5 Min Read
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Texas attorney general on Wednesday said state law allows the utilities regulator to cut billions of dollars from storm-inflated electric bills, an endorsement that came hours after the ouster of the regulator who opposed retroactive cuts.
FILE PHOTO: An electrical substation is seen after winter weather caused electricity blackouts in Houston, Texas, U.S. February 20, 2021. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo
The drive to reverse $4.1 billion in emergency prices gained momentum after a magazine published inflammatory comments by Public Utility Commission Chair Arthur D’Andrea. In a March 9 call with Bank of America analysts and investors, he said he “tipped the scale” to protect utility profits. He also minimized the financial pain caused by storm pricing to municipal power companies.
Possible sanctions won’t be a shock to Russian rouble -analyst Fed, Brazil central bank decision eyed
March 17 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks and currencies fell on Wednesday as investors focussed on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will signal policy tightening, while Russia’s rouble was set for its worst session in two weeks on possible U.S. sanctions.
After touching its highest in nearly seven months last session, the rouble fell 0.2% following a U.S. intelligence report that showed Moscow likely directed efforts to try to swing the 2020 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump. Sources said it could trigger U.S. sanctions on Russia as soon as next week.
3 Min Read
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece raised 2.5 billion euros on Wednesday from its first 30-year bond sale in more than a decade, with an issue that was more than 10 times oversubscribed, the public debt management agency said.
The bond drew investor demand of more than 26.1 billion euros. It was priced at 150 basis points over the mid-swap level, resulting a yield of about 1.93%, the highest among euro zone countries in that maturity.
Greece last issued a 30-year bond in 2008, a year before the start of a debt crisis that threatened to tip it out of the European Union’s single currency. After regaining market access in 2017, it has gradually been issuing longer-dated bonds, venturing out to a 15-year maturity last year.
3 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - New research has compared how the three main credit ratings agencies S&P Global, Moody’s and Fitch have reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of their sovereign downgrades.
Overall, the ‘big three’ lowered a fifth of the countries they rate between January last year and last month, topping the 16% they cut at the height of the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
There have been some crucial differences, however.
The study by CountryRisk.io found 48 countries had their ratings cut by at least one agency. Half of those also experienced more than one downgrade, although richer countries saw hardly any despite a far bigger rise in debt levels.
1 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Argentina s Economy Minister Martin Guzman poses for a picture before an interview with Reuters at the Economy Ministry, in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzmán will travel to New York on Wednesday night to meet investors before heading to Washington for talks with the International Monetary Fund, a government source said.
Argentina is looking to replace a lending program signed by the previous government in 2018 and for which it currently owes the IMF about $45 billion.
Guzmán told local media on Monday that while he hoped to sign a fresh agreement with the IMF in May as originally planned, that date was flexible.