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...
Retail sales in the US increased 0.6% month-on-month to $720.1 billion in June, the US Census Bureau reported on Thursday. This figure follows a 0.9% decline reported in May and was better than market expectations of a 0.1% increase. On an annual basis, retail sales rose 3.9% in June, compared to 3.3% in May. "Total sales for the period April 2025 to June 2025 increased 4.1% compared to the same period last year," the press release stated. (alg) Source: FXstreet
What are the market implications of a potential early departure of Fed Chairman Powell? This scenario seemed improbable, but for an hour on Wednesday afternoon, it seemed very real. It was initially reported that a letter had been prepared by Trump and delivered to Republican policymakers, and at one point the White House confirmed that Trump would fire Powell. Shortly thereafter, Trump said it was "unlikely" he would fire Powell, notes ING FX analyst Chris Turner. Potential for USD consolidation or slight appreciation "In that hour, we saw the reaction we expected: a steepening of the US...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to send a single letter to over 150 countries outlining the tariff rate they will face, saying, "It's all going to be the same for everyone, for that group." He noted these are "not big countries" with limited trade ties to the U.S., unlike China or Japan. All nations have faced a 10% baseline tariff since April, though Trump has hinted it could rise to 15–20%, without confirming specifics. About two dozen countries, including the EU, Japan, and South Korea, have already received individual letters with tariff rates effective August 1,...
Australia is set to release the June employment report on Thursday at 1:30 GMT. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is expected to announce that the country added 20,000 new job positions in the month, reversing the 2,500 lost positions announced in May. The Unemployment Rate is foreseen steady at 4.1%, while the Participation Rate is also expected to remain unchanged at 67%. Ahead of the announcement, the Australian Dollar (AUD) is under strong selling pressure amid fears dominating financial boards. Australian ABS reports both full-time and part-time positions through the monthly...
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the U.S. will probably "live by the letter" on tariffs with Japan and may have another trade deal coming up with India, following his announcement of an accord with Indonesia on Tuesday. "We have some pretty good deals to announce," Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at the White House. He said he would also discuss trade issues with the Bahraini leader. "The big one really is going to be on the 150 countries that we're really not negotiating with, and they're smaller -- we don't do...
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...