Lloyds, Aberdeen Tie Up With Crypto Bourse Archax for FX Trading
The tie-up allows FX trades between Aberdeen and Lloyds using blockchain technology, which enables tokenized real world assets to be used as collateral. Under the initiative, digital tokens, backed by UK gilts as well as units of Aberdeen Investment's money market fund, have been issued, transferred, and held by UK-based Archax, according to a statement on Monday.
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Asia shares slip, dollar steadies ahead of Jackson Hole
By Rae Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Shares in Asia fell on Wednesday, weighed down by a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week. Oil prices inched higher after falling in the previous session, as traders bet that talks over a possible agreement to end the war in Ukraine could ease sanctions on Russian crude oil, boosting global supply. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.47%, as did stock futures in Europe and the U.S.. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slid 0.55%, while DAX futures lost 0.5% and FTSE futures eased 0.14%. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.34%, extending its fall from the cash session overnight. [.N] "The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slumped overnight as investors ditched high-flying tech stocks with their lofty valuations," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. Adding to headwinds for the sector, news that Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of the revenues from chip sales in China, as well as reports that the U.S. is considering taking a 10% stake in Intel, have stoked investor worries of the Trump administration's growing influence on tech companies. Sources also told Reuters that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding to build factories in the country. "These developments signal that U.S. government is heading in a concerning and more interventionist direction," said Sycamore. Other bourses in Asia were similarly in the red on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei down 1.2%, while China's CSI300 blue-chip index fell 0.5%. Much of investors' attention at the start of the week was on a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies over the Russia-Ukraine war. While the talks concluded without much fanfare, Trump said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. He later said on Tuesday that the United States might provide air support to Ukraine, while ruling out putting U.S. troops on the ground. "The U.S. is not categorically underwriting anything, any security for Ukraine, even if they're open to provide some, because we don't know the conditions under which they will. So there's quite a bit of risk left out there," said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho. Oil prices recovered after a fall in the previous session, with Brent crude futures last up 0.46% at $66.09 a barrel. U.S. crude advanced 0.6% to $62.72 per barrel. [O/R] AWAITING JACKSON HOLE All eyes are now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework on Friday. Focus will be on what Powell says about the near-term outlook for rates, with traders almost fully pricing in a rate cut next month. "Given the apparent tensions between U.S. CPI and PPI data, (it) does come across as... premature to declare one way or the other. And most importantly, given this kind of dilemma embedded within the data, it is hard to decipher whether the Fed would take or would emphasise the risks that start to mount on the job side of the equation or (the) need to sit firm," said Mizuho's Varathan. Ahead of the gathering, the dollar firmed slightly, pushing the euro down 0.13% to $1.1633, while sterling fell 0.16% to $1.3470. The New Zealand dollar eased 0.17% to $0.5885 ahead of a rate decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand due shortly on Wednesday, where a rate cut is expected. Elsewhere, spot gold fell 0.07% to $3,312.89 an ounce. [GOL/] Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Xiaomi Plans Europe Foray in 2027 After EV Sales Gains Pace
(Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp. intends to sell its first electric vehicle in Europe by 2027, declaring plans to take on Tesla Inc. and BYD Co. globally after gaining traction with its year-old Chinese EV business. President Lu Weibing shed more light on the company's expansion plans after reporting a 31% rise in quarterly revenue, riding the successful launch of its second EV over the summer. That helped counter slowing demand for smartphones. Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System Trump Takes Second Swing at Cutting Housing Assistance for Immigrants A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome Xiaomi has previously described ambitions to go global, though it's never specified a target market. While Europe is a common destination for Chinese EV makers seeking to tap a more lucrative arena, considering they can often sell their cars with higher margins there, they do face punitive tariffs. Were Xiaomi to export its EVs to Europe, it would likely be subject to tariffs of up to 48%, including a base 10% import duty and additional countervailing levies of around 35% to 38%. Those measures were imposed by the European Union in response to what it deems unfair state subsidies provided to Chinese EV makers, which the bloc argues distorts market competition and threatens local manufacturers. Chinese EV makers also face tariffs of 100% if they want to sell their cars in the US. That's effectively shut them entirely out of the market. Read: Europe Warms to China's Investments in Face of US Tariffs Regardless, strong demand for the YU7 sport utility vehicle, which co-founder Lei Jun released at the end of June, is propelling Xiaomi's $10 billion gamble on the increasingly crowded EV arena. The company aims to become one of the world's top five carmakers within 15 to 20 years, despite a production crunch that's testing its ability to scale up. Wait times for the SUV have stretched to more than a year. 'The business model we have developed in China can also apply in overseas market when we get into Europe,' Lu told analysts on a call. 'We're doing the research and preparation. So far we have not got the specific product plan yet.' Revenue climbed to 116 billion yuan ($16.2 billion) in the June quarter, just edging past average analyst estimates. The tech giant delivered 81,302 cars, taking the total to more than 157,000 in the first half — on track to surpass 2024's haul. But smartphones — its original and largest business — slid 2.1% and missed the average projection by about 5%. While Xiaomi doesn't expect smartphones to see much growth this year, the company's goal is to increase its market share in China by 1% every year, Lu told reporters on a post-earnings call Tuesday. It expects growth of about 5 to 6 percentage points in shipments this year to 175 million devices, executives said. Losses from the EV division narrowed to about 300 million yuan during the period. Lei said at an investor meeting in June that the automaking venture is expected to turn profitable in the second half of this year. Xiaomi has gained some $120 billion of market value over the past year, galvanized by its drive into EVs that's gained momentum against much larger and more experienced rivals. The company seems to have shaken off a fatal accident involving one of its SU7 sedans in March, which had its Autopilot turned on. The crash prompted regulators to rein in the deployment of advanced driver assistance technology nationwide. The Chinese government also intervened in June to try to stop a long-running price war that has squeezed margins all along the auto supply chain. Xiaomi has avoided getting embroiled in the discounting thanks in large part to demand for its vehicles remaining very high. Xiaomi's overall net income roughly doubled to 11.9 billion yuan, helped by fair value gains on financial instruments. Still, the stock is now trading at more expensive valuations than BYD as well as global smartphone rival Samsung Electronics Co. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Xiaomi's robust 3.2 percentage point EV gross margin sequential growth in 2Q reflects improving economies of scale and a favorable product-mix shift, helping together with solid internet-of-things growth to offset smartphone headwinds. The ramp-up of Xiaomi's second EV factory and a rising sales mix of the YU7 SUV could boost margin, supporting breakeven in the EV segment by end-2025 and potentially driving a 2025-26 profit beat. - Steven Tseng and Sean Chen Click here for the research. Xiaomi is grappling with a slowdown in its core business and sluggish consumer spending. Along with rivals Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., it's been offering steep discounts over the big June shopping festival in an attempt to lure shoppers, pressuring margins. AI and chip design is another arena where Xiaomi is ramping up resources. The Beijing-based firm unveiled a 3-nanometer chip called the Xring O1 chip, designed to power devices including the Tablet 7 Ultra. Lei said the company would invest $7 billion this decade into semiconductors. (Updates throughout with context, comments from press call.) 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Yahoo
an hour ago
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UK independent space agency scrapped to cut costs
The UK Space Agency will cease to exist as an independent entity to cut the cost of bureaucracy, the government said on Wednesday. It will be absorbed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in April 2026. The government says this will save money, cut duplication and ensure ministerial oversight. But one leading space scientist said the move would lead to disruption in the short term and the UK losing ground to its international competitors over the long run. Dr Simeon Barber of the Open University feared that scrapping UKSA would lead to Britain's space sector "losing focus". "Around the world countries have been recognising the importance of space by setting up national space agencies, and for the government to be scrapping ours seems like a backward step," he said. UKSA was created 2010 in response to the growing importance of the sector to the economy. The development of small spacecraft, satellites and space instrumentation is a field that the UK excels at, thanks in part due to the agency. Its role is to develop the country's space strategy, coordinate research and commercial activities and liaise with international partners. During its tenure UKSA saw a UK astronaut, Tim Peake launched into space to work on the International Space Station and the development of Britain's own capability to launch small satellites and other small payloads into space from Scotland. The space sector generates an estimated £18.6bn a year and employs 55,000 people across the country. The agency, its budget and activities will now be absorbed into DSIT. It follows a commitment from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reduce costs and cut the number of arms length government bodies, known as quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations), starting with the abolition of NHS England announced in March. Space minister Sir Chris Bryant said: "Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector." The merger will see the agency become a unit within DSIT, staffed by experts from both organisations and retaining the UKSA name. But supporters of the space agency, such as Dr Barber fear that this will mean a loss of the agency's dynamic, proactive approach which has proved to be so successful for the UK's space science and its space industry. He said there was a danger of moving to more bureaucratic, less incentivised ways of working, which he said were more typical of government departments, and were the reason the agency was created in the first place. "It feels like we're going to get stuck in the mud again," he told BBC News.
