U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with BlackRock Inc executive Rick Rieder in New York on Friday, as the Trump administration continued its search for a new chair for the Federal Reserve, a source familiar with the matter said. Bessent has now spoken with four of the 11 candidates on the administration's list of candidates to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May, the source said. Bloomberg first reported Bessent's meeting with Rieder, BlackRock's CIO of fixed income, and called him a rising contender for the post. The two met for two hours and discussed...
Core producer prices in the United States, which exclude food and energy, declined by 0.1% from the previous month in March of 2025, contrasting sharply with market expectations of a 0.3% jump to reflect the first decline in eight months. From the previous year, core producer prices rose by 3.3%, the least in six months, from the 3.5% in February. Source: Trading Economics
The current US tariff rate will drag China's GDP growth lower by c.1.8ppt. Any further increases in tariffs are likely to have little impact on China's growth. Another CNY 1.5-2.0tn of fiscal support is needed, supported by moderately loose monetary policy, Standard Chartered's economists report. The perfect storm"Over the past week, the US and China have announced sweeping tariffs in multiple rounds of retaliation. As of now, China's tariff on US products has jumped to 142%, and the US' tariff on China has surged to 157%, according to our estimate. As bilateral tariffs are already...
Chinese President Xi Jinping will embark on a three-nation Southeast Asia tour next week in his first overseas trip this year to consolidate ties with some of China's closest neighbours as trade tensions with the United States escalate. Xi will visit Vietnam from April 14-15, and Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15-18, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. China, hit with 145% U.S. tariffs since President Donald Trump took office this year, is quickly moving to reinforce relations with other countries who also lie in the shadow of Washington's damaging trade levies. Some of the...
The annual core consumer price inflation rate in the United States, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, eased to 2.8% in March 2025, down from 3.1% in February and below the market expectation of 3%. This marked the lowest rate since March 2021, driven by slower price increases in shelter (4.0% vs. 4.2% in February), transportation services (3.1% vs. 6.0%), medical care commodities (1.0% vs. 2.3%), apparel (0.3% vs. 0.6%), and used cars and trucks (0.6% vs. 0.8%). On a monthly basis, core consumer prices rose by 0.1% in March, following a 0.2% increase in February and below...
Initial jobless claims in the United States rose by 4,000 from the previous week to 223,000 on the first week of April, in line with market expectations, to remain at the historically low levels that were steadily shown since March. In the meantime, continuing claims fell by 43,000 from downwardly revised levels to 1,850,000 in the last week of March, well below market expectations of 1,880,000, to reflect slight traction in individuals finding suitable employment after a period of joblessness. In the meantime, unemployment claims filed under programs for Federal government employees, which...
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...