China has confirmed that President Xi Jinping will meet with US President Donald Trump in South Korea on Thursday. The meeting is a highly anticipated one that traders and investors on both sides of the Pacific hope will ease months of trade tensions. "The two heads of state will have in-depth communication on strategic and long-term issues," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, without directly referring to the trade deal the leaders of the world's two largest economies are expected to reach in the port city of Busan. "We are willing to make joint efforts with the United...
The White House is tightening its pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the U.S. government shutdown enters its second week, saying it will give them another chance to agree on a spending bill before beginning mass layoffs of federal employees. With the Senate scheduled to vote Monday night for the fifth time on a stopgap bill to keep the government operating until November 21, Kevin Hassett, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, argued that it's time for Democrats to be "reasonable." Trump has said he will use the government shutdown to lay off thousands more federal employees, who...
Hamas officials were in Egypt on Monday (October 6th) ahead of talks with Israel that the US hopes will lead to an end to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, despite contentious issues such as the disarmament of Palestinian militant groups under Donald Trump's plan. Israeli negotiators were also scheduled to travel to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh later in the day to discuss the hostages' release, part of the US president's 20-point blueprint for ending the two-year conflict. The Israeli delegation includes officials from the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence...
If it just seems like the first Friday of the month wasn't the same without being able to pore through the Bureau of Labor Statistics' hotly watched monthly jobs report, don't worry. You probably didn't miss much. While the BLS has gone dark with the shutdown in Washington, other reports outside the government data suggest the labor market just plodded along in September. The Dow Jones consensus forecast was for growth of 51,000 in nonfarm payrolls with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%. High-frequency data that includes job postings, private payrolls and state-by-state figures...
The business activity in the US service sector stagnated in September, with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) declining to 50 from 52 in August. This reading came in below the market expectation of 51.7. The Employment Index of the PMI survey edged higher to 47.2 from 46.5 in August, while the Prices Paid Index, the inflation component, rose to 69.4 from 69.2. Assessing the survey's findings, "September's Services PMI level returned to numbers very similar to May and July, with weakness in business activity and continued weakness in...
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...
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...
China has confirmed that President Xi Jinping will meet with US President Donald Trump in South Korea on Thursday. The meeting is a highly anticipated one that traders and investors on both sides of...