Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more "noise" than signals of a short-term surplus. As of 3:50 PM WIB, Brent was at $69.60/barrel (+0.29%) and WTI was at $64.83/barrel (+0.31%). The gains were moderate, but enough to keep prices near the psychological $70 level for Brent. From a geopolitical perspective, market focus is on the potential for escalation in the Middle East. Recent reports...
China's Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying said on Friday (May 9) that "China has 'full confidence' in its ability to manage the US trade issues." Additional quotes The US cannot 'keep doing what it is doing' on trade policy. China does not want 'any form of war with other countries'. China has 'full ability to overcome difficulties' amid trade war. 'Ordinary people' in China do not want a trade war but are confident. On US trade talks, 'if we have to face reality, come on. We are not afraid.' The comments come ahead of high-level trade talks between the US and China in Geneva,...
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that trade deals with South Korea and Japan could take significantly more time to complete than the framework agreement President Donald Trump announced Thursday with the UK, in a signal that some Asian partners may have to wait for tariff relief. "You've got to spend an enormous amount of time with Japan, South Korea. These are not going to be fast deals," Lutnick said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Lutnick added that India has been "leaning in really hard" and the country was "certainly" a possibility to be among the...
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday announced a limited bilateral trade agreement that leaves in place Trump's 10% tariffs on British exports, modestly expands agricultural access for both countries and lowers prohibitive U.S. duties on British car exports. The preliminary deal is the first of dozens of tariff-lowering deals that Trump expects to land in coming weeks after upending the global trading system with steep new import taxes aimed at shrinking a $1.2 trillion U.S. goods trade deficit. Trump hailed the deal in the Oval Office with...
Initial jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ended May 3, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's a return to recent trends. Despite uncertainty over trade policy, companies are not moving to cut cuts through layoffs. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would fall by 11,000 to 230,000. This is breaking news. Check back for updates here. BX:TMUBMUSD10Y SPX -Greg Robb This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street...
Pakistan shot down 12 drones from India that violated its airspace, the military said on Thursday, a day after Indian strikes on multiple targets in the country fanned fears of a larger military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours. India sent Israeli Harop drones to multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, and their debris is being collected, Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said. "Indian drones continue to be sent into Pakistan airspace...(India) will continue to pay dearly for this naked aggression," he said. India's...
Quoting the Chinese Embassy in the United States (US), the highly influential Chinese media Global Times said early Thursday (08/05) that Beijing is unlikely to lower tariffs before talks in Switzerland begin. Key quote "When asked to comment on the US statement that the US will not lower tariffs before negotiations begin and implying that the talks were not initiated by the US side, following China's recent announcement of upcoming talks with the US side, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy." "Second, China consistently resolutely opposes the abuse of tariffs by the US. China will...
India and Pakistan on Wednesday exchanged military strikes for the sixth time since 1947, when Britain withdrew from the subcontinent and both countries gained independence. In that time, both countries have acquired nuclear weapons, simultaneously raising the stakes of any conflict while limiting how far tensions can escalate. That dynamic appeared to be playing out in the latest clashes over the disputed region of Kashmir, with both governments on Wednesday stressing the non-escalatory nature of their actions even as Pakistan warned that more was likely to come. But while militarily both...
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but said the risks of both higher inflation and unemployment had risen, further clouding the economic outlook as the U.S. central bank grapples with the impact of Trump administration tariff policies. The economy overall has "continued to expand at a solid pace," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a policy statement, attributing a drop in first-quarter output to record imports as businesses and households rushed to front-run new import taxes. The labor market remained "solid" and inflation was still "somewhat elevated," it...
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....