Many people in China cheered the meeting Thursday between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, after months of escalating bilateral tensions. Every time the two leaders meet, it helps ease tensions and creates a "positive atmosphere," Alex Hongcai Xu, chair of Beijing Honglve Consulting, said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. "This atmosphere is beneficial for negotiations." "Each side lowering tariffs to below 10% would benefit capital flows and cooperation," Xu said. He noted that China can likely buy more U.S. soybeans and U.S.-made Boeing airplanes. Trump said Thursday...
Hundreds of small earthquakes that shook Greece's tourist hotspot of Santorini this week have revived concerns about the safety of a decades-long construction boom along the island's sheer, volcanic cliffs, experts said. No serious damage has been reported, but scientists have warned that the seismic activity could last for weeks and have not ruled out the possibility of a larger quake to come. That worries experts, some of whom have long questioned the sustainability of turning the small island of quaint villages into one of Europe's most popular holiday destinations. "They wanted to...
Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US rose by 143,000 in January, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. This reading followed the 307,000 increase (revised from 256,000) recorded in December and came in below the market expectation of 170,000. Other details of the publication showed that the Unemployment Rate declined to 4% from 4.1%, while the Labor Force Participation Rate edged higher to 62.6% from 62.5%. Finally, annual wage inflation, as measured by the change in the Average Hourly Earnings, rose 4.1%, surpassing the market expectation of 3.8%. Source: FXstreet
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it is closely following developments in the U.S., including moves by the Trump administration to halt foreign aid and impose tariffs on China, but it was too soon to offer clear assessments of the impact. The global lender has repeatedly warned countries that protectionist measures, trade restrictions and increased uncertainty could dampen global growth, but IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said the impact of already announced U.S. tariffs and other measures would depend on the responses of other countries and consumers, along with further trade...
Initial applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week but remained relatively subdued. New claims rose by 11,000 to 219,000 in the week ended Feb. 1. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 213,000 applications. Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.89 million in the week ended Jan. 25, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The level of initial claims has remained broadly in line with pre-Covid levels, and private employment data from ADP Research showed a healthy pace of hiring in January....
A group of sustainable finance experts tasked with advising the European Union have proposed changes to the bloc's rules for classifying climate-friendly activities, which they say will slash the reporting burden on companies by a third. The proposal to simplify the bloc's green investment rulebook comes ahead of a major review of the European Union's broader sustainability rules and as Brussels draws up plans to cut red tape around green finance. The EU is under pressure from member countries like France to simplify rules around doing business, while U.S President Donald Trump's pursuit...
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...