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Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore
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The Independent
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Retail sales rise a solid 0.5% in July from June helped by rebounding auto sales
Shoppers stepped up their spending in July, particularly at the nation's auto dealerships. Retail sales rose 0.5% last month, a slowdown from a revised 0.9% in June, according to the Commerce Department's report released Friday. The increases followed two consecutive months of spending declines — a 0.1% pullback in April and a 0.9% slowdown in May. Excluding auto sales, which have been volatile since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on many foreign-made cares. retail sales rose 0.3%. Auto sales rose 1.6%. They appear to have returned roughly to normalized spending after a surge in March and April as Americans attempted to get ahead of Trump's 25% duty on imported cars and parts and then a slump after that, according to Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Business at clothing stores was up 0.7% while at electronics stores, sales were down 0.6%. Online retailers saw a 0.8% increase.
Reuters
8 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oil edges down ahead of Trump-Putin summit in Alaska
LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Friday as traders awaited talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which some expect could lead to an easing of the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $66.55 a barrel by 1230 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were 35 cents, or 0.6%, lower at $63.61. At Friday's meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, a ceasefire in Ukraine is at the top of the agenda. Trump has said he believes Russia is prepared to end the war, but he has also threatened to impose secondary sanctions on countries that buy Moscow's oil if there is no progress with peace talks. "The market is watching out for whether there is a ceasefire or not. An expectation of a ceasefire translates into more Russian production," said UBS commodities analyst Giovanni Staunovo. "The question is will there be escalation or de-escalation?" For the week, WTI is set to drop 0.7% while Brent is on track for a 0.4% gain. Weaker economic data from China, meanwhile, raised concerns over fuel demand. Chinese government data showed factory output growth slumped to an eight-month low and retail sales growth expanded at its slowest pace since December, weighing on sentiment despite stronger oil throughput in the world's second-largest crude user. Throughput at Chinese refineries rose 8.9% year on year in July, but that was down from June levels, which were the highest since September 2023. Despite the increase, China's oil product exports last month were also up from a year ago, suggesting lower domestic fuel demand. Forecasts of a growing oil market surplus also weighed on sentiment, as did the prospect of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates. Bank of America analysts said on Thursday that they were widening their forecast for the oil market surplus, citing growing supplies from the OPEC+ producer group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allies. The analysts now project an average surplus of 890,000 barrels per day from July 2025 through June 2026. That forecast follows this week's International Energy Agency predictions saying the oil market looks "bloated" after the latest increases to OPEC+ output.
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Jim Chalmers says environment laws need overhaul to stop people ‘burning cash waiting for approvals'
The federal treasurer says too many people across Australia are 'burning cash waiting for approvals to build things' while flagging the Albanese government's overhaul of environment laws could help boost productivity. Labor is planning to reform the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act after failing to deliver promised changes in its first term. Jim Chalmers, speaking to Guardian Australia ahead of next week's next economic reform roundtable, said better rules and processes were needed for faster approvals, while still protecting nature. 'It will be one of the main ways that people think through our regulatory challenges and our challenges around the time it takes to get projects approved,' Chalmers said. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'In all the consultation I've been doing – in housing, renewable energy projects – there are too many instances where people are burning cash waiting for approvals to build things that we desperately want people to build.' Legislating a federal environment protection agency was a 'very high and immediate' priority for the re-elected Labor government, the new environment minister, Murray Watt, said in May. Watt signalled he wanted nature laws passed quickly to avoid another drawn-out political fight. The former Treasury boss and environment campaigner Ken Henry has pitched the redesign as a productivity measure, comments Chalmers welcomed in his Guardian interview. He said other stakeholders had expressed similar views about the Howard-era laws to him privately in recent months. 'The status quo is no longer acceptable on the EPBC Act,' the treasurer said. The goal of cutting cumbersome environmental regulation while maintaining environmental protections has eluded both sides of politics for more than a decade. The Abbott government campaigned against 'green tape' and gave state and territory governments sole responsibility for approving projects. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, scuttled a deal with the Greens to pass the so-called 'nature positive laws' at the end of 2024, fearing a backlash in resources-reliant Western Australia. Labor wants to push changes through federal parliament within 18 months, likely as one package of laws rather than in multiple stages – as attempted by the former environment minister Tanya Plibersek. Treasury included reforms to environmental rules that would free up an estimated 30,000 additional housing approvals in a list of potential outcomes from the roundtable, which was leaked to the ABC on Thursday. Chalmers said there were already 'green shoots' emerging in Australia's housing affordability and supply crisis, promising further moves to accelerate construction and planning approvals. Welcoming an uptick in recent official homebuilding data, the treasurer said Labor was determined to speed up approvals for as many as 65,000 new homes, part of efforts to build 1.2m new dwellings by 2029. 'We'll do better on housing if everyone does their bit,' Chalmers said. 'I'm confident that people in all parts of the system, investors, states and territories, certainly the commonwealth, the industry, there is a real appetite to work together to build more homes more quickly, and so that's why we've got such an open mind to the ideas that people have been raising with us.' The 1.2m target will be a challenge for the Albanese government, with Treasury and industry warning sluggish approval times and workforce shortages will make it hard to reach. But Chalmers said work by the housing minister, Clare O'Neil, and this week's change by corporate regulator Asic to review rules requiring superannuation funds to disclose stamp duty paid on residential real estate will help speed up new construction. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The so-called RG97 rule forces investors to declare stamp duty costs and is considered a deterrent to some investment. If implemented, the change could mean an extra 35,000 homes being built, Chalmers said. 'The last four or five datasets on housing, we've seen green shoots.' Chalmers used an address to the National Press Club on 18 June to suggest the roundtable could deliver concrete tax reform proposals, declaring that 'no sensible progress can be made on productivity, resilience or budget sustainability without proper consideration of more tax reform'. But weeks later, it was clear that the prime minister had become concerned the government was losing control of expectations, and moved quickly to rein in excitement over what the roundtable would achieve. 'The government will make decisions, and the roundtable isn't a substitute for government decision-making,' Albanese said on 6 August. Days later, the prime minister killed off any immediate hopes of tax reform. 'The only tax policy that we're implementing is the one that we took to the election,' he said. Labor has faced calls from unions for a minimum 25% tax rate on high earners. The ACTU called for a 25% levy on LNG exports and caps to limit diesel fuel rebate payments to big corporations, as well as a four-day week for some workers. The Productivity Commission has already proposed slashing the company tax rate to 20% for firms with less than $1bn in annual turnover, as well as a 5% net cashflow tax on about 500 of the country's biggest businesses, including miners and supermarkets. Albanese has ruled out changes to the rate and base of the GST and negative gearing, while changes to generous capital gains tax concessions and negative gearing rules for property investors look too politically sensitive. With expectations now firmly lowered, questions have been asked about the value of the three-day roundtable, particularly in the context of the enormous ministerial and departmental effort involved. 'There's been a heap of effort, working around the clock for four weeks to make sure that people's voices are heard and that we can shape up a meaningful and useful roundtable,' Chalmers said. 'I see it as three days to help inform three budgets.'
