NEWSLETTER
Thursday / September 29Sep 29
Tuesday / August 30
IAEA report on Iran
Iran is pressing ahead with its use of an upgrade to its advanced uranium enrichment programme, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed.
The first of three cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz is now enriching uranium, the report said.
The IR-6 is its most advanced model, far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1 - the only one the 2015 deal lets it enrich with.
For more than a year Iran has been using IR-6 centrifuges to enrich uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons-grade, at an above-ground plant at Natanz.
IEAE Ukraine mission
The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant this week after months of growing international alarm over the fighting surrounding the facility, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March.
Ukrainian forces meanwhile have begun a southern counter-offensive to retake the territory of Kherson from Russians, Ukraine’s southern military command announced.
Iraq descends into violence
Heavy clashes erupted in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people on Monday, after powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would quit politics. Sadrists stormed a government palace and fought with rival groups.
Machine-gun fire and explosions were reported from the Green Zone that houses government headquarters and foreign embassies.
A political standoff between Sadr and his rivals who are mostly backed by Iran has sent Iraq spiralling into yet another round of violence.
Iraq is OPEC'S second largest producer.
Meanwhile, Kuwait embassy in Baghdad urges its citizens in Iraq to leave the country.
EU's energy plans
The European Union is preparing to step into its energy market, intervening in the short term to dampen soaring power costs and eventually seeking to break the link between gas and electricity prices, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We have to develop an instrument which makes sure that the gas price no longer dominates the electricity price,” von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive body, said Monday evening in Berlin with Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck. “We’re seeing now with these exorbitantly high gas prices that we must decouple.”
She also said the bloc must take urgent steps to address the skyrocketing prices. “We will have to develop an instrument, that will happen in the next days and weeks, which ensures that the gas price will no longer dominate the electricity price,” she said.
The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, will convene an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers on Sept. 9.
Kashkari comments
Sharp stock-market losses show investors have got the message that Jerome Powell and his colleagues are serious about tackling inflation, said Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.
“I was actually happy to see how Chair Powell's Jackson hole speech was received,” Kashkari said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, speaking on the steep losses after Powell spoke. “People now understand the seriousness of our commitment to getting inflation back down to 2%.”
The S&P 500 closed 3.4% lower Friday, its worst day since mid-June.
“I certainly was not excited to see the stock market rallying after our last Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Because I know how committed we all are to getting inflation down. And I somehow think the markets were misunderstanding that,” Kashkari said.
US stocks
Stocks fell on Monday following last week’s sell-off amid increasing concerns over rising rates and tighter U.S. monetary policy.
The Dow Industrial Average slid 184 points, or 0.57%, to 32,098. The S&P 500 slipped 0.67% to 4,030, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.02% to 12,017.
During Monday’s session, the Dow briefly turned positive after falling more than 300 points earlier in the day.
Tech was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector, while energy and utilities outperformed. 3M and Salesforce were the biggest laggards in the 30-stock Dow Industrials. Those losses were mitigated by nearly 1% advances in Walmart and Chevron.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note notched a fresh 15-year high.
Iran is pressing ahead with its use of an upgrade to its advanced uranium enrichment programme, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed.
The first of three cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz is now enriching uranium, the report said.
The IR-6 is its most advanced model, far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1 - the only one the 2015 deal lets it enrich with.
For more than a year Iran has been using IR-6 centrifuges to enrich uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons-grade, at an above-ground plant at Natanz.
IEAE Ukraine mission
The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant this week after months of growing international alarm over the fighting surrounding the facility, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March.
Ukrainian forces meanwhile have begun a southern counter-offensive to retake the territory of Kherson from Russians, Ukraine’s southern military command announced.
Iraq descends into violence
Heavy clashes erupted in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people on Monday, after powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would quit politics. Sadrists stormed a government palace and fought with rival groups.
Machine-gun fire and explosions were reported from the Green Zone that houses government headquarters and foreign embassies.
A political standoff between Sadr and his rivals who are mostly backed by Iran has sent Iraq spiralling into yet another round of violence.
Iraq is OPEC'S second largest producer.
Meanwhile, Kuwait embassy in Baghdad urges its citizens in Iraq to leave the country.
EU's energy plans
The European Union is preparing to step into its energy market, intervening in the short term to dampen soaring power costs and eventually seeking to break the link between gas and electricity prices, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We have to develop an instrument which makes sure that the gas price no longer dominates the electricity price,” von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive body, said Monday evening in Berlin with Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck. “We’re seeing now with these exorbitantly high gas prices that we must decouple.”
She also said the bloc must take urgent steps to address the skyrocketing prices. “We will have to develop an instrument, that will happen in the next days and weeks, which ensures that the gas price will no longer dominate the electricity price,” she said.
The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, will convene an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers on Sept. 9.
Kashkari comments
Sharp stock-market losses show investors have got the message that Jerome Powell and his colleagues are serious about tackling inflation, said Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.
“I was actually happy to see how Chair Powell's Jackson hole speech was received,” Kashkari said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, speaking on the steep losses after Powell spoke. “People now understand the seriousness of our commitment to getting inflation back down to 2%.”
The S&P 500 closed 3.4% lower Friday, its worst day since mid-June.
“I certainly was not excited to see the stock market rallying after our last Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Because I know how committed we all are to getting inflation down. And I somehow think the markets were misunderstanding that,” Kashkari said.
US stocks
Stocks fell on Monday following last week’s sell-off amid increasing concerns over rising rates and tighter U.S. monetary policy.
The Dow Industrial Average slid 184 points, or 0.57%, to 32,098. The S&P 500 slipped 0.67% to 4,030, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.02% to 12,017.
During Monday’s session, the Dow briefly turned positive after falling more than 300 points earlier in the day.
Tech was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector, while energy and utilities outperformed. 3M and Salesforce were the biggest laggards in the 30-stock Dow Industrials. Those losses were mitigated by nearly 1% advances in Walmart and Chevron.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note notched a fresh 15-year high.
