Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said concerns about private-sector hiring have fueled his call for the central bank to cut interest rates this month. "The private sector is not performing as well as everyone thought," Waller said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. The monthly employment report for June, released on July 3, showed a sharp slowdown in private-sector job growth and a slowdown in wage growth, even as the unemployment rate declined slightly. His comments followed a speech he delivered Thursday in New York in which he argued that with limited inflation...
Initial jobless claims in the US eased by 4,000 from the previous week to 233,000 on the period ending June 28th, less than market expectations of 240,000. While the figure reflected the softest increase in unemployment in six weeks, it remained firmly above averages from earlier in the year to reflect the gradual softening of the US labor market, albeit still robust in a historical standard. In turn, outstanding unemployment claims were unchanged at 1,964,000, the highest since late 2021, and above expectations of 1,960,000 to maintain the view that the unemployed are undergoing more...
Euro zone policymakers cut rates last month to prevent an unwarrented tightening of monetary conditions and in the face of elevated uncertainty around trade, the accounts of their June 3-5 meeting showed on Thursday. The ECB cut interest rates for the eighth time in a year last month but signalled a pause in any further easing as inflation is already back at target and erratic U.S. trade policy creates too much uncertainty. "Members underlined that the outlook for the global economy remained highly uncertain," ," the ECB said. "Elevated trade uncertainty was likely to prevail for some time...
Bill Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is asking Congress to investigate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, alleging that his recent testimony to the Senate about the central bank's plans to renovate its headquarters was "deceptive." "I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive testimony in the Senate, which was enough to be removed 'for some reason,'" Pulte said Wednesday in a post on the social media platform X, alleging that Powell made inaccurate statements without providing evidence. Pulte has stepped up his...
ADP Employment Change report to show gains in June US job growthThis week, the US labour market is set to take centre stage, adding to the combo of factors driving market sentiment as of late, namely mitigated geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, rising hopes of further progress on the trade front and prospects of the resurgence of Fed easing in Q3, as well as the renewed animosity from President Donald Trump toward Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell. Despite concerns about a potential economic slowdown in the US economy having not dissipated, they seem to have been put on the...
US-based employers announced 47,999 job cuts in June 2025, the lowest so far this year, compared to 93,816 in May and 48,786 a year earlier. "The bulk of companies cited economic conditions last month. We saw some DOGE activity and have tracked over 2,000 jobs directly attributed to tariffs this year, but for the most part it was a quiet June," said Andrew Challenger, Senior VP for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The consumer products sector cut the most jobs (9,500), followed by services (4,463), financial (4,164), health care (4,068), retail (4,063) and government (3,801). Considering...
China's official NBS Manufacturing PMI increased to 49.7 in June 2025 from May's 49.5, matching market expectations while marking the third consecutive month of contraction in factory activity.
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Both the STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 hovered around the flatline on Friday, as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of further developments in trade talks between US President Trump and Chinese...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to send a single letter to over 150 countries outlining the tariff rate they will face, saying, "It's all going to be the same for everyone, for that...