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...
The annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 3.6% in June 2025, the highest since January 2024, up from 3.4% in May and above expectations that it would remain unchanged. The main upward pressure came from transport prices, which increased by 1.7% (vs 0.7% in May), driven largely by motor fuel costs. Additional upward contributions came from airfares, particularly on long-haul and European routes, as well as rail fares and maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment. Clothing and footwear prices also rose (0.5% vs -0.3%) and food inflation climbed to 4.5%, the highest since...
The U.S. central bank will probably need to leave interest rates where they are for a while longer to ensure inflation stays low in the face of upward pressure from the Trump administration's tariffs, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Lorie Logan said on Tuesday. "My base case is that we'll need to keep interest rates modestly restrictive for some time to complete the work of returning inflation sustainably to the 2% target," Logan said in remarks prepared for delivery to the World Affairs Council of San Antonio. "It's also possible that some combination of softer inflation and a...
US President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs of over 10% on smaller countries, including nations in Africa and the Caribbean, as the Associated Press reported. "We'll probably set one tariff for all of them," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. He added that it could be "a little over 10% tariff on goods from at least 100 nations." At the same time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean—places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the US and would be relatively insignificant...
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and said more deals were in the works as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and a path to reducing a massive U.S. trade deficit. The pact with the relatively minor U.S. trading partner is among the handful struck so far by the Trump administration ahead of an August 1 deadline for tariffs on most U.S. imports to rise again, and it came as the top U.S. trading partner - the European Union - readied...
U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in five months in June amid higher costs for some goods, suggesting tariffs were starting to have an impact on inflation and potentially keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until September. Softening demand as consumers hunker down, however, is limiting price increases for services like airline fares and hotel and motel rooms, keeping underlying inflation muted for now. That trend, if sustained, could ease concerns of a broad-based rise in price pressures from tariffs. Nonetheless, economists generally expect the tariff-induced rise in...
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...