The White House update to its tariff schedule is a "welcome development" after challenges caused by a recent U.S. Customs ruling on gold bars, the London Bullion Market Association said on Wednesday. The executive order, issued on September 5 by President Donald Trump, updates the tariff schedule for certain goods, including key gold products. The White House referred to them as reciprocal tariffs. Under the update, gold bars imported from "aligned partner" countries under certain codes of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States - including 7108.11.00, 7108.12.50, 7108.13.10,...
U.S. economic activity and employment were mostly little changed or unchanged in recent weeks while prices rose moderately or modestly, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, a mixed report that highlighted the impact of tariffs and other Trump administration policies on households and businesses as the central bank weighs a cut in interest rates this month. "Contacts frequently cited economic uncertainty and tariffs as negative factors," according to the Fed's "Beige Book" report, a snapshot of the nation's economic health published two weeks ahead of each central bank policy meeting....
US job openings fell in July to the lowest in 10 months, adding to other data that shows a gradually diminishing appetite for workers amid heightened policy uncertainty. Available positions decreased to 7.18 million from a downwardly revised 7.36 million reading in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 7.38 million openings. Source: Bloomberg
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will urge stronger pressure on Moscow when he meets with allies in Denmark and France on Wednesday after Russian forces launched a massive airstrike on Ukraine, damaging energy and transport infrastructure. Russia launched more than 500 drones and dozens of missiles, hitting infrastructure at 14 locations across the country and injuring four railway workers, regional and Ukrainian military officials said. "This is clearly a demonstrative attack by Russia. Only because of the lack of adequate pressure, especially on Russia's war economy, does this aggression...
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Wednesday. This publication will provide data on changes in the number of job openings in July, along with the number of layoffs and resignations. Markets expect the number of job openings to decline slightly to 7.4 million in July, compared to 7.437 million in June. The JOLTS will be released a few days before another important employment report, the August Nonfarm Payrolls data, which will be released on Friday. The latest BLS US employment report showed that nonfarm payrolls rose...
Australia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose 0.6% QoQ in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025 compared with the 0.3% growth in the first quarter (revised from 0.2%), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed on Wednesday. This reading came in stronger than the expectations of 0.5% expansion. The annual second-quarter GDP grew by 1.8%, compared with the 1.4% growth in Q1 (revised from 1.3%), while above the consensus of a 1.6% increase. Market reaction to Australia's GDP data The upbeat Australia GDP report provides some support to the Australian Dollar (AUD). The AUD/USD pair is...
China's official NBS Manufacturing PMI increased to 49.7 in June 2025 from May's 49.5, matching market expectations while marking the third consecutive month of contraction in factory activity.
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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 shot down a drone in its airspace on Wednesday with the support of military aircraft from its NATO allies. This is the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have...