The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the US dropped to 55.4 in September 2025, down from 58 in August and well below market expectations of 58, according to preliminary estimates. This marked the second consecutive monthly decrease, pushing sentiment to its lowest level since May. The current conditions index deteriorated to 61.2 from 61.7 and the expectations gauge fell to 51.8 from 55.9. Meanwhile, year-ahead inflation expectations held steady at 4.8% while the five-year expectations moved up for the second straight month to 3.9% from 3.5%. Source : Trading Economics
U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his criticism of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday evening, claiming that Chair Jerome Powell was not doing a good job and that he knew more about interest rates. Speaking at a rally in Warren, Michigan, commemorating his first 100 days in office, Trump did not mention Powell by name, but largely hinted at his past criticism of the Fed Chair. "Interest rates came down despite the fact that I have a Fed person who's not really doing a good job, but I won't say that… I want to be very nice and respectful to the Fed," Trump said. "You're not supposed to...
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...
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...