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By Savyata Mishra (Reuters) -Levi Strauss raised its full-year profit forecast on Thursday but fell short of Wall Street expectations owing to costs linked to U.S. import tariffs, sending shares of the denim maker down 7.5% in extended trading. The retailer has taken steps including securing about 70% of its holiday inventory ahead of schedule and raising prices modestly, executives said in a post-earnings call, to cushion the blow from U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting tariff policies. Still, those efforts will not fully offset the pressure, with fourth-quarter gross margin expected to take a 130-basis-point hit. "We probably have brought in a little more inventory than we normally would at this stage," CFO Harmit Singh told Reuters, adding that this was done to protect the holiday quarter. Levi now expects fiscal-year 2025 adjusted profit per share in the range of $1.27 to $1.32, up from its prior forecast of between $1.25 and $1.30 per share. The mid-point is below an estimate of $1.31, according to data compiled by LSEG. The forecast assumes U.S. tariffs will remain at 30% for China and 20% for other countries through the year-end. "Three months ago, investors could squint and imagine denim as tariff-proof, but now it's clear that even jeans can't button up against trade uncertainty, and the company looks less immune than hoped," said Michael Ashley Schulman, CIO at Running Point Capital Advisors. Levi has leaned into full-price sales through its direct-to-consumer channel, broadened its product offerings and kept a tight leash on SKUs, an industry term for inventory. Its merchandise levels jumped 12% in the reported quarter, compared to last year. The company sources the bulk of its products from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan – countries that face high tariffs under the Trump administration. Still, Levi topped Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales and profit thanks to strong demand for wide-leg denim bottoms in Europe and the Americas. It reported a 7% rise in net revenue for the quarter ended August 31 to $1.54 billion, beating analysts' estimate of $1.50 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Adjusted profit came in at 34 cents per share, compared to an estimate of 31 cents per share. (Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

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(Reuters) -Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday he has joined U.S. tech giant Microsoft and AI startup Anthropic as a senior adviser. Sunak, who stepped down as the leader of the opposition Conservative Party following a defeat in the general election last July, continues to serve as a member of the British Parliament. In a LinkedIn post, Sunak said that the proceeds from the roles will be donated in full to The Richmond Project, a charity he started with his wife Akshata Murty. Amazon and Google-backed Anthropic said that the internally focused, part-time advisory role fully complied with the conditions of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, or ACOBA, which oversees rules on new jobs for former ministers and senior civil servants. Sunak will advise Anthropic on strategy, macroeconomic and geopolitical trends. The role focuses on global strategic matters, not UK-specific policy, and Sunak is prohibited from initiating contact with UK government officials on behalf of Anthropic.  At Microsoft, Sunak will provide strategic perspectives on macroeconomic and geopolitical trends. He will be speaking at the annual Microsoft Summit, according to an advice letter by ACOBA's interim chair, Isabel Doverty, posted to its website on Thursday. Sunak will not be advising on any UK policy matters. The former prime minister cannot lobby for the firm for two years from his last day in ministerial office, nor draw on any privileged information from his time in government, according to the letter. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The development follows Sunak's July return to Goldman Sachs in an advisory role. He had previously worked at the Wall Street bank as an analyst in the early 2000s, before joining a series of hedge funds. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The yen was set for its steepest weekly drop in a year on Friday, as investors fretted about fast-receding chances of another rate hike this year while comments from Japan's likely next prime minister failed to soothe market jitters. The yen was last steady at 153.12 per U.S. dollar in early Asian hours, hovering near its weakest level since mid-February. The Japanese currency is on pace for a nearly 4% drop in the week, its biggest decline since early October last year. The yen's drastic drop has been centred on worries that the Bank of Japan may not hike interest rates again this year after fiscal dove Sanae Takaichi's surprise victory, stoking worries of Japanese authorities needing to step in. Takaichi, on course to become Japan's first female prime minister, said on Thursday that the country's central bank is responsible for setting monetary policy but that any decision it makes must align with the government's goal. She also said she did not want to trigger excessive declines in the yen but her comments did little to lift the currency. "Markets are still of the view that Takaichi's leadership will make it politically difficult for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates," said Carol Kong, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "Finance Minister Kato's recent comments on the FX markets indicate imminent FX intervention is unlikely which may encourage markets to further sell the yen." Traders are currently pricing about 45% chance of a rate hike from the BOJ in the December meeting and are only fully pricing in a 25 basis point hike in March. FRENCH DRAMA DRAGS EURO The euro last fetched $1.15635, anchored near two-month lows hit on Thursday and on pace for a 1.5% drop for the week, its sharpest decline in 11 months as the political turmoil in France weighed on the single currency. French President Emmanuel Macron is searching for his sixth prime minister in under two years, hoping his next pick can steer a budget through a legislature riven by crisis. The political paralysis has made it deeply challenging to pass a belt-tightening budget, demanded by investors increasingly worried by France's yawning deficit. "In France, turmoil following the resignation of Prime Minister Lecornu has undermined EUR sentiment," said Kieran Williams, head of Asia FX at InTouch Capital Markets. "Volatility remains elevated across FX markets as traders readjust positions in response to shifting central bank expectations and political risks." That has left the dollar upbeat, with the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six other units, at 99.4, near a two-month high. The index is on course for a 1.7% gain, its biggest jump in a year. "The recent dollar rally has gone against market positioning and prompted a partial covering of USD shorts," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. "There remains a high degree of scepticism that the USD can materially push through 100, a level in the dollar index that was quickly reversed in May," he said in a note. With the U.S. shutdown continuing and little to no economic data for investors to parse through for clues on the path the Federal Reserve is likely to take, markets are keeping an eye on comments from policymakers. Traders are pricing in a 95% chance that the Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 bps at its October meeting, while the odds of an additional cut in December have dropped to 80%, from 90%, in the past week, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. The influential New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signalled on Thursday he would be comfortable with cutting interest rates again, despite some policymakers' qualms about rising inflation that suggest such a decision would not be easily made. In other currencies, the Australian dollar was 0.11% firmer at $0.6563, while sterling was at $1.33044, rooted near the two-month low it hit on Thursday. The New Zealand dollar was at $0.57475, hovering near its lowest in six months after the central bank slashed its benchmark rate by an aggressive 50 bps on Wednesday, as policymakers signalled concerns about the frail state of the economy and kept the door open for further easing. (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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(Reuters) -San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said on Thursday that a softening labor market and easing inflation were reasons behind last month's decision to cut rates, and prompted the Fed to signal the possibility of further rate cuts ahead. "The economy is slowing a little bit. Consumers are running out of all the excess savings they might have had and they've been dealing with a higher price level. And then we have restrictive monetary policy," Daly said at an event at the Silicon Valley Directors Exchange. "We're to a point now where the softening in the labor market looks like it could be more worrisome if we don't risk manage it," Daly said. Even after September's rate cut monetary policy is "modestly restrictive" and putting downward pressure on inflation, she said. "That interest rate cut we took — and we projected we might take more — those were cuts designed to risk manage as we move both our inflation goal and our employment goal to a more perfect balance," Daly said. Asked about the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy, Daly said there's good reason to think it could be transformational, though enthusiasts may well be disappointed because typically innovations that transform economies typically take decades to do so. This time it may be different, she suggested, not just because of the technology itself but also because the economy is slowing. Companies are loathe to hire employees that they might need to fire if demand falls further, and are therefore trying to find ways to use artificial intelligence to plug labor gaps. "We're now in a forcing function where we might see the gains come faster, not just because of the AI itself and what the technology can do, but also because of where we are in the economy and how firms might be able to use it," Daly said.   (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jacqueline Wong)

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