The European Union and the US are moving toward a deal that would impose 15% tariffs on most products, according to diplomats briefed on the negotiations. Member states are likely ready to accept 15% tariffs, and EU officials are pushing for them to cover sectors including autos, diplomats said. Steel and aluminum imports above a certain quota would be subject to a 50% duty, one diplomat added. Diplomats said that while the EU is optimistic that a deal can be reached, they are also cautious that any final agreement would require the approval of US President Donald Trump, and his final...
Private sector employment in the US rose 183,000 in December and annual pay was up 4.7% year-over-year, the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported on Wednesday. This reading followed the 176,000 (revised from 122,000) increase recorded in December and came in above the market expectation of 150,000. Assessing the survey's findings, "we had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market," said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. "Consumer-facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production." Market reaction The US...
Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, said on Thursday it had ordered DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup failed to address the regulator's concerns over its privacy policy. The watchdog had questioned DeepSeek this week about its use of personal data, particularly seeking informationon what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis and whether it is stored in China. The Garante's order - aimed at protecting Italian users' data - came after the Chinese companies that supply the...
The number of job openings on the last business day of December stood at 7.6 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday. This reading followed the 8.15 million openings announced in November and came in below the market expectation of 8 million. "Over the month, hires and total separations were little changed at 5.5 million and 5.3 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (3.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.8 million) changed little," the BLS noted in its press release. Market reaction to JOLTS...
China is the world's top energy importer but its purchases from the United States are relatively modest, lessening the impact of Beijing's move Tuesday to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on China took effect Tuesday, China's Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15% on U.S. coal and LNG imports and 10% on crude oil as well as farm equipment and some cars, starting Feb. 10. China's U.S. crude oil imports fell 52% to about 230,540 barrels per day (bpd) in the first 11 months of...
United States (US) President Donald Trump hit the newswires with a wide swath of off-hand statements on Monday, ranging from the war in Ukraine, where President Trump expects 'rare earth metals' in exchange for obtaining a ceasefire with Russia. Donald Trump also noted that he remains "not happy" with the Panama situation, and reiterated that his work on tariffs is not over yet.We'll be doing something perhaps with TikTok if we can make the right deal, TikTok could go into the sovereign wealth fund.Nobody is out of tariffs.I had good talk with Trudeau.We haven't agreed on tariffs yet with...
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...
US President Donald Trump announced that a 19% tariff will be imposed on goods from the Philippines, following trade talks prompted by Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s recent visit to the...