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...
President Donald Trump urged the Federal Reserve Board to "take control" if Chairman Jerome Powell doesn't cut interest rates, escalating his feud with the central bank's leadership. "Jerome Powell 'Late,' a stubborn, STUPID man, must lower interest rates substantially, now. if he continues to refuse, the board must take control, and do what everyone knows should do!" the president wrote on social media on Friday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the president's remarks. Trump's post came after Fed officials left interest rates unchanged on...
The Fed may or may not actually cut interest rates in September. The deciding factor will be how robust macroeconomic data (namely, inflation and the labor market) looks at that time. That's why all eyes will likely be on today's US labor market report for July. Certainly, there are signs of weakness in some areas of the US labor market, particularly in cyclical sectors like manufacturing and business services. While the June report shows a fairly good figure (+147,000), a closer look reveals mixed results. However, there are no signs of a slowdown, notes Commerzbank FX analyst Antje...
The U.S. will levy a 30% tariff on South African exports next week, after Pretoria failed to reach a trade deal before President Donald Trump's deadline. The new rate is part of a broader executive order signed Thursday, imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on dozens of countries to reshape global trade in favor of the U.S. Despite months of negotiations and an offer to buy U.S. LNG and invest $3.3 billion in American industries, South Africa's efforts fell short. Trade Minister Parks Tau warned the tariff threatens key export sectors like automotive, agro-processing, steel, and...
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a 19% tariff on exports from Malaysia to the U.S., lower than the 25% rate he initially threatened in July. The rate was finalized in an executive order signed on July 31, just ahead of the August 1 deadline Trump set for countries to reach trade agreements with his administration. According to Malaysia's trade ministry, the revised tariff was achieved without compromising the country's sovereign rights, as it held firm on several key "red line" issues. The ministry described the outcome as a "significant achievement" resulting from sustained...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order increasing tariffs on Canadian goods to 35% from 25% on all products not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, the White House said. Goods transshipped to another country to evade the new tariffs would be subject to a transshipment levy of 40%, according to a White House fact sheet. The move - which Washington linked in part to what it said was Canada's failure to stop fentanyl smuggling - is the latest blow in a months-long tariff war which Trump initiated shortly after taking power. The announcement blaming...
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...