Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.Asian stocks are poised to end the week on a strong footing on Friday, spurred on by another solid rise on Wall Street the day before that puts some key benchmark indexes across the continent on track to register modest weekly gains. The European Central Bank cut interest rates on Thursday and the Fed is set to begin a pretty substantial easing cycle next week. Although the former was no surprise and traders have been expecting the latter for a while, they are conducive to a ‘risk on’ environment that should boost sentiment in Asia on Friday.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rose for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday. The S&P 500 came within 1% of its record high struck on July 15 and the Nasdaq, up 5.3% so far this week, is on track for its biggest weekly rise this year. In other good news, Japan’s Nikkei on Thursday snapped a seven-day losing streak in style, jumping 3.4%. Notably, it did so without the help of a weaker yen – the yen made a new high for the year against the dollar and although it recoiled, it still ended Thursday slightly stronger.But if yen strength is to persist, the outlook for Japanese stocks is murky. Indeed, the outlook for global asset prices may also be murky if the yen carry trade unwind has further to run, as SocGen strategists expect. This creates “clear market risks as market leverage in this cycle comes mainly from the Japanese currency,” they said on Thursday, adding that they are increasing their yen exposure and reducing their Japanese equities exposure.If markets across Asia are set to end the week on a high, the exception once again could be China. Shanghai stocks on Thursday posted their lowest close since January 2019.Shanghai’s blue chip index will likely end the week in the red, its fourth weekly fall in a row and the 14th decline out of the last 17 weeks. It’s been a miserable run that has seen the index lose 15%, but surely it has to turn at some point. Right?A batch of top-tier economic data from China over the weekend could be the trigger although that may require some rare upside surprises.Beijing releases house price, investment, industrial production and retail sales figures for August on Saturday, and economists polled by Reuters generally expect the numbers to come in weaker than July’s readings.The calendar in Asia on Friday, meanwhile, sees the release of Indian wholesale price inflation, a speech by Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput and Bank of Japan board member Naoki Tamura.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to Asian markets on Friday:- India WPI inflation (August)- South Korea import & export prices (August)- New Zealand manufacturing PMI (August) More

(Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s director of the Western Hemisphere Rodrigo Valdes has fully delegated all negotiations with Argentina to other officials, the fund said on Thursday.”To best support the ongoing constructive engagement with the Argentine authorities, Western Hemisphere director Rodrigo Valdes has fully delegated program negotiations,” IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said at a scheduled press conference.She said Deputy Director of the Western Hemisphere Department Luis Cubeddu and mission chief for Argentina Ashvin Ahuja, “whose work is directly overseen by fund management,” are in charge of talks with Argentine authorities.Argentine president Javier Milei had earlier this year criticized Valdes, and in July Kozack said Valdes had the full support of the fund’s management.In a reflection of the tensions that had built between Valdes and the right-wing administration led by Milei, an Argentine government source welcomed the move in a briefing on Thursday and reiterated criticism of the IMF official.”He is a leftist who does not understand our economic program,” the person said, a reference to Valdes’ time as finance minister under leftist Chilean president Michelle Bachelet from 2015-17.The IMF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement.Valdes, who earned a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has held his position at the IMF since May 2023. He previously worked in the private sector, including at Barclays Capital and BTG Pactual. More

(Reuters) – Boeing (NYSE:BA) faces a likely strike on Friday by more than 30,000 workers that could shutter its Seattle-area plane factories over demands for a bigger pay increase than the 25% over four years that union leaders agreed to.If there is no strike, the unionized workers could have to swallow a contract that most of them have said they oppose. That is because they need a supermajority to strike under rules from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the largest aerospace union in North America which represents Boeing’s U.S. West coast workers.Here’s how the voting works:Q. What’s on the ballot?A. Boeing workers have a two-part ballot. They are first asked to accept or reject the contract offer. The second question is whether they want to support a strike. If a majority of workers vote to accept the proposed contract, the agreement goes into effect.Q. What needs to happen for the workers to go on strike? A. A majority of Boeing workers must reject the proposed contract and two-thirds of those voting must support a strike. Q. What happens if a majority of workers reject the tentative agreement but less than two-thirds of those voting support a strike? A. The contract offer is accepted by default. Q. In general, how often are contracts ratified despite support from just a minority of workers? A. Harry Katz, a professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said such a scenario is uncommon. In one rare case from 2002, IAM workers at a Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas were forced to accept a contract with less than 40% support. That’s because only 61% voted to authorize a strike, falling short of the two-thirds majority required under the IAM’s constitution. Q: Why does the IAM have such a high bar to call a strike?A: The IAM says that if a simple majority was enough to call a strike, the chances of winning a good contract through a strike “decreases dramatically.” “Anytime you go into a possible strike situation, you want to be sure that a 2/3 majority of your membership support calling a strike. Going on strike with less than 2/3 results in a possible weak picket line,” according to an IAM information package for workers about the Boeing talks.”Calling a strike is serious business. The leadership needs to be sure that 2/3 of the membership support withholding their labor to walk the line.”Q. Do workers get strike pay?A. Members will be paid $250 a week from the strike fund starting in the third week, a union spokesperson said. Q. When does the voting start and end, and when will we know the result?A. Polling started on Thursday at 5 a.m. PT and will close at 6 p.m. PT. The result will be announced on Thursday evening, the IAM said. If a strike is sanctioned, it could start early Friday. More

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