Asia-Pacific markets traded higher, tracking Wall Street gains overnight. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.41% after hitting a fresh record high on Thursday, while the Topix added 0.61%. South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.83%, and the small-cap Kosdaq jumped 0.65%. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 added 0.41%. Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 26,464, higher than its last close of 26,086.32. Equities in several parts of the world have been rallying as easing inflation pressures and expectations for U.S. rate cuts boost investor sentiment. "Momentum and the promise of...
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...
Goldman Sachs has said it now sees a 35% chance of the U.S. entering a recession, down from a prior estimate of 45%, following an agreement between the U.S. and China that sparked hopes for an easing in recently intensifying trade tensions. In a note to clients, the brokerage also lifted its projection for U.S. gross domestic product growth this year by 0.5 percentage points to 1%. On Monday, Washington and Beijing announced that they had reached an agreement that would slash their sky-high respective tariffs on each other and pause the levies for 90 days. U.S. tariffs on China were...
The easing of trade tensions between the United States and China is a step in the right direction and helps reduce European fears of being flooded with Chinese goods redirected from the U.S. market, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of European Union finance ministers on Tuesday, Dombrovskis noted, however, that the reduction of tariffs after weekend talks in Switzerland was for 90 days and the tariff rates that remained were still high. "Obviously this easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and China is heading in the right...
The annual core consumer price inflation rate in the United States, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, stood at a four-year low of 2.8% in April 2025, unchanged from March and matching market forecasts. The shelter index, accounting for over two thirds of the total 12-month increase, was at 4%, matching March's reading. Increases were also seen for medical care (1%), motor vehicle insurance (+6.4%), education (+3.8%), and recreation (+1.6%). On a monthly basis, core consumer prices rose by 0.2% in April, up from the 0.1% increase in March, just below market expectations of...
Asia-Pacific markets traded higher, tracking Wall Street gains overnight.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.41% after hitting a fresh record high on Thursday, while the Topix added 0.61%. South...
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...
Less than four months ago, President Donald Trump met with Qatar's leader, praised his magnificent palace, and signed a comprehensive defense agreement with the Gulf monarchy, a key ally that hosts...