President Donald Trump locked horns with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a rare presidential visit to the U.S. central bank on Thursday, criticizing the cost of renovating two historical buildings at its headquarters and pressing the case for lower interest rates. Trump, who called Powell a "numbskull" earlier this week for failing to heed the White House's demand for a large reduction in borrowing costs, wrapped up his visit to the Fed's $2.5 billion building project in Washington by saying he did not intend to fire Powell, as he has frequently suggested he would. "To do so is...
US President Donald Trump took to social media on Thursday, taking to Twitter to inform global markets that his planned 25% tariff package on Mexico and Canada will go into effect on March 4, rather than the April 2 date he had asserted hours earlier. The president also told markets that he planned to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods on that date. At the same time, White House officials are preparing an additional "reciprocal tariff" package that is also in the works aimed at multiple countries, potentially expanding to include the UK and the European Union in general. More...
Pending home sales in the United States fell 4.6% in January 2025 from the previous month, following an upwardly revised 4.1% decline in December 2024. This drop pushed the index to a record low of 70.6, significantly worse than market expectations of a 1.3% decline. Sales plunged 9.2% in the South, fell 2% in the Midwest and went down 1.2% in the West but rose 0.3% in the Northeast. "It is unclear if the coldest January in 25 years contributed to fewer buyers in the market, and if so, expect greater sales activity in upcoming months. However, it's evident that elevated home prices and...
New orders for manufactured durable goods in the US rose 3.1% month-over-month to $282.3 billion in January 2025, the most in six months and above market expectations of a 2% increase. It follows a downwardly revised 1.8% drop in December. The rebound was driven by transportation equipment, which surged 9.8%, particularly nondefense aircraft and parts (93.9%). Orders also rose for capital goods (10.7%), primary metals (1%), machinery (0.2%), computers and electronic products (1.7%), and electrical equipment, appliances, and components (0.1%). Excluding transportation, new orders were...
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported on Thursday that the United States' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 2.3% in the fourth quarter. This reading matched the initial estimate and came in line with the market expectation. "Real GDP was revised up by less than 0.1 percentage point from the advance estimate released last month, primarily reflecting upward revisions to government spending and exports that were partly offset by downward revisions to consumer spending and investment," the BEA explained in its press release. Source: FXStreet
Initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose 20,000 from the previous week to 242,000 in the period ended Feb. 22, beating market expectations of 222,000.Source: Newsmaker23
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...
President Donald Trump locked horns with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a rare presidential visit to the U.S. central bank on Thursday, criticizing the cost of renovating two historical...