Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate expressed support for continued assistance for Ukraine on Tuesday, as lawmakers returned to Washington facing a tight deadline for passing spending bills.President Joe Biden last month asked Congress to approve about $40 billion in additional spending, including $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs, in a test of the country’s willingness to keep supporting Ukraine as it fights Russian invaders.”We also must continue standing with our friends in Ukraine, now more than ever, as the counteroffensive against Putin’s forces is in full swing,” the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said in remarks opening the Senate after its August recess.”The Senate’s top priority must be keeping the American people safe. And this month we’ll have the chance to do that with supplemental appropriations for urgent national security and disaster relief priorities,” Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. “We need to continue to invest in America’s defense industrial base, both to support our partners in today’s fight and to help our forces deter tomorrow’s threats,” he said.Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters at the White House earlier on Tuesday that the administration was working closely with both the Senate and House of Representatives on the supplemental aid package, which seeks funding through the end of 2023.Sullivan said the administration believed it would be able to secure the necessary funding. “The conversations have been constructive, they’ve been positive they’ve been substantive and we anticipate being able to work our way through to a sound package so that Ukraine can get what it needs,” he said.Prospects for Biden’s supplemental request could be less bright in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority and some on the far right, particularly those most closely allied with former Republican President Donald Trump, have been critical of U.S. funding for Kyiv.Biden’s request for Ukraine aid comes as lawmakers face an Oct. 1 deadline to pass at least a short-term spending bill or face an embarrassing government shutdown. More

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s Codelco raised $2 billion in a bond offering in New York on Tuesday, as the world’s top copper producer seeks to fund an investment drive to revive flagging output.The company offered 10-year and 30-year notes. The 10-year was for $1.3 billion with a yield of 5.966%, or 210 basis points over the comparable U.S. Treasury rate.The 30-year, meanwhile, was for $700 million with a yield of 6.331%, or a spread of 195 basis points.The state-run miner is not only battling to reignite copper production, which is at its lowest level in 25 years, but is also facing calls to rein in its debt, which has ballooned as costs have overrun at some of its key mines in the Andean country.”This financing seeks to ensure the availability of resources for the development of a demanding portfolio of investments that for this year will need a total of $4.1 billion,” Codelco said in a statement.”This magnitude of capital is consistent with the higher level of activity of the structural projects, which are resuming their construction pace and which will help increase the firm’s production level to 1.7 million (metric) tons in 2030.”Late last month, rating agency Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) said it was reviewing a possible ratings downgrade for Codelco amid weakened production, rising costs and growing financial pressure. It said the firm would need to lift its investments to about $4 billion from $3.3 billion to boost its “structural projects.”Banks BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY), Citi, J.P. Morgan, Santander (BME:SAN) and Scotiabank are the joint bookrunners on the offer, IFR said. Codelco’s production slipped last year to about 1.45 million metric tons, the lowest in around a quarter of a century, and output has slipped further this year with the miner expecting to produce between 1.31 million to 1.35 million metric tons of copper. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is seeking buyers for the $33 billion commercial real estate (CRE) loan portfolio of failed New York lender Signature Bank (OTC:SBNY), it said on Tuesday.The majority of the portfolio comprises multi-family properties primarily located in New York City, the regulator said, adding that it would be marketing the asset over the next three months. The FDIC has been seeking to sell off portions of Signature, one of three larger banks that failed in the spring, since the bank was closed in March after an exodus of depositors seeking higher returns and safer institutions.Later that month New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) agreed to a deal with the FDIC to buy most deposits and certain loan portfolios along with all 40 of Signature’s former branches.Within the CRE portfolio is about $15 billion of loans secured by residences that are rent stabilized or controlled.While the commercial real estate industry has been under pressure amid rising rents and lingering office vacancies, Signature Bank’s portfolio is relatively attractive, said Matt Pestronk, president and co-founder of Post Brothers, a real estate developer based in Philadelphia.”The FDIC sale is somewhat unique as it has a large concentration of rent stabilized properties as collateral for the loans,” he said. “Even in this environment there are buyers of rent-stabilized buildings and lenders who make loans on them, because if the underlying properties are valued at cap rates near today’s interest rates, they would be very safe investments to own as a loan or as real estate in the case the loans are not performing.”Since the FDIC has a legal obligation to preserve existing affordable housing for lower-income people, the agency said it planned to place all those loans within joint ventures in which FDIC would retain a majority equity interest. Any winning bidders for those ventures would be responsible for managing and servicing the loans but would have to meet certain requirements to preserve the loans and underlying collateral, the FDIC said.New York City and State housing authorities, as well as community groups, are providing input to the FDIC as it begins marketing. The FDIC said it expects to complete any portfolio sales by the end of 2023. More

Good morning. Arm plans to price its initial public offering at between $47 and $51 a share, according to an updated filing yesterday, raising up to $4.9bn for its current owner SoftBank and valuing the UK-based chip designer at up to $52bn. Cornerstone investors, including Apple, Google, Nvidia, Samsung, Intel and TSMC, have indicated they plan to purchase up to $735mn worth of Arm shares at the IPO price, the company said. Tuesday’s filing also disclosed that Apple and Arm have signed a new “long-term agreement” that ensures the iPhone maker will be able to develop processors based on Arm’s designs “beyond 2040”. Apple is one of Arm’s largest and longest-standing customers after it helped found the company as part of a joint venture in 1990. SoftBank paid $32bn to acquire Arm in 2016 but its latest target is below the $64bn valuation implied less than a month ago. Read the full story on the float — expected to be one of this year’s biggest.Related read: Top fund managers are sceptical of the $50bn price tag on Arm — a company that reported flat revenues and falling profits in the run-up to the IPO.Here’s what else I’m watching today:Australia GDP: Second-quarter growth figures are set to be released today.New Qantas CEO: Vanessa Hudson becomes chief executive, succeeding Alan Joyce as the airline attempts to rebuild following a series of scandals.Rustem Umerov: The former businessman’s appointment as Ukraine’s new defence minister is set to be ratified by parliament.Trump arraignment: Former US president Donald Trump will be arraigned in Georgia on charges of violation of the racketeer influence and corrupt organisations law, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer and other charges.Join FT correspondents and UBS’s expert economist Tao Wang for an exclusive subscriber event to assess the implications of China’s economic slowdown. Register for free here and submit your questions ahead of the webinar here.Five more top stories1. Chinese property developer Country Garden has avoided default on two dollar bonds, ending a month-long saga that had become the focal point of global investors’ concerns about China’s struggling property sector. Local media reported that the company made the late coupon payments totalling $22.5mn on two $500mn international bonds within their grace period. 2. Exclusive: Some of the world’s biggest tech companies will have to overhaul how they do business and generate billions of euros in revenues to comply with new EU laws. Amazon’s marketplace, Apple’s AppStore, Meta’s WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram and Google’s Search and YouTube are among the extensive list of services that will have to meet obligations aimed at enabling greater competition for the sector.3. The world’s most powerful financial watchdog has warned of “further challenges and shocks” in the months ahead, as high interest rates undermine economic recoveries and threaten key sectors including real estate. Read the warning from Klaas Knot, chair of the Basel-based Financial Stability Board, ahead of the G20 leaders summit in New Delhi this week.4. A surge in electricity costs in Pakistan has triggered nationwide protests. The outpouring of popular anger threatens to derail the crisis-hit country’s $3bn IMF programme. Pakistan narrowly avoided default in June after securing a loan from the fund that came with strict conditions to enact economic reforms, including cutting energy subsidies and imposing taxes to reduce heavy losses in the power sector.5. The head of the EU foreign service has demanded that Iran release Johan Floderus, a European diplomat, “illegally detained” for more than 500 days, confirming the Swedish man’s identity a day after his incarceration was disclosed. While many western countries have accused Tehran of detaining private citizens, imprisoning a western diplomat is rare. Here’s what we know about the case.News in-depth

Sequoia chief Roelof Botha

Sequoia Capital has had the most tumultuous 12 months in its 51-year history. It has spun off its highly profitable Chinese arm, slashed the size of a crypto investment fund and lost key partners. Venture capital correspondent George Hammond’s 20-plus interviews with Sequoia’s limited partners, current and former investors at Sequoia as well as rival groups, and start-up founders reveal a period of “profound change”.We’re also reading . . . Demand dilemma: The biggest economic issue in the world right now is a lack of demand in China — and other countries will have few options if China tries to rely on demand from the rest of the world, writes Robin Harding.Space race: New rules are needed as costs fall and space exploration goes beyond the preserve of superpowers, writes Stephen Bush.Big government: Amid signs of “the return of fiscal activism”, paying for more interventionist government will require a rethink of fiscal policy.Chart of the day Oil prices rose above $90 a barrel for the first time in 2023 yesterday as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would extend their voluntary production and export cuts until the end of the year. Saudi Arabia, which leads the expanded Opec+ cartel with Russia, has cut an additional 1mn barrels a day from the global market since July, in what had been originally billed as a temporary measure.Take a break from the newsDescend into the murky depths with Under the Waves. Chris Allnutt reviews the new underwater exploration game that sees an offshore maintenance worker confront personal trauma and corporate malpractice.

Stan encounters sea life in ‘Under the Waves’

Additional contributions from Gordon Smith and Tee Zhuo More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist.Asia is set for a cautious open on Wednesday after a jump in oil prices to their highest level this year and resulting spike in bonds yields on Tuesday helped take some of the froth out of local stock markets that had built up recently.The regional economic data and policy calendar is light, with Australian second quarter GDP growth figures and the latest snapshot of inflation in Taiwan the only major releases on tap.Australia’s economy is expected to have grown at a faster quarter-on-quarter rate of 0.3% than the 0.2% registered in the January-March period, and at a 1.8% annual rate, which would be down from 2.3% in Q1.These figures come a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia held its key cash rate on hold at 4.10% for a third month and indicated that its tightening cycle could be over, triggering a sharp sell off in the Australian dollar.The Aussie slumped more than 1% on Tuesday to its lowest this year, one of its steepest declines this year as traders further pared back bets that rates will be raised once more by the end of the year.The flip side of that was another leg up for the U.S. dollar. There are still three trading days left this week but if the dollar index closes in the green it will mark an eighth weekly rise in a row, matching the longest winning run since December 2014-January 2015.The greenback has drawn much of its recent strength from the rise in Treasury yields and Tuesday was no different – the two- and 10-year yields both rose almost 10 basis points, the steepest increases in four and six weeks, respectively.Oil is back in the spotlight after Russia and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday extended output cuts. Nymex crude rose for an eighth day, its longest winning streak since January, and Brent crude rose for a sixth day, its best run since May last year.Oil prices have essentially been disinflationary all year, meaning the year-on-year price change has always been negative, sometimes dramatically so. But that is about to flip, perhaps later this week.With the dollar, bond yields and oil prices all marching higher, it is little wonder investors are drawing in their horns. MSCI’s Asia Pacific ex-Japan equity index fell 1% on Tuesday, global stocks posted their biggest decline in two weeks and Wall Street also closed in the red.Perhaps investors will be more inclined to take some chips off the table rather than bet on further gains in riskier assets. Those with a sense of history will also be aware that September can be a notoriously volatile month.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Wednesday:- Australia GDP (Q2)- Taiwan inflation (August)- Bank of Japan’s Hajime Takata speaks (By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao) More

Inflation levels, however, are expected to remain above the Bank of Mexico’s target range, boosting bets that the central bank will continue to hold its key interest rate at the current level to tame rising prices.The median forecast of 10 analysts surveyed was for annual headline inflation to ease to 4.61% in August, which would be the lowest rate since February 2021.Headline inflation surged to a record 8.7% last year.Meanwhile, annual core inflation is forecast to have slowed to 6.12%, which would mark its lowest level since December 2021.The closely watched core price index is considered a better gauge of price trends because it strips out some volatile food and energy prices.The Bank of Mexico, which has a target range for inflation of 3% plus or minus one percentage point, last month voted to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at a historic high of 11.25%, with board members suggesting it will stay at that level for an extended period of time to bring inflation to target.”The discussion of whether we are going to reduce the interest rate is not on the table yet,” Bank of Mexico Governor Victoria Rodriguez said during a presentation last month.In August alone, consumer prices likely rose 0.52% compared to July, while core inflation is forecast to have risen 0.30%, according to the poll.Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI will publish consumer price index data for August on Thursday. More