WORLDWIDE : HEADLINES
Vote counts push Biden closer to victory as Trump falsely claims election being ‘stolen’
WASHINGTON/WILMINGTON, Del. – With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, U.S. President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country’s democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being “stolen” from him.
Offering no evidence, Trump lambasted election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes are pushing Democrat Joe Biden nearer to victory.
“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election,” Trump said, who spoke for about 15 minutes in the White House briefing room before leaving without taking questions.
Biden, the former vice president, was steadily eating away the Republican incumbent’s leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia even as he maintained narrow advantages in Nevada and Arizona, moving closer to securing the 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.
In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lead had shrunk from 319,000 on Wednesday afternoon to around 50,000 by Thursday night, while his margin in Georgia fell from 68,000 to 2,500. Those numbers were expected to continue to move in Biden’s favor, with many of the outstanding ballots from areas that typically vote Democratic, including the cities of Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Australia says industry reports on China trade ‘deeply troubling’
SYDNEY – Australia says it is closely monitoring trade flows to China amid “deeply troubling” reports from industry that Chinese buyers have been told not to purchase seven categories of Australian produce from Friday.
Australian and Chinese media have reported that Chinese importers had been informally warned by Chinese customs officials that Australian wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster will be targeted for increased inspections from Nov. 6.
Australia’s trade minister Simon Birmingham said Chinese official government statements had denied any coordinated effort was being taken against Australia, and he hoped Beijing “is true to its word”.
“They deny any discriminatory actions that are being taken. But that doesn’t seem to be what industry is seeing and hearing at present,” he said on radio station 5AA.
Diplomatic relations between Australia and its largest trading partner have become strained after Beijing was angered by Australia’s call for an international inquiry into the source of the coronavirus, and Australian police raids connected to foreign interference investigations.
On Thursday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told a media briefing in Beijing that Chinese measures on foreign imports were in line with Chinese law and international custom practices.
Full coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE : FINANCE / MARKETS
Asian shares at near three-year peak; dollar, U.S. yields head south
TOKYO/NEW YORK – A gauge of Asian shares rallied to a near three-year peak while the dollar stayed sluggish and U.S. bond yields slipped on Friday in anticipation that a divided U.S. legislature would limit major policy changes and keep the status quo on economic policies.
Investors expect Democrat Joe Biden to beat President Donald Trump and the Republicans to retain control of the Senate, allowing them to block the Democrats’ agenda, such as corporate tax hikes and massive borrowing for large spending.
“With the prospects of fiscal stimulus constrained by a likely gridlock in Washington, monetary policy will likely have to do heavy lifting, boosting risk assets and putting pressure on the dollar,” said Hiroshi Watanabe, economist at Sony Financial Holdings.
Japan’s Nikkei average rose 0.7% to almost its best level in 30 years while MSCI’s broadest gauge of Asian Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%.
U.S. S&P futures dropped 0.3% in early Asian trade, a day after the underlying stock index rose 1.95%.
U.S. Treasury yields drifted lower again as investors bet that a divided U.S. government will cap debt-funded government spending and limit bond supply.
Ten-year Treasury yield edged lower to 0.773%, more than 150 basis points below the pre-U.S. election level seen on Tuesday. It had struck a three-week low of 0.7180% on Thursday.
“There will no longer be the massive largesse people were imagining. After all when it comes to fiscal spending, the Senate really matters,” said Kazushige Kaida, head of FX sales, at State Street Bank’s Tokyo Branch.
U.S. networks project almost no Democratic gains in the Senate, though vote-counting is ongoing.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Dollar steadies, but more losses seen on post-election policy outlook
TOKYO – The dollar steadied against many currencies on Friday, but traders say more losses are likely as a contentious U.S. presidential election diminished hopes for large stimulus to support the economy any time soon.
Investors are betting that Democrat Joe Biden will become the next president but Republicans will retain control of the Senate, which will make it difficult for the Democrats to pass the larger fiscal spending they have been pushing.
Biden maintains an edge over President Donald Trump, but a few important states are still counting votes and Trump is mounting legal challenges to vote counts, so there is still a high degree of uncertainty.
A large decline in long-term Treasury yields due to expectations for less fiscal spending, combined with a rally in equities and other risk assets, has placed the dollar under consistent selling pressure that is likely to continue
“There is a green light for the resumption of dollar selling, reflecting past declines in real interest rates,” said Ray Attrill, head of foreign exchange strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney.
“There’s an argument that the U.S. Federal Reserve will have to backstop risk assets. The pandemic is still trending in the wrong direction.”
The dollar traded at 103.61 yen JPY=D3 in Asia on Friday, close to an eight-month low.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has vowed to work closely with overseas authorities to keep currency moves stable, because a strong yen is widely viewed as a threat to Japan’s economy.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Oil down nearly 2% amid COVID-19, U.S. election concerns
TOKYO – U.S. oil fell nearly 2% on Friday as new lockdowns in Europe to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease raised questions about the outlook for crude demand, while markets remained on edge over the drawn-out vote counting in the U.S. election.
West Texas Intermediate CLc1 was down 73 cents, or 1.9%, at $38.06 a barrel at 0232 GMT, after dropping 0.9% on Thursday. Brent crude LCOc1 was off 72 cents, or 1.8%, at $40.21, having fallen 0.7% in the previous session. Still, the contracts are heading for their first weekly gain in four.
Italy recorded its highest daily number infections on Thursday and cases surged at least 120,276 in the United States, the second consecutive daily record as the outbreak spreads across the country.
“The situation is likely to get worse as the weather gets colder, with the threat of European-style lockdowns looming on the horizon,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities in New York.
Full coverage: REUTERS
