Business

By Karen Brettell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Longer-term U.S. Treasury yields have surged to multi-month highs, outpacing a rise in shorter-dated yields, with some of the disparity reflecting anticipation that the incoming Trump administration will need to change the current focus on relying more on short-term debt, traders say.

President Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has increased sales of Treasury bills, debt maturing in one year or less, which have seen strong demand from money market investors.

But that has taken the portion of bills above the recommended levels for the overall debt outstanding, a process that will likely need to be addressed by President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury chief Scott Bessent.

“The market is building more term premium into the long end to account for the fiscal situation, the deficit, and potentially a lot more issuance in the long end of the curve as they unwind the Yellen policy,” said Dan Mulholland, head of rates – trading and sales at Crews & Associates.

Ten-year yields were below those on two-year notes until around September and have been rising at a faster pace since June. Ten-year yields reached 4.73% on Wednesday, the highest since April, while two-year yields have held relatively steady at 4.27%.

Traders say that abundant supply of short-term debt was a factor keeping the U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted for longer than is usual, from around July 2022 to September, which is now being reversed.

“That kept the yield curve inverted, and now I think there’s a feeling that that’s not the way to do it,” said Tom di Galoma, head of fixed income trading at Curvature Securities.

An expected increase in longer-dated debt is not the only factor pushing yields higher. Trump’s policies are expected to boost growth and potentially inflation, both of which will lead to higher interest rates.

The Treasury often uses sales of short-term debt as a kind of shock absorber that it can increase or decrease when it faces large swings in its borrowing needs. But longer-term, market observers say it’s unwise to rely too much on short-term debt, as it increases refinancing risks if market conditions turn.

Outstanding Treasury debt has surged to $36 trillion from $23 trillion in late 2019 as the government relies more on debt to finance spending and plug its budget deficit, which analysts expect will continue to worsen for the foreseeable future.

Treasury bills now account for 22% of debt, above the 15-20% recommendation by the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee.

They reached 25% in 2020 as the government ramped up spending related to COVID-related business closures. They then fell back to around 15% in 2022 but have taken a larger share of overall debt issuance since.

While the Treasury is not expected to immediately increase its longer-dated debt auctions, market participants have begun pricing for the likely eventuality and will watch the U.S. government’s quarterly refunding announcements for signals on when it will likely begin.

“Trump’s Treasury Secretary is not going to cause disruption in the market by suddenly changing the auction sizes, but it could be that in late April, early May, that we start to see announcements for higher coupon auction sizes,” said Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial. He added that increases in longer-dated debt may begin in the summer.

(Reporting By Karen Brettell; editing by Alden Bentley and Mark Heinrich)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. wholesale inventories fell 0.2% in November, as initially estimated last month, amid sharp declines in stocks of long-lasting manufactured goods like motor vehicles and computer equipment.

Stocks at wholesalers were unchanged in October, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the drop in inventories, a key part of gross domestic product, would be unrevised at 0.2%.

Inventories increased 0.8% on a year-on-year basis in November.

Monthly wholesale inventories could rebound in the months ahead as businesses fearful of higher tariffs front-load imports. Goods imports surged 4.3% in November, government data showed on Tuesday. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to impose or massively raise tariffs on imports.

Durable goods inventories decreased 0.4% in November after easing 0.1% in October. Motor vehicle inventories declined 2.2% while those of computer equipment fell 1.3%. There were also decreases in stocks of machinery. 

Nondurable goods inventories rose 0.2% as a 4.5% plunge in farm products was more than offset by increases in groceries, apparel, petroleum and alcohol.

Excluding motor vehicles, wholesale inventories gained 0.1%. This category goes into the calculation of GDP.

    Private inventory investment was a small drag on GDP in the third quarter. The economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate in the July-September quarter. 

Sales at wholesalers rebounded 0.6% in November after falling 0.3% in October. They were lifted by a 1.5% jump in durable goods. Sales of nondurable goods fell 0.3%. 

At November’s sales pace it would take wholesalers 1.33 months to clear shelves, down from 1.34 in October.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

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By Nora Eckert

DETROIT (Reuters) -The United Auto Workers union is petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election at a Kentucky battery plant run by a Ford Motor joint venture, the union said in a release Wednesday.

The BlueOval SK plant, owned by a partnership of South Korea’s SK On and Ford, is the latest battery battleground for the union as it seeks to grow its decreasing membership and secure jobs as the industry electrifies.

A representative for BlueOval SK said most workers at the battery facility have not yet been hired, and called the union’s petition “premature.” 

“The UAW is trying to rush BlueOval SK into unionization before our full workforce has the opportunity to make a truly free and informed choice,” the statement said.

About 750 workers have been hired in Kentucky, and the joint-venture is expecting to bring on a total of 5,000 workers across two battery plants, the representative said. The first of those battery plants is slated to start production this year.

UAW President Shawn Fain has sought to expand on a historic win last year at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee. The labor group has not won a significant vote since, suffering a defeat at a Mercedes plant in Alabama in May.

The UAW invested $40 million last year to organize non-union automakers across the U.S., a push that included companies such as Tesla and Toyota.

Battery plants partly owned by Detroit’s automakers were a major sticking point during the union’s six-week strike against Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis in late 2023.

The union previously notched victories with Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution at plants in Ohio and Tennessee.

In June 2024, it reached a tentative contract at an Ohio GM battery plant, and in September, GM agreed to recognize the union at an Ultium plant in Tennessee.

Companies can agree to voluntarily recognize workers once a majority sign cards supporting unionization, which is what happened with the Ultium facility in Tennessee.

In cases where the company does not agree to do this, there is an election, overseen by the NLRB, where workers must vote by majority to unionize.

A union can file a petition for such an election after collecting signatures from at least 30% of workers, according to the NLRB.

The UAW said in November that a “supermajority” of workers at the Kentucky facility had signed cards indicating their support for joining the union, without specifying the percentage.

Some labor experts say it is not surprising that the union is trying to organize the current population of workers at the battery facility instead of waiting for it to expand to its full workforce, given that there have been frequent delays around EV-related plants.

Art Wheaton, labor professor at Cornell University, added that if the union wins this election but future hired workers do not support it, they can always move to decertify the labor group at the facility.

An election date has not yet been set, but it typically takes several weeks between the union filing for an election and it being held.

While the union got support from President Joe Biden – including in person at its picket lines during the strike – Fain president-elect Donald Trump have a more contentious relationship.

The incoming president has said the union leader should be fired, and Fain said before the election that if Trump won, it would be a “complete disaster for the working class.”

(Reporting by Nora Eckert, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese carmaker BYD said on Wednesday that a third roll-on/roll-off ship carrying close to 5,000 new energy vehicles bound for Europe has set sail.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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(Reuters) -Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co said on Tuesday that it will sell its Dunlop brand to Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries for $701 million in cash as part of a plan to streamline its business.

The sale covers the Dunlop brand and its trademarks in Europe, North America and Oceania, the company said.

Goodyear said it will continue to sell Dunlop-branded tires for passenger cars in Europe through at least Dec. 31 this year and will pay a royalty to Sumitomo Rubber.

Goodyear will then continue to supply certain Dunlop-branded tires to Sumitomo in Europe for five years.

The tire company said it will also license back Dunlop trademarks for truck tires in Europe on a long-term basis and will pay the Japanese firm royalty on sales.

In 2023, Goodyear announced plans to cut costs and trim its portfolio of businesses, including its Dunlop brand and its Off-the-Road and chemicals units, aimed at delivering more than $2 billion in gross proceeds.

The tire company sold its Off-the-Road equipment tire business to Japan’s Yokohama Rubber for $905 million in cash last year as part of the same cost-cutting drive.

Tire manufacturers have come under pressure over the past few years from cheaper Chinese rivals and face scrutiny from regulators on concerns of pollution.

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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LONDON (Reuters) – From China to Europe, Canada to Mexico, world markets are already reeling from Donald Trump’s promise to jack up tariffs when he becomes U.S. president in less than two weeks. 

Trump has pledged tariffs of as much as 10% on global imports and 60% on Chinese goods, plus a 25% import surcharge on Canadian and Mexican products, duties that trade experts say would upend trade flows, raise costs and draw retaliation.

The scale and scope remains to be seen, but the road ahead is bumpy. Here’s a look at some markets in focus right now. 

1/ FRAGILE: CHINA 

“China is likely to be the primary target of the Trump trade wars 2.0,” say Goldman Sachs. Investors are already getting ahead, forcing the country’s stock exchanges and central bank to defend a tumbling yuan and stocks. 

China’s tightly controlled currency is at its weakest in 16 months, with the dollar trading above the symbolic 7.3 yuan milestone which authorities had defended. 

Barclays sees the yuan at 7.5 per dollar by end-2025, and sliding to 8.4 in a scenario in which the U.S. imposes 60% tariffs.

Even without tariffs, the currency has been hurt by a weak economy pushing down Chinese government bond yields — widening the gap with elevated U.S. Treasury yields. 

Analysts expect China to let the yuan weaken further to help exporters manage the impact of tariffs, but gradually. 

A sudden plunge would bring lurking fears of capital outflows to the fore, and jolt confidence, already bruised after stocks just saw their biggest weekly fall in two years.   

Investors in other major Asian exporters such as Vietnam and Malaysia are also nervous.  

2/ EURO’S TOXIC MIX

The euro has slid over 5% since the U.S. election, the most among major currencies, to two-year lows around $1.04. 

JPMorgan and Rabobank reckon the single currency could fall to the key $1 mark this year, as tariff uncertainty weighs.    

The U.S. is the European Union’s most important trading partner, with $1.7 trillion in two-way goods and services trade.

Markets anticipate 100 basis points of European Central Bank rate cuts this year to bolster a lackluster economy. But traders, speculating that tariffs could boost U.S. inflation, anticipate just 40 bps of Fed rate cuts, enhancing the dollar’s appeal over the euro.

A weakening Chinese economy also hurts Europe.

Tariffs hitting China and the EU at the same time could be a “very toxic mix for the euro”, said ING currency strategist Francesco Pesole.

3/ CAR TROUBLE

In Europe, auto stocks are also particularly sensitive to tariff-headlines. 

On Monday, a basket of auto names briefly shot up almost 5% on a Washington Post report that Trump aides are exploring import duties only for critical imports but then fell as Trump denied the article.

The swings highlight investors’ touchiness on an already-depressed sector that has seen its shares shed a quarter of their value since an April 2024 peak and their relative valuations plunge.

Barclays’ head of European equity strategy Emmanuel Cau said autos are among the trade-exposed, consumer sectors he is watching. Others include staples, luxury goods and industrials.

A Barclays basket of the most tariff-exposed European stocks is down about 20%-25% relative to the main market in the past six months. 

Euro zone economic weakness could also prolong European equities’ underperformance. The STOXX 600 rose 6% in 2024, while the S&P 500 index surged 23%.

4/ GOING LOONIE

Canada’s dollar is near its weakest in over four years, having fallen sharply after Trump in November threatened a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs and migrants.

It has potential to fall further. Goldman analysts reckon markets may only be pricing about a 5% chance of such a tariff, and while they think this is unlikely to materialise, prolonged trade talks could keep risks alive.

A fully-fledged trade war necessitating additional Canadian rate cuts could push the loonie to the 1.50 mark against the U.S. dollar, said ING’s Pesole. That would imply a further weakening of almost 5% from around 1.43 now.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation further complicates the outlook. 

5/ VOLATILE PESO 

The Mexican peso was already down 16% against the dollar in 2024 when Trump was elected, so a lot of news – both good for the dollar and bad for the peso – was priced in.

The peso’s 2024 performance, a 18.6% drop, was its weakest yearly showing since 2008. Besides the threat of tariffs from the U.S. – the destination of 80% of Mexico’s exports – a controversial judicial reform also affected the currency.

Monday’s tariff news, later denied by Trump, sent the peso up as much as 2% before it pared gains, highlighting that volatility may continue as trade along the U.S. southern border remains a target for the President-elect.    

(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn in Gdansk, Lucy Raitano, Alun John and Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Compiled by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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By Katya Golubkova and Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Wednesday as supplies from Russia and OPEC members tightened while data showing an unexpected increase in U.S. jobs openings pointed to expanding economic activity and consequent growth in oil demand.

Brent crude was up 28 cents, or 0.36%, to $77.33 a barrel at 0415 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 40 cents, or 0.54%, to $74.65.

Oil output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell in December after two months of increase, a Reuters survey showed. Field maintenance in the United Arab Emirates offset a Nigerian output hike and gains elsewhere in the group.

In Russia, oil output averaged 8.971 million barrels a day in December, below the country’s target, Bloomberg reported citing the energy ministry.

On the economic front, job openings rose in the United States in November and the number of layoffs was low, while workers were reluctant to quit, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed.

“Robust U.S. economic data continues to bolster the outlook for the U.S. economy and oil demand, further supported by a larger-than-anticipated drawdown in crude inventories,” said IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong.

“After trading within a prolonged tight range since October last year, selling pressures may have been exhausted for now, paving the way for a modest recovery,” Yeap said.

U.S. crude oil stocks fell last week while fuel inventories rose, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

Going forward, analysts expect oil prices to be on average down this year from 2024 due in part to production increases from non-OPEC countries.

“We are holding to our forecast for Brent crude to average $76/bbl in 2025, down from an average of $80/bbl in 2024,” BMI, a division of Fitch Group, said in a client note.

“The bearish view is being led by our fundamental data forecast, which points to an oversupply this year, with supply growth outstripping demand growth by 485,000 barrels per day.”

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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By Scott Murdoch

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian dollar bond issuance is expected to rise around 20% in 2025 over last year, driven by Chinese debt deals and as U.S. interest rate cuts make it more affordable for companies to issue dollar bonds rather than local currency debt.

In the first few days of 2025, at least $6 billion worth of dollar bonds were issued, LSEG data and term sheets reviewed by Reuters showed. Deals have been priced by the Export Import Bank of Korea and aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group.

“We are expecting about a 20% increase in dollar bonds out of Asia, not taking into account Japan or Australia, to reach about $220-$225 billion in 2025,” Rishi Jalan, Citigroup’s Asia Pacific debt syndicate head, said. Around $175 billion worth of dollar bonds were issued in 2024.

“To reach that level, a lot of guns will have to fire to meet that volume,” he said.

“So, we will need to see some of the big China tech names come back in size, a pick-up in issuance in India, there has been a lot of volume lost in India to local currencies and that will need to come back into dollars.”

Increased dollar issuance helps fund Asia-based companies’ expansion ambitions and nudges fees higher for major investment banks working as bookrunners on the deals.

Higher U.S. interest rates for most of the past two years had made it cheaper for many companies in Asia to issue bonds in their own currencies or rely on domestic bank funding rather than issue dollar bonds.

But the Fed reduced the policy rate by a full percentage point over its last three meetings of 2024, and is expected to keep the rate in the current range of 4.25% to 4.5% at the next meeting on Jan. 28-29.

China’s technology behemoths are predicted to lead the surge in dollar debt issuance this year, Jalan said. As a precursor, e-commerce firms Alibaba and Meituan raised a combined $7.5 billion via dollar bonds late last year.

The two tech giants raised money last year partially to pay down debt and access capital to fund future growth. Bankers expect that trend to continue in 2025.

DRIVING FORCE

China, an engine of growth for the dollar debt market in Asia, issued $77.1 billion worth of dollar bonds in 2024, according to Dealogic data, an 81% increase on the $42.5 billion raised one year earlier.

Despite the sharp rise, however, the volume remained well off the 2019 peak when $210.5 billion was raised, the data showed.

“High grade Chinese companies are able to issue now and those companies are more comfortable with where the rates are compared to 2023 and first half of 2024,” said Avinash Thakur, head of capital markets financing, Asia Pacific, at Barclays.

“There will be issuance in tech, they have funding requirements and in the industrials sector,” he said.

Bankers said it was unlikely the country’s troubled property sector, a major issuer of junk bonds before a debt crisis hit the sector in 2021, will return to the markets anytime soon as it remains in turmoil.

“The sector is still under pressure, property prices continue to be down and debt levels are high,” Thakur said.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korean dollar bond issuance rose 14.5% in 2024 to nearly $50 billion but the current political instability could prompt investors to avoid deals in that market, said Jini Lee, a partner at law firm Ashurst.

“Investors looking to diversify away from U.S. investments and had wanted to invest in Asia may have looked towards India and Korea,” Lee said, adding that due to pessimism towards China, other Asian markets have gained popularity with investors from outside the region.

“Some investors may choose to wait for the political situation to stabilise before investing in South Korean companies so the market may be slightly muted prior to that.”

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Jacqueline Wong)

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ATLANTA (AP) — After years of stalled efforts to limit civil lawsuits, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers are doubling down with a new push.

Supporters, most prominently business groups, call the state a “judicial hellhole,” and argue that businesses are being crushed by rising insurance costs driven by excessive lawsuits that have helped plaintiffs get big payouts.

“This issue is not about business,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican. “It’s about every Georgian paying more and more premiums for their insurance. Whatever we can do to make it more affordable to own a home, operate your vehicle and protect your family with insurance, we need to do it.”

But opponents say there’s no proof that lawsuits are closely linked to rising insurance rates and that limits will make it harder for injured parties to win justice in court.

“This is about trying to do some favors for people who hopefully will line your political pockets,” said Jen Jordan, an attorney and former Democratic state senator. “At the end of the day, Georgians are going to be hurt.”

Kemp in 2022 promised the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, one of his top allies, that he would seek to limit lawsuit costs, a push that many call “tort reform.” But he admitted in 2023 that the effort was complicated, and instead signed a law to gather data on lawsuit verdicts.

Even as Kemp held events to build public support ahead of the legislative session, which begins Monday, the Republican governor is having to contend with GOP lawyers in the General Assembly who make a living by filing lawsuits, Democrats who mostly oppose changes, and a state Supreme Court that has voided earlier limits.

One key issue is lawsuits against stores, apartment complexes and other businesses over crimes or injuries on their property. In one such lawsuit, Georgia mother Sheila Brooks sued Family Dollar and Dollar Tree last year after her son Lem Johnny Johnson IV was fatally shot at one of their south Atlanta stores.

Police say the shooter wasn’t a Family Dollar employee, but the lawsuit alleges that Family Dollar knew about earlier incidents “involving gunshots, gunplay, assault, violent threats with weapons, and disturbing acts of violence” at and near the location. The store should have taken more security measures to protect their customers, the complaint said.

Supporters of lawsuit limits say property owners shouldn’t be held responsible for the wrongdoing of customers and trespassers.

“If we fix this problem, Georgia could be a much easier, well-perceived place for businesses and their insurers,” said attorney Bill Custer. “It will fix our reputation as a bad-boy state.”

Nancy Palmer, a spokesperson for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said Georgia’s legal landscape has driven insurance companies out, making it difficult for businesses to get adequate coverage. She said insurance costs have become “untenable” across industries, affecting day care centers, grocery store owners, pharmacies, low-income housing providers and others in urban and rural areas alike.

Darion Dunn, a managing partner at Atlantic Strategies, which develops affordable housing and is behind a micro community for previously unsheltered people known as “The Melody,” said insurance companies are raising premiums or denying coverage in areas they label as “high crime” due to concerns about litigation.

“Because of these rising insurance costs, we’ve had to walk away from projects that would otherwise have brought much-needed affordable housing,” Dunn said.

Dunn wants to see lawmakers limit the amount of compensation people can seek for non-economic damages such as emotional pain and suffering. Georgia’s legislature capped such verdicts in 2005, but the state Supreme Court overturned the law in 2010 as unconstitutional.

The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association disputes the idea that insurance costs are rising because of jury verdicts, and said in a statement that “insurance companies have continued to raise premiums despite making record profits.”

To limit a property owner’s liability, lawmakers could limit the kind of evidence lawyers can use to prove property owners knew about the risk of incidents like Johnson’s killing.

Lawmakers could also instruct juries to assign a minimum amount of blame to the person who committed the crime. In an oft-cited 2023 case, a man was awarded almost $43 million in a lawsuit against CVS after he was shot in a CVS parking lot during an armed robbery. The jury found CVS 95% responsible for the shooting, the victim 5% responsible and assigned no responsibility to the shooter.

These kinds of large verdicts are rare, said Madeline Summerville, an Atlanta attorney and political consultant for Democrats. She said large verdicts often result when insurers refuse to settle cases they should, and while some cases are “frivolous,” most aren’t.

“You can’t make legislation based on the fact that there’s a minority of folks that are trying to game the system and then convince all of the people of Georgia that that’s the majority of the cases that are coming through,” Summerville said.

Summerville is particularly worried about changes to medical malpractice lawsuits, where people sue medical providers for botched work. If medical practitioners aren’t held accountable, the level of care will decline, she said.

In a roundtable hosted by Kemp last fall, medical executives said insurance costs are rising and doctors fear working in Georgia because they might get sued. Van Loskoski, CEO of Stephens County Hospital in Toccoa, said the hospital couldn’t recruit obstetricians because of the fear of lawsuits and stopped delivering babies in 2021. The hospital’s medical malpractice premiums then fell by 13%, Loskoski said.

Lawmakers also could consider other measures, including some similar to laws passed in Florida in 2023. For example, they could require attorneys to show jurors how much plaintiffs actually paid in medical bills, as opposed to “phantom damages” based on the amounts they were originally charged. Legislators could also order separate trials to determine who is at fault for medical damages and what those damages are.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings unexpectedly increased in November, but a softening in hiring pointed to a slowing labor market.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 259,000 to 8.098 million by the last day of November, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.

Data for October was revised higher to show 7.839 million vacancies instead of the previously reported 7.744 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.70 million unfilled positions. The labor market is being supported by low levels of layoffs, but employers are hesitant to add more workers after a hiring spree during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hires dropped 125,000 to 5.269 million in November. Layoffs were little changed at 1.765 million.

Job growth likely slowed in December as the boost from the end of disruptions from hurricanes and strikes by factory workers at Boeing and another aerospace company faded.

Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 160,000 jobs in December after surging by 227,000 in November, a Reuters survey showed. The unemployment rate is forecast unchanged at 4.2%.

The Federal Reserve last month delivered a third consecutive interest rate cut, lowering its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to the 4.25%-4.50% range.

The U.S. central bank, however, projected only two quarter point reductions in borrowing costs this year compared to the four it had forecast in September, acknowledging the resilience of the jobs market and economy.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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