The US dollar index fluctuated around 98.4 on Friday (December 19) and is expected to close the week relatively unchanged. Investors are still weighing the chances of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next year, as inflation continues to decline and signs of weakness in the US labor market emerge. The latest inflation data indicates price pressures are easing. The November CPI report showed headline inflation fell to 2.7%, the lowest since July and below market expectations. Core inflation also weakened to 2.6%, the slowest pace since early 2021. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to...
As per the commerce ministry's announcement on Wednesday, China has temporarily halted some non-tariff measures that were previously imposed on 17 U.S. entities from its unreliable entity list and 28 U.S. entities from its export control list. These entities were added to the lists in April. China's unreliable entities list, which was updated on April 4, included 11 U.S. entities. Measures against these entities have been suspended for a period of 90 days, effective from Wednesday. Furthermore, measures against six more U.S. entities, which were added to the list on April 9, have also been...
Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa has transformed himself from al Qaeda militant to Syrian president in a dramatic political rise capped on Wednesday by a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The encounter in Saudi Arabia is a milestone for a man who joined al Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and spent years in U.S. prison there before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad. The meeting - following Trump's announcement of an end to U.S. sanctions on Syria - is a huge boost for Sharaa as he tries to bring the fractured country under his...
President Donald Trump kicked off his Gulf trip on Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the United States would lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, and a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States. The United States has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia a nearly $142 billion package of arms, the White House said, calling it Washington's largest ever "defense cooperation agreement." The end of sanctions on Syria would be a major boost for a country devastated by more than a decade of civil war. Rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President...
Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives kicked off public debate on major pillars of President Donald Trump's budget legislation on Tuesday, weighing choices about tax policies and spending on popular social safety-net programs that may strain their narrow majority. The plan, which would extend tax cuts passed during Trump's first term, could add to the nation's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. Congress' bipartisan Joint Tax Committee estimates the tax cuts would cost $3.72 trillion. "Together with a one big, beautiful bill, we can ignite a second Trump...
European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau indicated in a recent interview that there may be room for another rate cut by the ECB by the summer. The discussion took place with the EBRA newspaper group on Tuesday. Villeroy, who also holds the position of head of the Bank of France, shared his insights on potential inflation trends in the United States and Europe. He suggested that the U.S. might experience a surge in inflation due to the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump's administration. However, he expressed confidence that Europe would remain unaffected by...
President Donald Trump cited a softer-than-expected inflation report to again pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. "No Inflation, and Prices of Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and practically everything else, are DOWN!!!" Trump wrote in a social media post. "THE FED must lower the RATE, like Europe and China have done. What is wrong with Too Late Powell?" Trump added that the Fed's strategy was "not fair to America, which is ready to blossom." "Just let it all happen, it will be a beautiful thing!" he continued. The consumer price index...
President Donald Trump said he'll lift US sanctions against Syria following the toppling of former President Bashar al-Assad, a boost to the war-ravaged country's ambitions of rejoining the international community. "I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump said in an address to a Saudi-US investment summit in Riyadh on Tuesday. "It's their time to shine." The US leader will go on to briefly meet Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in the Saudi capital on Wednesday, a White House...
United States (US) President Donald Trump hit the airwaves with a fresh round of commentary on a wide range of subjects on Tuesday. President Trump reiterated his intentions to treat trade balance as an imbalance that needs to be rectified in order for a country to reach maximum profitability, and also repeated his intentions to obtain questionably steep 'investment agreements' with individual companies. How these corporations are meant to invest directly in the US, outside of expanding regular operations that market share may not generate profitability from, remains unclear. Donald Trump...
Gold rises in the early Asian trade. There's a broad commodities uptrend, driven by macro uncertainty, a weaker dollar, and persistent demand for "hard" assets, says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst...
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened against its US counterpart and reversed part of Friday's recovery from the lowest level since July 23 following Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks....