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UN chief warns that the rules-based trading system is at risk of being derailed.
The United Nations chief said that tariffs were a major problem for the global trade system, and the developing countries were the worst affected. The rules-based system of trading is in danger of being derailed, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned delegates on Wednesday at the U.N. Trade and Development Conference in Geneva. He cited concerns over trade wars and increasing trade barriers. The tariffs imposed by Donald Trump since his inauguration in January shocked the financial markets, and created a ripple of uncertainty throughout the global economy. Trump increased tariffs on imports of dozens countries starting August 7. This left major trading partners such as Switzerland, Brazil, and India scrambling to find a better deal. Guterres stated that "supply chains are in chaos and trade barriers are increasing, with some of the least developed countries being subjected to extortionate 40% tariffs despite only representing 1% of global flows." The EU may have struck a deal that sets duties at 15% for most of the goods it exports into the United States. However, these are usually much higher in the so-called Least Developed Countries. Laos for example faces 40% tariffs. The World Trade Organization (WTO) slashed its forecast of growth in global merchandise trade volumes to 0.5% by 2026, citing the delayed impact expected from U.S. Tariffs. This was a major revision downwards from the previous estimate of 1,8% growth in August. Trump's tariff policy has also put pressure on the global trade rules that were agreed by the World Trade Organization. A former WTO chief said in April that the future of global trade terms could be decided without the 30 year-old international watchdog, unless it quickly reforms itself. (Reporting and Editing by Miranda Murray and Aidan Lewis, Aidan Lewis, Aidan Lewis, Olivia Le Poidevin)
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Western retail demand for Gold soars amid rush for Hard Assets
Gold is gaining in popularity at London's Hatton Garden. Diamonds were once the main attraction, but gold has now taken over. Customers are flocking to the famous jewellery district in search of bullion coins and bars, expanding the pool of investors for tangible assets. "There is a mix between buying and selling, but the buying is stronger." Despite high prices, people continue to buy. "Many believe that prices will rise even further," said Mashhood a member of staff at a local store. On Monday, spot gold reached a new record of $4381 an ounce. Retail interest in gold remains high, despite a sharp sell-off on Wednesday and Tuesday that took it down to $4,076 an ounce. The Royal Mint of Britain has seen a surge in activity due to the increased investor interest. This month, the Mint's e-commerce activity reached its highest level ever. The demand for precious metals was reflected in this record-breaking day. The surge in demand also resulted in exceptional individual transactions. The Royal Mint's Stuart O'Reilly said that the company is seeing 60% of its existing customers and 40% of new ones. Existing investors are increasing their average orders and their positions, and existing investors have also increased their average order value. TAX STRATEGY Tax-efficient strategies are being explored by customers as well. "I am converting my bar of gold into coins in order to avoid Capital Gains Tax. Cherry Jephson said she would sell some but keep the other two thirds because I hear that prices are likely to rise. Profits from the sale of gold bars are subject to CGT in the UK. These assets are taxed. Certain British gold coins such as Sovereigns or Britannias are exempt from CGT because they are considered legal tender. Other REGIONS In Germany and Austria, traders and banks are reporting a very strong demand from consumers for gold. I saw long lines of customers at both the Viennese Shop Ogussa and the Austrian Mint store in the centre of the city. "Traders from Germany have reported the same scene in front of their stores," said Wolfgang Wrzesniok Rossbach, founder and director of precious metals consulting Fragold GmbH. Retail investors' interest in gold has grown dramatically this year. Global economic uncertainty and increasing geopolitical tension have highlighted its appeal as a safe-haven. Prices have more than doubled in the last two years, and they are up by 55% this year. Perth Mint is one of the leading producers of new mined gold in the world. It has seen a similar increase. Over the last four weeks, visitors to our "East Perth" premises increased from an average 5,000 per week to approximately 8,750. Tina Kircher said that this has led us to hire eight additional staff members to help our retail and customer service teams. World Gold Council data shows that investment in gold bars will increase 10% by 2024 while coin purchases will fall 32%. Physical gold may remain an important part of retail portfolios for the months to come, as investors seek security and liquidity. BullionVault's head of research, Adrian Ash, said that gold was reflecting the world's deep unrest. Reporting by Ashitha shivaprasad from London, with additional reporting by Polina devitt. Editing and Veronica Brown by Arun Koyyur.
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UK data center spend will soar to PS10billion a year, Barbour ABI
Barbour ABI, a construction data company, has conducted an analysis that shows the spending on new UK data centers will increase to 10 billion pounds per year by 2029. This is a five-fold rise from 2024. In the UK, data centres cost a total of 1,75 billion pounds last year. This is expected to rise to 2,38 billion by 2025. Data centre investments are driven by AI-driven demand. Barbour ABI estimates that tech giants will invest 25 billion pounds in the UK within the next five-year period, and there are plans for almost 100 new data center projects. Government initiatives, such as AI Growth Zones, which streamline the planning of new digital infrastructure. According to Barbour ABI, London and its surrounding areas dominate the data center sector. However, development is expanding across the country. Blackstone, a private equity firm from the United States, has proposed a "hyperscale" UK data center project worth $13 billion in North East England. Last month, Britain, the United States and other top U.S. companies, including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Google, pledged to invest in the UK. Since ChatGPT's release in late 2022 the global data centre market and projects planned have risen as governments and big money bet that generative AI would revolutionise how we live and work. (Reporting and editing by Ed Osmond, Lucy Raitano)
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Hungary begins talks with United States on nuclear fuel purchase
Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto told state news channel M1 on Wednesday that Hungary would start discussions on buying nuclear fuels from the United States in order to diversify its supplies. Szijjarto has been in Washington, D.C. since Tuesday. He said that Hungary needed more nuclear fuel for its expanding nuclear plant to meet its energy needs. It would continue buying nuclear fuels from Russia. Szijjarto said to state broadcaster M1 that "alongside the existing Russian suppliers relations, we are beginning consultations on purchasing nuclear fuel from the United States" in order to be capable of serving our increased nuclear capability safely. Szijjarto's reporter said that the foreign minister would be meeting with the Department of Energy, and the U.S. nuclear supplier Westinghouse later in the day to discuss this topic. Szijjarto didn't provide any information about when Hungary might be able to import U.S. nuclear energy or how much it could use. The Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary currently has four VVER-440 small reactors built by Russia with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts. It is currently supplied with Russian fuel. Hungary is planning to extend the life of its current reactors for 20 years. It will also expand the plant. Rosatom, a Russian company, is building two additional VVER reactors of 1.2 gigawatts capacity each. The "Paks II." The "Paks II." Hungary's government said last year that it will buy nuclear fuel from Framatome starting in 2027. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson; Anita Komuves)
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USTR Greer and Treasury's Bessent to travel to Malaysia for discussions with Chinese counterparts
U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer announced that he and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent would be heading to Malaysia on Tuesday to meet with Chinese officials to discuss what Greer called Beijing's "extremely aggressive" and "disproportionate measures" to curb the exports of rare-earth minerals. Greer said on CNBC's SquawkBox program that President Donald Trump could still meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, but the decision would be mutual if it took place at the sidelines an economic conference in South Korea. The U.S. negotiator stated that China's actions violated an agreement their officials made months ago, to continue supplying rare Earths for high-tech. However, there is still a "good land zone" where the U.S. can trade with China in a balanced manner. After months of relative calm, trade tensions have flared up between the U.S., and China. Trump imposed 100% additional duties on China, which are set to go into effect on November 1, after China announced its export controls on almost all rare earths. Greer and Bessent insist that the United States must rebalance its trade with China following decades of limited access to Chinese market. Greer said, "Greer also added." There was still time to calm tensions. Greer said that there is "a notional good landing zone" for the United States to trade with China, where they can do so in a more balanced way, where we are trading non-sensitive products, and where both countries have a positive relationship. "The U.S. was always quite open to Chinese companies, but it is really driven by Chinese policies which exclude U.S. firms and cause overcapacity in China. "None of this works for the United States", he said. We can't continue to live this way, so we must find an alternative. Greer said Trump, along with other U.S. officials, would also discuss agriculture issues, such as China's decision to stop buying U.S. sorghum and soybeans, which, he claimed, was meant to intentionally hurt U.S. Farmers. "Obviously, the president will raise. "We all... raise this issue with them," said he, noting China's unfulfilled obligations under a deal signed during Trump’s first term to purchase agricultural and manufactured products. Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey, Editing by Andrew Heavens & Sharon Singleton
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Gold continues to fall as investors take profits before US inflation data
Investors booked profits before the U.S. key inflation data that is due this week, which will determine whether gold prices are still rising or falling. As of 9:22 am, spot gold was down by 1.7%, at $4,054.69 an ounce. After reaching as high as $4,161.17 in earlier sessions, ET (1322 GMT) saw gold fall 1.7% to $4.054.69 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery fell 0.9%, to $4.072.10 an ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.2%, reaching a new high of one week. This makes dollar-priced gold more expensive. Gold prices are at multiple record highs this year and have gained 54%. This is due to geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty as well as expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts. Prices dropped 5.3% on the Tuesday after hitting a record-high of $4,381.21 during the previous session. David Meger is the director of metals at High Ridge Futures. The 21-day moving median at $4,005 is a technical support for gold. The core inflation rate is expected to remain at 3.1% for September, according to Friday's U.S. Consumer Price Index report. This report was delayed because of the U.S. Government shutdown. Investors are almost fully pricing in a rate cut of 25 basis points at the Federal Reserve meeting next week. In low-interest-rate environments, gold, which is a non-yielding investment, tends benefit. In the meantime, Russia announced on Wednesday that they were still preparing for an upcoming summit between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Investors also await clarity regarding the potential meeting next week between Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping. "We maintain a bullish outlook for gold and silver into 2026, and following a much-needed correction/consolidation, traders will likely pause for thought before concluding the developments that drove the historic rallies this year has not gone away," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, in a note. Silver spot fell 1%, to $48,27 an ounce. Tuesday, it fell 7.1%. Palladium fell 1.6% to $1,430, while platinum dropped 0.1% to $1.549.85.
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After the Ukrainian attack, Russia will ask its reservists for help in defending refineries
The top brass of the Russian army said that it will use reserve soldiers to protect civilian infrastructure, such as oil refineries, after an increase in drone attacks from Ukraine deep into Russia during recent months. In the midst of a conflict with the West regarding Russia's involvement in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin ordered that the regular army be increased to 1.5 active personnel, making it the world's second largest army after China's. Putin said at least 700,000. Russian legislators say that there are another 2,000,000 men in the active reserves - those men who signed a contract as reservists but don't usually serve. According to Vice Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky of the Russian General Staff, the deputy head of its main organisational and mobilization directorate, Ukraine's use long-range drones has increased the danger for critical national infrastructure as well as residential areas. He said that to increase the security of critical infrastructure and other important facilities for the wellbeing of citizens it was decided to include the most trained patriotic citizens to implement measures to protect civil facilities deep in Russia. The Russian military could free up regular troops to fight in the deadly war of attrition if it sent more reservists behind to protect infrastructure. Tsimlyansky stated that the proposed changes do not constitute any sort of mobilization. The Russian defence ministry made it clear that the reserve forces would not be deployed outside of Russia, nor in the "special military operations" the Kremlin refers to in Ukraine. According to the ministry of defence, reservists will serve in their region. (Reporting and editing by Andrew Osborn, Guy Faulconbridge)
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Draft shows that EU leaders are open to lowering the new climate targets in the future.
Draft conclusions from a summit held on Thursday revealed that European Union leaders wanted a revision clause to be included in the new climate change goal of the bloc, which could allow them to slacken it in the future. Diplomats expect a heated discussion on the EU’s new climate goal for 2040. This has raised concerns in certain capitals about how to finance the low-carbon transformation alongside other priorities such as defence and revitalising the local industries. The draft conclusions of the meeting were seen by. They stated that leaders would agree to allow EU countries and legislators to move forward with setting the 2040 Climate Goal. They also laid out the conditions to achieve this. The draft said that "revision clauses are needed in light of the latest scientific evidence and technological advancements, as well as the evolving challenges to global competitiveness for the EU." It could change before the leaders approve it Thursday. Poland, among others, has argued that a clause of revision is necessary in the event green technologies do not develop as planned or economic conditions prevent countries from making the necessary investments to meet the climate targets. This move reflects the concern of countries like France and Latvia, that agricultural land and forests will not be able to absorb enough CO2 to meet the target - partly because wildfires are becoming worse due to climate change. The EU Commission said that the target for 2040 should be to reduce net emissions by 90 percent compared to 1990 levels. This would be among the most ambitious goals of any major economy. The Commission said that it is important to stick to ambitious climate goals to ensure European industry can compete with China in green technology and to protect countries against costly extreme weather. It has also proposed weakening certain EU green laws including the EU corporate sustainability law, and a upcoming carbon pricing scheme for heating and transport fuels. This is an effort to curb the pushback of some governments that want to rollback climate measures. The draft conclusions of the leaders also called on the European Commission (EC) to create more "enabling conditions", which could be policy changes or financial support, to help industries and citizens meet climate goals. Reporting by Kate Abnett, Andrew Gray and Andrea Ricci
Fresenius wanting to increase output after cyclone damage at competing Baxter
Germany's Fresenius stated it was checking options to speed up the start of brand-new assembly line of medical devices at a North Carolina center to help alleviate possible lacks from cyclone damage to rival Baxter's. site in the very same state.
We are dealing with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's. Drug Shortage Personnel, which is actively engaged with Baxter and. other manufacturers to assess whether and by just how much capacity. has to be increased, Fresenius said in a declaration.
The Germany-based healthcare group stated its generic medical facility. drugs unit Fresenius Kabi had recently started producing. intravenous (IV) options at a brand-new facility in Wilson, North. Carolina, which it was examining alternatives to launch more. production lines much faster than planned in the untouched area.
Hurricane Helene slammed into the Florida Gulf coast in late. September, tearing a harmful course through southeastern U.S. states, ripping up roads, tossing homes about and severing lines. of interaction. In its wake, numerous individuals were. unaccounted for and lots of verified dead.
On Sept. 29, medical device maker Baxter stated its North Cove. website had actually been affected by hurricane-related flooding and was. closed for production. It said it was dealing with the. federal government to examine the damage and bring the plant back online. as quickly as possible.
Baxter stated in a declaration on Monday it was working with. federal government firms, consisting of the U.S. Food and Drug. Administration, on unique importation requirements for certain. websites and products situated outside the United States.
We have moved ended up products from our North Cove website that. were not affected by the storm and are checking other completed. products onsite. This inventory will be used to support current. allocations in the short-term, Baxter said in a statement.
(source: Reuters)