Raphael Bostic of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta warned that rising price pressures over the next six to twelve months could intensify the Fed's challenges. A ton of economic scenarios that could play out, hard to assign probabilities.Outlook is for the economy to continue slowing, but also expect real uncertainty about what that means for jobs and inflation. Firms are still in a wait-and-see pattern around employment.Likely to be upward pressure on prices for six to 12 months; that puts pressure on the Fed. The most important question for the Fed is whether tariffs will shift prices...
China stocks rose modestly on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.1% to around 3,370 and the Shenzhen Component up 0.3% to 10,636, recovering losses from the previous session. However, concerns over China's economic challenges and escalating trade tensions with the U.S. kept investors cautious. The November PMI report showed a second straight month of expansion in China's manufacturing sector, although growth in the services sector slowed. Meanwhile, Beijing recently banned exports of critical minerals with military applications to the U.S., a retaliatory move in response to...
Hong Kong stocks plunged 200 points, or 1.0%, to 19,544 on Thursday morning, after a quiet session the previous day, as the sector's overall decline was broadly broad. Traders were concerned about the impact of political instability in South Korea and France. They also shied away from riskier assets amid a potential trade war between China and the US, fueled by technology sanctions from the Biden administration and threats of tariffs from newly elected President Trump. An unexpected slowdown in China's services activity last month added to market jitters. Meanwhile, US stock futures were...
The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5% to around 39,460 while the broader Topix index gained 0.2% to 2,745 on Thursday, extending this week's rally and tracking gains on Wall Street overnight where the three major U.S. indexes closed at fresh record highs. The advances were driven by strong corporate earnings and optimism around the artificial intelligence boom, with major U.S. tech companies highlighting the significant boost they are receiving from the sector. In Japan, investors continued to focus on the outlook for monetary policy, with market sentiment divided on the timing of the Bank of...
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Thursday, as all three major Wall Street indexes hit record highs, buoyed by a tech rally and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Investors in Asia will continue to monitor the political situation in South Korea. Less than a day after he declared martial law, lawmakers in the country moved to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. South Korea released revised gross domestic product for the third quarter, showing the economy grew 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, and 1.5% year-on-year. The figures matched advanced estimates. Australia's S&P/ASX...
All three major U.S. stock indices closed at record highs on Wednesday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced by 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively, while the Dow Jones gained 303 points, marking its first-ever close above 45,000. Market sentiment was bolstered by a solid performance in the tech sector and encouraging earnings reports from major companies. Additionally, traders closely followed remarks from Fed Chair Powell. At the DealBook Summit, Powell reiterated that the central bank is not in rush to lower interest rates, emphasizing that the US economy remains solid but continues to face...
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...
Switzerland's government will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to decide its next move after its president returned home empty-handed from an 11th-hour trip to Washington aimed at averting a...