Economy

CHISINAU (Reuters) -Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region asked Russia on Wednesday to help its economy withstand Moldovan “pressure,” at a meeting of hundreds of officials dismissed by the pro-European Chisinau government as a propaganda event to gain headlines.  The region, long seen as a potential flashpoint with Russia in Europe, held a “congress of deputies of all levels” after Moldova required Transdniestrian firms to pay import duties to the central budget from January.The congress passed a resolution saying it would appeal to both houses of Russia’s parliament “with a request to implement diplomatic measures to protect Transdniestria in the face of increasing pressure from Moldova”. The unrecognised statelet, which borders war-stricken Ukraine to the east, has maintained autonomy from Chisinau for three decades with support from Moscow, which has more than a thousand troops stationed there since a brief war in 1992. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, tensions surged around the separatist region, which says it has 220,000 Russian citizens.Relations between Moldova and Russia have also frayed as the Chisinau government has steered a pro-European course and accused Moscow of trying to destabilise it.   President Maia Sandu, in Albania for a summit of southeast European countries, said Moldova remained committed to a peaceful resolution of the Transdniestrian conflict. “What the government is doing today is making small steps for the economic reintegration of the country,” she said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he and Sandu, meeting on the sidelines of the summit, discussed “the latest events in Moldova’s Transdniestria region and Russia’s efforts to destabilise the situation in the region”.Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Kyiv “will remain an active participant in the Transdniestrian settlement process” and called for the “speedy withdrawal of Russian troops”.Oleg Serebrian, a Moldovan deputy prime minister, said the congress was a propaganda event, and that the breakaway region and all Moldova’s citizens were benefiting from Moldova’s push to join the European Union. WASHINGTON WATCHING REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTSThe United States “firmly supports” Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday in Washington. “Given Russia’s increasingly aggressive role in Europe, we are watching Russia’s actions in Transdniestria and the broader situation there very closely,” Miller said, using another name for the region.Commenting on the congress, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said defending the interests of Transdniestria’s citizens was a priority and that the request would be reviewed carefully, the RIA news agency reported.The region’s economy minister told the congress, held in the regional capital Tiraspol, that customs revenues paid into Transdniestria’s budget had fallen by 18% under the new regulation.”There is social and economic pressure on Transdniestria, which directly contradicts European principles and approaches to the protection of human rights and free trade,” the resolution said. More

(Reuters) -Salesforce expanded its stock buyback program by $10 billion and announced a new dividend, but its annual revenue forecast that was below estimates pushed its shares down around 2% in after hours trading.The company’s downbeat forecast signals a likely slowdown in cloud and tech spending as clients grapple with high interest rates and rising inflation, compelling them to keep a lid on costs.The company sees revenue between $37.7 billion to $38 billion for full-year 2025, compared with analysts’ estimate of $38.62 billion, according to LSEG data.Warnings of a slow economy prompted Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) to cut about 700 employees, or roughly 1% of its global workforce, last month, adding to the slew of layoffs across the tech and media industry.”Salesforce is guiding for only 8-9% growth (for the full year), which moves it out of the high growth category. In order to make up for that, it is introducing a dividend, which is appropriate for the lower level of growth,” said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson.Cloud data analytics Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) also forecast first-quarter revenue below estimates adding to the woes of cloud firms as they face uncertainty this year. However, Salesforce beat revenue estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit as it benefited from higher cloud spending, joining other cloud giants like Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).The company reported revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter ended Jan. 31, beating analysts’ estimate of $9.22 billion.On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.29 per share compared with estimates of $2.26 per share. In early 2023, Salesforce had become a target for activist investors to push for changes resulting in cost cuts, increased share buybacks and a dismantled mergers and acquisition committee.Salesforce expects adjusted profit between $9.68 to $9.76 per share for the full-year, compared with estimates of $9.57 per share. More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (SZ:002594) is looking for a location in Mexico to set up a factory aimed at boosting the company’s share of the local market, BYD Americas CEO Stella Li told Reuters on Wednesday. The company expects to choose a location for the plant, which is set to have a production capacity of 150,000 cars annually, by the year’s end, Li said.BYD outpaced former market leader Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in EV sales globally in the fourth quarter of 2023, and auto industry officials say its push into Mexico foreshadows a competitive threat the Shenzhen-based automaker and others from China may pose to companies already operating in the U.S. market.A U.S. manufacturing advocacy group, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, this month warned low-cost Chinese cars and parts could threaten the viability of auto companies in the U.S. The group called on Washington to block the import of low-cost Chinese autos and parts from Mexico to prevent an “extinction-level event” for the U.S. auto sector.Li said BYD’s Mexico ambitions are solely geared at local sales, adding the company is scouting for factory sites in central and southern areas rather than northern Mexico near the U.S. border, where she said transportation costs to reach consumers would be expensive.”Our plan is to build the facility for the Mexican market, not for the export market,” she said.When asked whether Mexican officials had mentioned U.S. concerns over Chinese automakers, Li said they had been receptive to BYD’s plans. Analysts say Chinese automakers have been rapidly improving their vehicles and are even moving faster than global rivals in some areas, such as infotainment systems and autonomous driving.BYD is particularly cost-competitive and aggressive among Chinese players, according to executives from its Chinese rivals already selling cars in Mexico. BYD may bring aggressive price cuts to Mexico, just as it has done in its home market, forcing rivals to slash costs to keep up.Cost advantages for BYD come from its early investment in EV technology and a high degree of vertical integration the company has achieved over the years, experts say, not unlike Tesla.Like its American EV rival, BYD produces an array of automotive components and systems on its own, from batteries to motors to power management chips to dashboard screens. BYD executives announced on Wednesday the automaker will begin selling its Dolphin Mini electric vehicle (EV) in Mexico at 358,800 pesos ($20,990), less than half the price of the cheapest Tesla.At a launch event in Mexico City, Li said the car aims to mix technology and a price point in reach of Mexican consumers.”It’s affordable … so every Mexican can bring their first electric car home,” she said. Even as BYD’s Mexico sales are doubling monthly, Li also noted challenges for encouraging consumers to adopt EVs, such as Mexico’s still-limited network of charging stations.”We still need a lot of hard work to educate the market.”($1 = 17.0941 Mexican pesos) More

The White House earlier Wednesday announced an executive order intended to help restrict the transfer of personal data to China, Russia and other countries on security grounds. “Today’s executive order is a reminder of the urgent need to protect the personal data of Americans. Corporate data brokers are assembling and selling extremely sensitive data on all of us, including U.S. military personnel, to foreign purchasers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.Thursday’s Asia-Pacific economic calendar is one of the busiest of the year so far, with a raft of top-tier indicators from across the region certain to get local markets moving before U.S. inflation figures are out later in the day. The global mood is more cautious, certainly relative to the recent Nvidia-fueled excitement – the MSCI Global and Asia ex-Japan indexes on Wednesday posted their steepest declines in two weeks, and the three major U.S. indexes also closed in the red as investors braced for U.S. inflation data on Thursday.Retail sales data from Japan and Australia, and fourth-quarter GDP figures from India are the highlights that will give investors in Asia a steer on how the monetary policy path for these three key economies is shaping up.Consumer price data from Japan and Australia this week gave investors plenty food for thought – Japanese inflation in January failed to moderate as much as expected, and Australian inflation failed to accelerate, as per the consensus forecast.Will retail sales surprise as much as inflation did? Consumer spending in both countries is expected to accelerate in January from the month before, Reuters polls show. The Bank of Japan is preparing to exit years of ultra-loose policy and implement positive interest rates for the first time since 2016, while the Reserve Bank of Australia is preparing to cut rates.The Australian dollar was one of the biggest losers among major currencies and RBA rate cut expectations were trimmed after that inflation surprise. Traders now see 40 basis points of easing this year, with the first cut not coming until September.India’s economic growth, meanwhile, is expected to have moderated to 6.6% year-on-year in the October to December quarter as robust government spending slowed and growth in the agriculture sector remained muted. The range of forecasts in a Reuters poll of 63 economists was from 5.6% to 7.4%. If recent history is any indication, any surprises are likely to be on the upside – official GDP growth releases for the preceding three quarters broadly surpassed economists’ predictions.After a lull of a few weeks, Chinese markets are once again being led by news headlines on the country’s troubled property sector.Developer Country Garden said on Wednesday a liquidation petition has been filed against it for non-payment of a $205 million loan, clouding its debt revamp prospects and undermining Beijing’s effort to restore confidence in the property sector.Hong Kong announced major measures on Wednesday to bolster its flagging real estate market by scrapping all tightening measures for residential properties, and canceling all additional stamp duties on transactions imposed in the past decade. Chinese stocks have enjoyed a decent revival in recent weeks, but that may be fading. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Thursday:- Japan retail sales (January)- Australia retail sales (January)- India GDP (Q4) (By Jamie McGeever; editing by Deepa Babington) More

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the More

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Home prices in Canada are forecast to gain a bit this year and rise further in 2025 on relentless demand for housing amid scant new supply and prospects for interest rate cuts later in 2024, according to a Reuters poll of experts.The outlook has stayed broadly unchanged since the last survey in November, despite market expectations that the first rate cuts from most major central banks, including the Bank of Canada (BoC), will come later than estimated a few months ago.After surging more than 50% during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to near-zero interest rates and a panic rush by existing homeowners to find more space, Canadian home prices have fallen about 14% from an early 2022 peak, including a brief period when they rose again.That decline, despite a chronic shortage of homes, was due to weaker demand as higher mortgage rates and prohibitively expensive prices excluded many potential home buyers from entering the property market.Mortgage rates have fallen slightly over the past few months on expectations the BoC will begin to cut rates this year after an aggressive series of hikes that took the policy rate from the near-zero level in March 2022 to the current 5.0% in July 2023.That, along with a modest drop in home prices from the pandemic peak, has encouraged some buyers to re-enter the market.Average Canadian home prices were expected to rise 1.2% this year after declining 5.5% last year, and climb another 3.3% in 2025, the Feb. 15-28 poll of 17 analysts showed.”This winter’s renewed market vigor is making it a more competitive environment for buyers … we think a pivot towards rate cuts mid-year will get the wheels turning faster over the second half, perhaps even sooner,” wrote Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist at RBC.”There will be a lot of pent-up demand to satisfy once confidence returns, which could heat things up in a hurry. However, poor affordability conditions will restrain the recovery and make it a gradual liftoff.” While home sales rose 3.7% in January, and were up 22% on an annual basis, housing starts fell 10% last month, cementing the view that the demand-supply gap is widening.When asked what would happen over the coming two to three years, nearly 70% of analysts, nine of 13, said the gap would stay about the same or widen. Only four said it would narrow.”Housing affordability is a significant problem in Canada – but not one that can be fixed by raising or lowering interest rates,” BoC Governor Tiff Macklem said earlier this month. But much still will depend on interest rates in an economy so reliant on the property sector. Bringing rates down quickly could fuel demand.More than 60%, or eight of 13, of analysts said the ratio of home owners to renters would decrease over the coming year, although the same proportion said purchasing affordability for first-time home buyers would improve.The Canadian government recently announced a two-year extension on a ban on new foreign ownership of housing to address concerns that Canadians are being priced out of the market.(For other stories from the Reuters quarterly housing market polls:) More

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the More