The ISM Services PMI rose to 52.4 in October 2025 from 50 in September, beating forecasts of 50.8, pointing to the strongest expansion in the services sector since February. Both business activity (54.3 vs 49.9) and new orders (56.2 vs 50.4) rebounded while the continued contraction in employmet (48.2 vs 47.2) shows a lack of confidence in the continued strength of the economy. "There was no indication of widespread layoffs or reductions in force, but the federal government shutdown was mentioned several times as impacting business activity and generating concerns for future layoffs",...
Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israel early Friday after an overnight Israeli missile attack on the country killed at least three of its senior military leaders. "We can now confirm that the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the Commander of the IRGC, and the Commander of Iran's Emergency Command were all killed in an Israeli attack on Iran," Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Effie Defrin said. "Iran launched about 100 UAVs toward Israel, which we are working to intercept." Rocket sirens sounded in northern Jordan as Jordanian state media reported the country had...
Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders and that this was start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes. Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards corps said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed and state media reported the unit's...
The Israeli Air Force conducted a strike in Iran on Thursday, according to two sources with knowledge of the operation. It's not yet clear what Israel is targeting, but explosions were reported in Tehran. Why it matters: Israel is directly attacking its biggest and best-armed adversary, without clear backing from the U.S. President Trump publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites on Thursday, saying he still believed a nuclear deal was possible. It's not clear whether Israel has ordered strikes on Iran's nuclear program, or whether the U.S. opposed this specific...
The Trump administration began sending termination notices Thursday to about 500,000 foreign nationals who had received temporary stays to live and work in the United States under a special humanitarian exception. The so-called CHNV program was open to applicants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela from 2023 until it was terminated by President Donald Trump earlier this year. Recipients of the notices from the Department of Homeland Security are encouraged to "self-deport immediately." The move came two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that DHS can order CHNV participants to...
President Donald trump ramped up his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, calling him a "numbskull" and demanding steep rate cuts to ease the $600 billion annual interest bill on U.S. debt. Now, with inflation cooling faster than expected, rate cuts could be on the Fed's monetary policy table as soon as September, according to Citi economists. "We continue to pencil in 125bp of consecutive rate cuts from the Fed starting in September," Citi economists wrote, pointing to a rapid slowdown in core inflation as the key catalyst for policy easing. Trump's latest broadside...
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...
American consumers struggling to access food assistance payments due to the government shutdown are unable to fill their shopping carts, and that's "hurtful," according to the company behind Stop...