A spokesperson said 19 flights had been cancelled by mid-afternoon on Tuesday and several other flights had been significantly delayed
International News via Reuters:
An ash cloud from Sicily’s Mount Etna volcano drifted over Malta on Tuesday, forcing airlines to cancel some flights to the Mediterranean island at the height of the tourism season.
“We’re currently experiencing flight disruptions due to volcanic ash clouds over the Maltese Islands following recent activity at Mount Etna,” Malta International Airport said in a Facebook message.
A spokesperson said 19 flights had been cancelled by mid-afternoon on Tuesday and several other flights had been significantly delayed.
Malta airport is some 220 km (140 miles) south of Mount Etna, the most active volcano in Europe, which started erupting again last week, forcing the closure of Sicily’s main airport in the city of Catania for several days.
Catania airport, Italy’s fifth busiest by passenger traffic, said on Tuesday it had extended the halt to all arrivals and departures until 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Wednesday.
Passengers with flights scheduled both out of Catania and Malta were advised to check the status of their journey before travelling to either airport.
Reporting by Chris Scicluna and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Jan Harvey
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to strike the South American country in decades, tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened
International News via Reuters:
Rescue crews dug through mountains of shattered concrete in western Colombia on Tuesday, racing to find survivors after a powerful earthquake killed more than 200 people, according to estimates from local authorities.
Families waited beside the rubble for signs of life.
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to strike the South American country in decades, tore through Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened.
In the hardest-hit cities, rescuers worked through the night with cranes, excavators and, at times, their bare hands, cutting through twisted steel and passing buckets of debris in desperate searches for those still trapped.
“We are … focused on the immediate task of saving lives, guaranteeing the arrival of rescue teams, bringing in medical supplies and field hospitals,” Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara told Blu Radio.
The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA, citing official figures as of Monday night, said 126 people had been confirmed dead and 1,495 injured. But local estimates on Tuesday put the toll around 224, pointing to a disaster still unfolding as crews reached damaged neighborhoods and communications slowly came back online.
Almost 5,000 homes were damaged, while dozens of buildings collapsed and hundreds of residences were destroyed, OCHA said.
In Cali, residents gathered in the streets after parts of homes and apartment blocks gave way. Families cooked outside, salvaged what they could and braced for another day away from home. Several of the top floors of one of the city’s hospitals — some dedicated to pediatric care — collapsed, leaving some patients trapped and 600 others tended to on a street strewn with rubble, Irne Torres Castro, the hospital’s director, told Caracol television.
In Pereira, one of the cities hit hardest, whole sections of residential neighborhoods were reduced to broken slabs of concrete and exposed rooms. Residents and volunteers formed human chains, while others stood silently nearby, listening for tapping sounds or cries from below.
“They’ve already pulled several people out, some alive and some dead. I still can’t believe it — yesterday at this same time I said hello to them, and today they’re gone. It’s very painful,” said Fernanda Gaviria, 33, speaking from a grocery shop opposite a collapsed building.
Gaviria said she spent the night sleeping in a park after her own apartment building was badly damaged.
The earthquake also knocked out vital infrastructure. Civil aviation authorities closed six airports — Quibdo, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura — due to damage, while dozens of roads were reported to be affected.
Electricity, water, healthcare and phone service remained disrupted in several areas, especially in Choco near the epicenter, complicating rescue efforts and aid delivery.
Authorities activated command centers as emergency workers, volunteers and humanitarian agencies rushed in shelter supplies, drinking water, hygiene kits, food and medical support.
International assistance was beginning to arrive. The United States said it had allocated $15.5 million for emergency shelter, food, protection and damage assessments, while the Inter-American Development Bank said it had made $50 million immediately available for reconstruction support if requested by the government.
With communications still patchy in some of the worst-hit areas, officials said the full extent of the damage and the final death toll could take days to establish.
Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in Pereira, Colombia and Luis Jaime Acosta and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Iñigo Alexander, Isabel Teles and Kylie Madry; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Paul Simao, Rod Nickel
The group has called on the regulator to make a decision similar to that which ordered Meta to put forward a payment plan and resume talks with traditional media seeking fees for the use of their content by AI tools
International News via Reuters:
A French press association has asked the country’s competition watchdog to take action against Google’s artificial intelligence-generated article summaries, which the trade group says deprive newspapers and magazines of readers.
The group has called on the regulator to make a decision similar to that which ordered Meta to put forward a payment plan and resume talks with traditional media seeking fees for the use of their content by AI tools.
The Alliance of General Information Press, which represents French newspapers and magazines, opposes the recent rollout of AI-generated article summaries by Google without consultation, the alliance said in a statement.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Four years ago the competition watchdog forced Alphabet’s Google to pay for using French press articles on its platforms, including its search engines.
Google was fined €500 million ($576.8 million) after the copyright dispute.
“The unilateral deployment of new uses of press content, without prior authorisation or dedicated remuneration, disregards these commitments,” the alliance said, adding that the communications regulator, Arcom, has estimated traffic on their sites has fallen by between 33% and 38% because of AI-generated summaries.
“The fact that AI is built upon media content means one single thing: this information has considerable value,” Marc Feuillee, the alliance’s president, said in the statement. Publishers demand this value is shared, he added.
($1 = 0.8669 euros)
Reporting by Inti LandauroEditing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and David Goodman
Statement notes visa-free travel is governed by U.S. policy and may be revised over time
Media Release:
In response to recent questions from the public regarding Bermudians’ visa-free travel to the United States and what might impact that status, the U.S. Consulate offers the following statement.
Decisions regarding visa requirements for foreign nationals seeking to travel to the United States are made by the U.S. government. Citizens of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda traveling to the United States on valid, unexpired Bermudian passports generally do not require nonimmigrant visas as temporary visitors. This exemption does not apply to individuals with ineligibilities under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act.
Visa-free travel for Bermudians to the United States is governed by current U.S. policy, rather than a bilateral agreement with Bermuda or the United Kingdom. Currently, only nationals of Canada and Bermuda enjoy this visa-free travel privilege. As circumstances evolve in Bermuda and countries around the world, U.S. policy decisions on visa requirements can be revised.
In addition, Bermudians traveling to the United States on UK passports may apply for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) or U.S. visa, as appropriate.
Additional information about visa exemptions for Bermudians and ineligibilities is available on the U.S. Consulate’s website: https://bm.usconsulate.gov/visa-exemptions-for-bermudians/
Anutin directed a deputy prime minister overseeing legal affairs to expedite a new gun control law, with stronger controls and significantly harsher penalties
International News via Reuters:
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday suspended the issuance of permits to buy firearms and said existing licences would be reviewed, days after a 14-year-old gunman killed nine people.
• Anutin directed a deputy prime minister overseeing legal affairs to expedite a new gun control law, with stronger controls and significantly harsher penalties.
• Police were ordered to stop renewing permits that enable people to buy firearms.
• Registered firearms must be kept at home and cannot be carried in public, Anutin said, reiterating the current law.
• For illegal firearms, studies are underway to enact legislation requiring their return to the state within a specified period, he said.
• Last week, a teenage student killed six people and himself at a school outside Bangkok after fatally shooting his grandparents in the Southeast Asian nation’s worst mass killing in nearly four years.
• Thailand had an estimated 10.3 million firearms in civilian possession, equating to around 15 guns per 100 residents, the highest rate in the region by a wide margin, according to a 2017 estimate by the Small Arms Survey.
• The education minister proposed new school safety measures to cabinet, including screening everyone who enters education premises for illegal objects and weapons.
Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat, Editing by John Mair
Oil shipments from Cuba’s traditional suppliers Venezuela and Mexico ended abruptly after the U.S. ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January. U.S. Coast Guard cutters patrol the waters off Cuba
International News via Reuters:
Gasoline at $38 a gallon sold from cramped apartments. Diesel hawked on Instagram by a celebrity model to a reggaeton soundtrack. Six decades after Fidel Castro’s revolution, all of a sudden, capitalist cracks are appearing in Cuba’s communist energy sector.
Under Washington’s crippling oil embargo against Cuba, an exception that allows U.S. firms to export fuel to private Cuban businesses has kickstarted a chaotic black market and pried the lid off an energy sector tightly controlled by the state ever since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House.
Oil shipments from Cuba’s traditional suppliers Venezuela and Mexico ended abruptly after the U.S. ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January. U.S. Coast Guard cutters patrol the waters off Cuba, while sanctions and threats have dissuaded tankers from even setting sail.
The embargo has hobbled essential state-run services like the healthcare system, public transport and schools. But under the Commerce Department exception, a trickle of gasoline and diesel is reaching private restaurants, retailers and taxis, the first significant landings of U.S. fuel on the Caribbean island since Castro nationalized refineries after the 1959 revolution.
Reuters could not determine which U.S. companies are shipping fuel to Cuba, but there is no sign major oil traders are involved.
Some is resold on the black market, allowing those who can afford it to keep gas in their tank and in home generators, blunting the impact of a collapse in public transport, the rolling blackouts, and, by powering home pumps, the country’s faltering water distribution system.
While providing some relief, the new system is sharpening wealth disparities. On a recent July afternoon in Havana, Amarilis Sanchez, 53, waited for hours at a bus stop. She’d come to celebrate her daughter’s birthday but now had little faith that the bus to return home, which normally cost 2 pesos, would ever arrive.
Across the street, dozens of taxi drivers leaned against antique cars. Ismael Coutiño, one of the drivers, said he could take Sanchez, but the trip would cost 1,000 pesos, he explained, 500 times as much as the bus, because of the black market price of gasoline and diesel, which many Cuban vehicles run on.
For Sanchez, who does not have a paid job, that was far out of reach. She said her plan was to sit there until it grew dark and, if the bus never arrived, sleep at her daughter’s house and wait for the bus again the next day.
BACKROOM DEALS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ADS
While only enough to fulfill the country’s energy needs for about nine days, the 900,000 barrels of U.S. fuel imported from February to May have opened the door to big changes, Reuters reporters found during visits to black market distribution sites and legal wholesalers, and in conversations with business owners, economists, diplomats and sanctions experts.
When the national grid collapsed shortly before 11 p.m. one Sunday evening this month, Havana was plunged into darkness, but a few restaurants and shops were lit up — thanks to generators running on imported fuel. A thriving resale market has bloomed in plain sight.
On another day, at a convenience store in central Havana stocked with soda, beer and crackers, customers shot pool on a table in the entryway. In the large backroom, the shopkeeper stores another product: a dozen 20-liter tanks of gasoline, which she retails at $5 a liter ($19 a gallon).
Inside a nearby tenement building, a man who advertises gasoline on Facebook hoards it in his small apartment despite the risks of fire, explosions and toxic fumes. WhatsApp groups dedicated to illegal fuel sales have proliferated.
Black-market prices peaked at an eye-watering $10 a liter ($38 a gallon) this spring before easing as the volume of imports grew.
Seeking to avoid paralysis from the oil blockade, the government authorized private businesses to import fuel for their own use for the first time in February.
In June, Cuban lawmakers approved a sweeping package of economic reforms that would open up the energy sector to private and foreign investors. While this package hasn’t been implemented in full, by late July, nearly 200 Cuban businesses had received permission to carry out wholesale fuel distribution to other private companies.
In a viral social media advertisement for one such company, a model known as the ex-girlfriend of a famous Cuban reggaeton artist struts through a warehouse filled with industrial bulk containers of diesel as Daddy Yankee’s hit song “Gasolina” plays in the background.
A spokesperson for the company behind the ad, A Granel, said it only sells to other registered private businesses. It charges $2.50 a liter for a 940-liter tank.
CUBA’S GAS STATIONS UP FOR GRABS?
Even more significantly, Cuba has approved the first foreign investment venture dedicated to importing and selling fuel on the island, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said in late July. He did not identify the company involved.
Cuban law restricts companies from reselling imported fuel without explicit authorization. Despite the reforms, which indicate private businesses may soon be able to run some of the state’s distinctive red and green Cupet gas stations, Cuba has so far not approved any retail sales.
Some state-operated gas stations now store U.S. fuel that they can disburse only to vehicles registered to specific private businesses, said Oniel Diaz, founder of Havana-based consulting company Auge.
Cuban authorities did not respond to requests for comment. On July 29, President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced what he called Washington’s “genocidal siege” of the island. Economic reforms were not undertaken to please the United States, he said, vowing no “massive privatization of national assets.”
In response to Reuters questions, State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Washington recognized “the significant humanitarian needs” of Cubans, while accusing Cuban officials of incompetence and diverting resources, without providing evidence.
He said private businesses, NGOs, and diplomatic missions can and do import fuel, mostly from the United States, but did not answer questions about the impact of U.S. policy on Cuba’s black market and high prices.
With the average government salary only about $10 a month (effectively 6,700 pesos), imported fuel is out of reach for the vast majority of the island’s 9 million residents.
Fuel sold openly on the black market is in violation of Cuban law – and poses a compliance risk under U.S. export rules, which stipulate that the fuel must be for private sector use and cannot end up in the hands of the Cuban government.
“It looks very good on paper, but there’s no monitoring of whether people follow through” with the restrictions, said Jorge Piñon, a former oil executive and Cuban energy expert who works at the University of Texas at Austin.
Reuters was unable to determine how much U.S. fuel reaches the black market, nor did the news agency find evidence that it ended up in the hands of Cuban officials or sanctioned government entities.
Other countries, including Mexico and Panama, have also exported small quantities to Cuba’s private sector in recent months, Diaz said.
STATE CONTROLS PORTS AND GAS STATIONS
Currently, U.S. fuel destined for private buyers must pass through the state-owned port and storage tanks, controlled by U.S.-sanctioned entities.
Private Cuban companies sign service agreements with these entities for the use of state infrastructure, with a payment of about 11 cents per liter, according to Diaz. Reuters found no evidence that fuel is diverted during this process.
Still, large U.S. businesses are wary of getting involved in shipping fuel to Cuba given the complexity of the sanctions, said Jeremy Paner, a former U.S. Treasury Department investigator who now advises companies.
Cuba says it will continue to ease restrictions and facilitate private investment, but it’s unclear how far the reforms will go.
For Mayra Espina, a Cuban sociologist who specializes in poverty, the small supplies of expensive U.S. fuel don’t begin to make up for the volumes kept away from Cuba by Trump’s embargo.
“It’s at least allowed the country to avoid complete paralysis,” she said. But for the vast majority of Cubans who rely on public services “it is increasing and further entrenching inequalities.”
Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener and Ayose Naranjo in Havana, Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico City. Editing by Claudia Parsons
Parts of Europe are enduring their fifth heatwave of a summer marked by drought, wildfires and record-breaking temperatures
International News via Reuters:
Periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet, the U.N. weather agency said on Tuesday, noting changes since the famously hot European summer of 1976.
Parts of Europe are enduring their fifth heatwave of a summer marked by drought, wildfires and record-breaking temperatures.
“Extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense, it’s lasting longer, and covering much wider areas than in the cooler climates of the past,” John Kennedy, the World Meteorological Organization’s head of climate information, told a press briefing in Geneva.
Kennedy said the current pattern of heat across Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, reflected the interaction between a persistent pattern of high-pressure systems across the Northern Hemisphere and a warmer climate.
The high-pressure systems trap warm air, reduce cloud cover and block cooler air from moving in, allowing heat to build over large regions for days or weeks.
El Niño, the naturally occurring climate pattern that typically boosts global temperatures, was not contributing to Europe’s heat this year because conditions in the tropical Pacific are currently neutral, he added.
CHANGES OVER THE PAST FIVE DECADES
Kennedy noted that June 1976 featured a broadly similar pattern of high and low pressure systems to those seen this year, but said the outcomes were very different because of decades of global warming.
“The picture for 1976 is one of a few isolated areas above average temperatures in a much cooler world,” he said, whereas today “the picture is reversed” with much of the globe experiencing above-average temperatures and only a few isolated cooler regions.
Exceptionally warm seas and parched soils were amplifying temperatures across Europe, Kennedy said.
Marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea and waters west of Europe are fueling hotter conditions on land by providing additional background warmth for persistent high-pressure systems, he added.
Dry ground was also intensifying the heat because soils warm more quickly once moisture is depleted.
“Lots of these factors are coming together to give us the record heat that we’re seeing this year,” Kennedy stated.
Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Keith Weir
Successive heatwaves in Europe have seen temperatures rise to unprecedented levels, causing water shortages, wildfires, and some deaths
International News via Reuters:
A fifth summer heatwave lifted European spot power prices by more than 20% with high temperatures expected to further curtail nuclear power production in France, while German wind speeds are expected to slow.
Successive heatwaves in Europe have seen temperatures rise to unprecedented levels, causing water shortages, wildfires, and some deaths.
French day-ahead power prices spiked 21.8% to €142.5 ($164.35)/megawatt hour, while the equivalent German contract rose 22.8% to €138.50/MWh, LSEG data showed.
French nuclear output is expected to be limited by 7.3 gigawatts at the midday peak on Wednesday, about 12% of the entire nuclear fleet, EDF data showed. France relies on nuclear power for about 70% of its energy production.
Two French nuclear reactors are expected to be fully offline due to high water temperatures, while four units have limitations planned. An additional nuclear reactor is expected to be offline due to low river levels.
“The heatwave is expected to be at its highest from Wednesday to Friday in France, so I’d expect significant shutdowns starting from (Tuesday or Wednesday) and they could last up until the start of next week,” Kpler analyst Alessandro Armenia said.
French rules limit how much heat plants can discharge into rivers for environmental protection, forcing reactors to cut output when water temperatures rise during heatwaves.
Meanwhile, German wind output is expected to drop by 8.1 GW to 4.7 GW, about 60% below the average for this time of year, LSEG data showed.
Heatwaves tend to bring still weather, limiting wind output and increasing reliance on gas power, which is increasingly more costly due to ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Germany’s growing reliance on wind and solar has displaced gas and coal, so when wind speeds drop, the country must ramp up gas turbines to fill the gap.
The nuclear shortfall also ripples across borders. The outages definitely have an impact on Britain and Germany as nuclear exports tend to be cheaper than coal and gas plants which are mostly price-setters in the neighboring countries, Armenia said.
The heatwave will also increase power demand as people turn on fans and air conditioners, providing more pressure to prices.
The heat is expected to continue to increase on Thursday and Friday, reaching 35 degrees Celsius to 39 degrees Celsius in most regions, but could start to fall during the coming weekend, Meteo-France said.
($1 = 0.8668 euros)
Reporting by Hugo Lhomedet and Forrest Crellin; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Keith Weir
A recent assessment showed it was too soon to start a transition to the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) and it was also too early to publish “research outputs”
International News via Reuters:
Britain’s statistics office said on Tuesday that November 2027 was the most likely date for switching its flagship gauge of the labour market to a new improved survey, replacing a dataset that has been plagued with problems.
A recent assessment showed it was too soon to start a transition to the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) and it was also too early to publish “research outputs”, the Office for National Statistics said.
The existing Labour Force Survey (LFS) suffered from a big fall in response rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been criticised by the Bank of England and private sector economists for failing to give a reliable picture of the jobs market.
“July 2027 will be an important decision point when, if we and our users are ready, we will start the process for a November 2027 transition to the TLFS,” the ONS said.
“This remains the most likely path and balances a data-led approach with the increasing costs and quality implications of continuing the dual run of the TLFS and LFS (Labour Force Survey).”
Although responses climbed back to around pre-pandemic levels in recent months, the ONS said in June an operational error had caused fresh problems.
Improvements include shorter completion times for people taking part in the survey as well as a doubling of a voucher incentive for participants to £20 ($27).
The ONS said it would publish a detailed transition plan in the first quarter of 2027.
It said previously that the TLFS would become the main measure for labour market statistics at some point in 2027, having originally pointed to November 2026 as a possible earliest start date for the transition.
($1 = 0.7404 pounds)
Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce
The latest data from Congo’s public health institute, seen by Reuters, also reported 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces
International News via Reuters:
Democratic Republic of Congo said on Tuesday that confirmed Ebola deaths had reached 2,011, the latest grim milestone in what health officials have described as the fastest-spreading outbreak on record.
The latest data from Congo’s public health institute, seen by Reuters, also reported 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces.
Delayed detection, conflict and strained health services have helped the virus spread more rapidly than in previous outbreaks.
The current outbreak, Congo’s 17th, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak, which has also led to cases in neighbouring Uganda, a public health emergency of international concern.
A study published last month in the journal Science found that transmission may have begun in January or earlier in Ituri province, identifying more than 500 suspected cases between mid-January and May 15.
Shortages of medical supplies and insecurity in affected areas have complicated efforts to trace contacts, isolate patients and curb transmission.
The Congolese government data shows that only West Africa’s 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak was bigger, with 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
It took nearly five months from the declaration of that outbreak to hit 1,000 deaths, whereas Congo’s current outbreak has hit 2,000 deaths in less than three months.
In an Ebola outbreak in Congo from 2018 to 2020, it took a little over 12 months to hit 2,000 deaths. In the current outbreak, deaths have jumped from 1,000 to 2,000 in less than a month, further underscoring how quickly the virus is spreading.
Reporting by Fiston Mahamba; Writing by Ayen Deng Bior; Additional reporting by Clement Bonnerot and Ilham Sougue: Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Sharon Singleton
The pan-European STOXX 600 was little changed at 659.84, as of 0844 GMT, fluctuating between modest gains and losses near the record highs reached earlier this month
International News via Reuters:
European shares were subdued on Tuesday as oil prices rose after efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war hit an impasse, while investors awaited a slate of economic data later this week for fresh clues on growth and the interest rate outlook
The pan-European STOXX 600 was little changed at 659.84, as of 0844 GMT, fluctuating between modest gains and losses near the record highs reached earlier this month.
Rising energy prices supported oil and gas stocks, but concerns that a prolonged disruption around the Strait of Hormuz could stoke inflation and cloud the outlook for monetary easing kept broader risk appetite in check.
Energy sector jumped 1.4% as oil prices touched their highest level so far this month. [O/R]
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday responded to Iran’s conditions for a peace deal with demands of his own, including compensation for people killed in wars, attacks and protests in a rhetorical escalation that could further complicate efforts to reopen the key oil shipping route.
“The pause this week reflects some caution around the Iran conflict and renewed pressure on oil prices. That is the key near-term risk for European markets,” said Gordon Kerr, European Macro Strategist, at KBRA.
Travel and leisure sector fell 0.9%, reflecting worries over elevated fuel costs.
InterContinental Hotels Group edged down 1.8% after the Holiday Inn owner’s room revenue growth slowed in the second quarter as a sharp decline in the Middle East offset continued gains in the U.S. and China.
Technology stocks, meanwhile, rose 0.5%. The sector remains among Europe’s top performers this year, up about 24% year to date.
“European technology has benefited largely from the global AI story. Demand for chips, data centers and the wider AI build-out has supported the sector,” said Kerr.
Investors are now awaiting euro zone employment and GDP data, as well as U.S. consumer price figures later this week, for further clues on the path of interest rates.
Among early movers, Alcon gained 4% after the Swiss-American eye-care company raised its full-year earnings forecast.
Spirax Group slid 10.5% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the engineering firm reiterated its full-year forecast for mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and margin expansion.
The insurance sector declined 0.6%, with Legal & General down 3.1% after UBS cut its rating on the stock to “Sell” from “Neutral.”
Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Rashmi Aich
Sterling was last at $1.3597 and 85.42 pence per euro, flat on both on the day, though towards the top of its recent range on the dollar
International News via Reuters:
The pound drifted against both the dollar and the euro on Tuesday as uncertainty ahead of important U.S. and British data releases kept traders on edge, particularly given thin trading in the European summer.
Sterling was last at $1.3597 and 85.42 pence per euro, flat on both on the day, though towards the top of its recent range on the dollar.
The next big scheduled event for global currency markets is U.S. consumer inflation data due Wednesday, which will help guide expectations for Federal Reserve policy in the coming months, and with it the dollar.
The focus in Britain will be on Thursday’s second quarter GDP figure, which will help illustrate the state of new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s inheritance.
In the short term traders were reluctant to place large bets ahead of those events, adding to already muted currency markets.
So far the pound has been little affected by Burnham taking office last month. While that could be due to investors waiting for further details about the shape of his premiership, Deutsche Bank said in a Tuesday note that traders are not anticipating much in the way of moves ahead of Britain’s budget scheduled for late October.
They said the current level of euro/sterling three-month implied volatility, 3.6%, is lower than at the equivalent point ahead of any major UK budget or fiscal event in the past 20 years.
Implied volatility is the options market’s estimate of future currency moves.
“Despite the high likelihood of some twists and turns on the road to the first budget under new Chancellor (finance minister) John Healey and under Andy Burnham’s premiership, the currency market remains very becalmed, and appears to be expecting few fireworks over the next quarter,” analysts at the bank said.
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