US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had agreed with President Xi Jinping to cut tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on illegal fentanyl trade, resuming purchases of U.S. soybeans, and maintaining the flow of rare earth metal exports. Trump's face-to-face talks with Xi in the South Korean city of Busan, his first since 2019, marked the end of his brief trip to Asia, during which he also praised trade breakthroughs with South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian nations. "It was an extraordinary meeting," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after he...
The U.S. Senate will vote again on Friday on conflicting plans between Democrats and Republicans to end the government shutdown, which is now entering its third day, though there are no signs that either plan will pass. Lawmakers appear to have made no progress toward a deal that would allow them to continue funding the government, and Democrats and Republicans have spent the past few days blaming each other for their failure to maintain government funding beyond October 1, the start of the fiscal year. Democrats say any funding package must also extend pandemic-era healthcare subsidies...
U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet with his budget director Russell Vought on Thursday to determine which "Democrat Agencies" to cut, as he looks to inflict pain on his political opposition in the second day of a government shutdown. "I can't believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity," Trump said in a social media post. Trump has already frozen federal transit and green-energy funding for Democratic-leaning states and has threatened to fire more federal workers during the shutdown, which began on Wednesday due to a partisan standoff in...
The bottom line: The release of official US data is delayed because the federal government is currently in shutdown. While the budget hasn't been passed, the Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from spending funds—including on statistical activities—so the publication of non-essential data must be temporarily halted. That's why reports like the non-farm payrolls (NFP), weekly jobless claims, CPI, retail sales, PCE, and even GDP releases could be delayed. The shutdown began Wednesday, October 1, 2025, after a funding impasse in Washington. The impact is immediate: the monthly...
The US Supreme Court said Wednesday that it will hear arguments in January on Donald Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who will remain in office for the time being, setting up a major legal battle over the first attempt by a president to fire a Federal Reserve official because she challenges the central bank's independence. The justices declined to immediately rule on a Justice Department request to stay a judge's order temporarily blocking the Republican president from firing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden. The court postponed...
US President Donald Trump said he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next four weeks, with soybeans a key topic of discussion. Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, highlighting the recent decline in Chinese purchases being hit hard by US farmers. The meeting comes amidst still-strained trade relations. The Trump administration has called the 55% tariffs on Chinese imports a "good status quo" ahead of the November 10 deadline; without a new deal, tariffs could potentially rise significantly higher. Trump also previously hinted at plans to meet...
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 said Thursday that he had agreed with President Xi Jinping to cut tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on illegal fentanyl trade, resuming purchases of...