Highlights for this morning: JPMorgan and Citi are thinking about stablecoin, central bankers are looking for gold mines

Donald Trump has said he will likely impose duties on pharma by the end of the month, and semiconductors shortly thereafter. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said they intend to participate in the development of stablecoins. Meanwhile, oil prices resumed growth thanks to demand from the U.S. and China. Against this background, central banks of countries with developed mining are increasingly buying gold from local mines. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of July 16.

Donald Trump said he will likely impose duties on pharmaceuticals by the end of the month and semiconductors shortly thereafter, reports Bloomberg. The measures could go into effect at the same time as a broad package of "reciprocal" duties scheduled for August 1.

"Probably at the end of the month. We're going to start with low duties and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to readjust and then make the duties very high," Trump said after returning to Washington from an artificial intelligence summit in Pittsburgh.

He added that the timetable for imposing duties on semiconductors would be "similar," noting that imposing duties on chips is "less complicated," but did not go into details.

At a Cabinet meeting earlier this month, Trump announced his intention to impose a 50 percent duty on copper and also expressed confidence that duties on pharmaceuticals could rise to 200 percent after companies were given a year to move production to the United States. He has already initiated an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on pharmaceuticals, claiming that mass imports threaten national security.

The imposition of duties may affect such pharmaceutical companies as Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer, which produce drugs abroad, and lead to higher prices for American consumers, the agency points out. A similar effect is expected from the duties on semiconductors - they will affect not only the chips themselves, but also devices such as laptops and smartphones from Apple and Samsung.

Central banks are increasingly seeking to build up gold reserves - and are increasingly buying the metal from mines in their jurisdiction, CNBC reports, citing a report by the World Gold Council (WGC). According to experts, this approach is not only cheaper, but also supports the national mining industry, while not putting pressure on foreign exchange reserves.

Countries like the Philippines and Ecuador have been practicing this for years, but now more central banks with access to their own gold deposits have begun or increased purchases or are considering it.

According to the latest WGC survey, 19 out of 36 central banks said they buy gold directly from local artisanal and small-scale gold miners, paying in local currency. Another four banks are considering following suit. By comparison, last year only 14 out of 57 central banks surveyed reported such purchases.

"We're seeing a trend where some central banks, especially in Africa and Latin America, are starting to buy gold from local small mines - they've been particularly active amid rising precious metal prices," Shaokai Fan, head of central bank operations at WGC, told WGC.

Among the countries actively building reserves with local gold, the WGC names Colombia, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Mongolia and the Philippines.

Gold prices are booming, setting new records amid geopolitical uncertainty and declining confidence in traditional protective assets. According to LSEG, the spot gold price is at $3328.3 per ounce - almost 27% higher than at the beginning of the year.

Purchasing gold from local mines avoids bank and intermediary fees and reduces transportation costs.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said their banks intend to participate in the development of stablecoins, reports Yahoo Finance. This is further confirmation that Wall Street is increasingly turning toward digital assets amid discussions in the U.S. Congress about legislation favorable to the crypto industry.

"We are considering issuing Citi's own stablecoin," Fraser told analysts. "We wholeheartedly applaud the administration's willingness to make it easier for banks to access the digital asset sphere," she added.

An attempt to move cryptocurrency legislation through Congress in so-called crypto week, which was initiated by Republicans, hit a roadblock Tuesday, with 13 Republicans voting with Democrats against a procedural move that would have opened the way for a vote in the House of Representatives.

The three bills that Republicans had hoped to pass would have created a broad regulatory framework for all cryptoassets, banned the creation of central bank digital currencies and imposed the first federal regulations for stablecoins. But some Republicans opposed voting individually and are pushing for consideration as a package.

Meanwhile, major banks continue to prepare for the possibility that Washington will eventually give the green light to the mass use of stablecoins - cryptocurrencies typically backed by the U.S. dollar.

Dimon, who has previously criticized cryptocurrencies, acknowledged that the bank needs to venture into stablecoins to keep up with competitors in the payments space. Last month, JPMorgan announced plans to launch the so-called JPMD deposit token, which is essentially the equivalent of a stablecoin but will only be available to the bank's institutional clients. "We will be involved in both the JPMorgan Deposit Coin project and stablecoin - to understand the technology and be the best at it," Dimon said.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid expectations of steady demand from the United States and China, the world's two largest oil consumers, reports Reuters.

Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to $69 per barrel by 01:05 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 0.6% to $66.9 per barrel.

Rising prices reversed a two-day decline as the market ignored possible supply disruptions following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose duties on Russian oil imports.

Prices fluctuated within a relatively narrow range: on the one hand, they were supported by seasonal demand growth on the back of increased travel in the northern hemisphere in summer, on the other hand, there were still fears that new U.S. duties would slow economic growth and fuel consumption.

Asian stock markets opened Wednesday's trading session lower.

- Japan's Nikkei 225 index was little changed at the open, while the Topix index was down 0.1 percent by 8:04 a.m. local time (8:04 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time Tuesday).

- South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent and the Kosdaq small-cap index was down 0.6 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8 percent.

- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes were down 0.1 percent, with investors awaiting new corporate reports and inflation data.  

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor