance ahead of a fresh round of Sino-U.S trade talks, while a firmer dollar capped gains for the bullion, which was drawing support from global economic slowdown worries.Spot gold was firm at $1,308 per ounce, after falling 0.4 percent in the previous session.U.S. gold futures were also mostly unchanged at $1,312.20 per ounce.Gold is being pushed around by the U.S. dollar in the near term. Traders are getting out of anything to do with Europe on concerns of weakness in the region and going for safe-haven buying into U.S. treasuries, which is pushing up the dollar.
Oil prices rose on Tuesday amid OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, although analysts expect surging U.S. production and concerns over economic growth to keep markets in check.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $52.78 per barrel, up 37 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close.The ongoing closure of parts of the Keystone pipeline that brings Canadian oil into the United States also helped prop up WTI, traders said.International Brent crude futures were up 50 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $62.01 per barrel.Analysts said markets are tightening amid voluntary production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and because of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran.