US President Donald Trump announced tariff cuts on fentanyl-related products from China, reducing them from 20% to 10%. This decision is part of an agreement reached at a summit in South Korea last October. This move aims to ease trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Trump also announced a freeze on reciprocal tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. This freeze will remain in effect, providing some relief to companies engaged in international trade with China. This policy is expected to help ease trade tensions that have persisted for the past few years. This tariff cut will...
US consumer sentiment extended its decline in April, as the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell from 93.9 (revised from 92.9) to 86.0—its weakest reading since April 2020. Consumer sentiment showed fresh signs of strain in April, as views on current business and labor market conditions softened. The Present Situation Index edged down by 0.9 points to 133.5. More notably, the Expectations Index—which tracks short-term outlooks for income, business activity, and employment—plunged 12.9 points to 54.4. That marks its lowest reading since October 2011 and remains well below the...
Job openings in the United States fell by 288,000 to 7.192 million in March 2025, the lowest in six months and well below market expectations of 7.48 million. The drop was broad-based, with the largest decreases reported for transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-59K), accommodation and food services (-42K), construction (-38K), federal governemnt (-36K), real estate and rental and leasing (-39K), and health care and social assistance (-37K). On the other hand job openings increased in finance and insurance (25K), other services (20K), state and local education (17K), wholesale trade...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he did not know whether President Donald Trump had spoken to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, and that he was unaware of whether trade negotiations were taking place. Speaking during an interview with ABC News' This Week, Bessent said U.S. and Chinese officials had spoken during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington last week, and that he had also then interacted with his Chinese counterpart. "I had interactions with my Chinese counterpart, but it was more on traditional things like financial stability, global economic...
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole. It's been a blessedly quiet start to the week, with President Trump more engrossed on his disappointment with Russia, than his trade war. In this case, silence is golden, as the White House's communication on trade has been a lot more noise than signal. Thus, Agriculture Secretary Rollins tells TV they are speaking with China every day, likely news to Beijing. Then Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he has not discussed tariffs with Chinese officials and doesn't know if Trump talked to Xi, as he claimed. Apparently...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said that his sweeping trade tariffs could help him cut income taxes for people making less than $200,000 a year, amid heightened anxiety over his economic agenda. Trump repeated his past claims that revenue from trade tariffs could help the U.S. government reduce income taxes, although he has not elaborated on these claims. "When Tariffs cut in, many people's Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year," Trump said in a post on Truth.Social. Trump's comments...
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...
US President Donald Trump announced tariff cuts on fentanyl-related products from China, reducing them from 20% to 10%. This decision is part of an agreement reached at a summit in South Korea last...