The economic activity in the United States' (US) manufacturing sector continued to contract in October, with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropping to 48.7 from 49.1 in September. This reading came in weaker than the market expectation of 49.5. Other details of the PMI report showed that the Employment Index edged higher to 46 from 45.3 in this period, while the New Orders Index improved to 49.4 from 48.9. Finally, the Prices Pair Index, the input inflation component of the survey, declined to 58 from 61.9. Source: FXstreet
China cut benchmark lending rates for the first time since October on Tuesday, while major state banks lowered deposit rates as authorities work to ease monetary policy to help buffer the economy from the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war. The widely expected rate cuts are aimed at stimulating consumption and loan growth as the world's No. 2 economy softens, while still protecting commercial lenders' shrinking profit margins. Still, the size of the rate reductions was mild and reflected the incremental pace of monetary easing in recent years and what analysts interpreted as some wariness...
Ministerial level trade talks between Japan and the U.S. are set to take place later this week– marking the third round of high-level talks between the nations, Japan's Kyodo News agency reported on Tuesday. Kyodo reported that Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top trade negotiator and minister of economic revitalization, will fly to Washington by Friday to engage in a third round of high-level talks. Kyodo cited comments from a U.S. official. Separately, Akazawa said in a press conference on Tuesday that working level talks took place between Washington and Tokyo on Monday, and that high-level...
China on Monday accused the US of undermining the two countries' preliminary trade agreement after the US issued an industry warning against using Chinese chips that singled out Huawei, per CNBC. According to a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, the US Commerce Department's advice is "discriminatory" and "market distorting," prompting Beijing to "demand" that the administration "correct its mistakes." China Slams U.S. Huawei Chip Ban as Threat to Trade TruceChina Indicators China has strongly criticized a U.S. directive targeting certain high-end Huawei chips, saying it...
President Donald Trump said that Ukraine and Russia would begin talks "immediately" on ending their war after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. "Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War," Trump said in a social-media post. "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of." The US president said he had also briefed European leaders on his two-hour call...
U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill, which had been stalled for days by Republican infighting over spending cuts, won approval from a key congressional committee on Sunday in a rare victory for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. At an unusual Sunday night session, four hardline Republican conservatives on the House Budget Committee, who had blocked the legislation on Friday, allowed the bill to move forward as they pressed for deeper spending cuts in closed-door talks with Republican leaders and White House officials. "We've made progress this weekend ... but we didn't...
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...
As the U.S. government shutdown disrupts federal employee paychecks across the country, it also exacerbates the financial hardship of attorneys who represent the poorest members of society when they...