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...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that customs duty revenues from President Donald Trump's tariffs may top $500 billion a year, with a substantial jump from July to August and likely a bigger jump in September. Bessent told a White House Cabinet meeting that his prior estimate of a $300 billion annual tariff collection rate was too low. "We had a substantial jump from July to August, and I think we're going to see a bigger jump from August to September," Bessent said. "So I think we could be on our way well over half a trillion, maybe towards a trillion-dollar number....
The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence fell to 97.4 in August from 98.7 in July, compared with a larger decrease expected to a reading of 96.5 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:30 am ET. The present situation reading decreased to 131.2 from 132.8, while the expectations reading decreased to 74.8 from 76.0. The current assessment of business conditions improved in August while the assessment of labor market conditions was more negative. "Notably, consumers' appraisal of current job availability declined for the eighth consecutive month, but stronger views of current...
The latest report on Durable Goods Orders has been released, revealing a decline of 2.8%. This metric measures the change in the total value of new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods, including transportation items. It serves as a crucial indicator of the health of the manufacturing sector and the overall economy. The actual decline of 2.8% is less severe than the forecasted drop of 3.8%. This smaller-than-expected decrease is a positive sign for the U.S. dollar (USD), as Durable Goods Orders are a key factor in the valuation of the currency. A higher than expected reading is...
Global investors were stunned on Tuesday (August 26th) after US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve's independence, caught between concerns over the politicization of policy and market benefits. Trump's announcement that he was firing Fed Chair Lisa Cook caught markets by surprise, even though he had made it clear last week that Cook was a target and had been attacking Chairman Jerome Powell for months as part of his campaign to push the Fed to cut interest rates. "This is another rift in the fabric of the United States and its investability," said Kyle Rodda,...
President Donald Trump said the US has more leverage over China on trade than the other way around, citing airplane parts as a key item Washington has to counter Beijing's restrictions on rare earths. "We have much bigger and better cards than they do," he said Monday. "If I played those cards, that would destroy China. I'm not going to play those cards." China halted most shipments of rare-earth magnets to the US in April, weaponizing the nation's 90% grip on global production to squeeze American factories. Beijing agreed to normalize flows as part of a trade truce...
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...