U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with BlackRock Inc executive Rick Rieder in New York on Friday, as the Trump administration continued its search for a new chair for the Federal Reserve, a source familiar with the matter said. Bessent has now spoken with four of the 11 candidates on the administration's list of candidates to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May, the source said. Bloomberg first reported Bessent's meeting with Rieder, BlackRock's CIO of fixed income, and called him a rising contender for the post. The two met for two hours and discussed...
The European Union will suspend its two packages of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs for six months following a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, a Commission spokesperson said on Monday. The EU-U.S. agreement leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits, and Trump's executive order last week setting tariffs on most EU goods at 15% did not include carve-outs such as for cars and car parts. EU officials have said they expect more executive orders to follow soon. "The EU continues to work with the U.S. to finalise a Joint Statement, as agreed on 27 July," the...
Tensions and fears are running high in Switzerland, as the deadline to strike a trade agreement with the U.S. looms just days away. Without a deal, Switzerland faces 39% duties on its goods imported into the U.S., after it was hit with one of the highest new tariff rates under U.S. President Donald Trump's latest trade policy shift last week. The higher duty surprised many, as widespread reports had previously suggested a trade agreement was near, and was just missing Trump's signature. Over the weekend, reports emerged that the higher tariffs followed a disagreeable Thursday phone call...
White House economic advisers on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, dismissing criticism that Trump's actions could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data. On Sunday, Trump again criticized BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, without providing evidence of wrongdoing, and said he would appoint a new BLS commissioner in the next three or four days. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump has "real concerns" about the BLS data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the...
The ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 48 in July 2025 from 49 in June, missing expectations of a rise to 49.5. This figure marked the fifth consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector and was the weakest since October of last year. The largest negative contributions came from declines in supplier deliveries (45.7 vs. 46.7) and employment (43.4 vs. 45.0). On the positive side, production increased (51.4 vs. 50.3), while declines in new orders (47.1 vs. 46.4) and backlogs (46.8 vs. 44.3) eased. Price pressures also eased, with the price index falling to 64.8 from 69.7. Source:...
US non-farm payrolls rose by 73,000 in July 2025, after being revised down by 14,000 in June and well below the 110,000 estimate. The upward trend in employment in the healthcare and social assistance sectors continued. The federal government continued to lose jobs. The June figure was also revised down sharply from 147,000 to 14,000, and the May figure was also revised down by 125,000. With these revisions, total employment in May and June was 258,000 lower than previously reported. (alg) Source: trading economics
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...
Poland rejected on Friday a suggestion by Donald Trump that Russian drone incursions into its airspace could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction of the U.S. president from one of Washington's...