Russia’s Putin questions the need for dollar forex reserves, touts bitcoin

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday questioned the need to hold state reserves in foreign currencies since they could easily be confiscated for political reasons, saying that domestic investment of such reserves was more attractive. Western countries froze about $300 billion of Russian reserves, accumulated from windfall energy revenues, at the start…

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BlackRock Investment Institute goes further ‘overweight’ on U.S. equities

(Reuters) – The BlackRock Investment Institute (BII) said on Wednesday that it had gone further “overweight” on U.S. equities as greater adoption of AI unlocks buying opportunities across sectors, even with U.S. stocks trading at record highs. The BII, a research and analysis arm of the world’s largest asset manager, said in its outlook note…

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Developing countries’ record $1.4 trillion debt service bill squeezes budgets

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank on Tuesday said developing countries spent a record $1.4 trillion to service their foreign debts in 2023 as interest costs climbed to a 20-year high, squeezing budgets for necessities including healthcare, education and the environment. The bank’s latest International Debt Report showed that total foreign debt…

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Meta says gen AI had muted impact on global elections this year

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Despite widespread concern that generative AI could interfere with major elections around the globe this year, the technology had limited impact across Meta Platforms’ apps, the tech company said on Tuesday.  Coordinated networks of accounts seeking to spread propaganda or false content largely failed to build a significant audience on Facebook…

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Trump’s trade threat runs into inconvenient dollar truth: McGeever

By Jamie McGeever ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump’s latest threat to slap huge tariffs on countries that try to move away from the “mighty U.S. dollar” inadvertently highlights the intractable contradiction at the heart of U.S. trade and economic policy.  Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to boost U.S. competitiveness and reduce its…

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