World markets kicked off November in an upbeat mood, riffing off buoyant company earnings and calmer trade relations while batting away OPEC's planned end to output hikes and this week's Supreme Court hearing on President Donald Trump's tariffs. Following last week's meeting between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping in South Korea, the White House announced Saturday that China would lift export controls on rare earths and end probes into U.S. chip firms. But Trump said AI giant Nvidia's most advanced chips would be reserved for U.S. companies and kept out of China and other...
U.S. President Donald Trump warned congressional Democrats on Tuesday that allowing the federal government to shut down at midnight would allow his administration to take "irreversible" actions including shutting down programs important to them. "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like," Trump said in remarks to reporters from the White House Oval Office. "You all know Russell Vought," Trump added, referring to the...
The number of job openings on the last business day of August stood at 7.22 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday. This reading followed the 7.2 million openings reported for July and came in above the market expectation of 7.2 million. "Over the month, both hires and total separations were little changed at 5.1 million," the BLS noted in its press release. "Within separations, both quits (3.1 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.7 million) were little changed." This data failed to trigger a noticeable...
Washington braced for a looming government shutdown on Tuesday, as Republicans and Democrats appeared unlikely to reach a deal that would extend funding past the midnight deadline. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote on a stopgap spending bill that has already failed once, with no signs that a second vote will be successful. Democrats want to modify the must-pass spending bill to extend health benefits for millions of Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans say they should address the issue separately. Meanwhile, federal agencies released...
President Donald Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's endorsement on Monday for a US-sponsored peace proposal to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza, but questions arose over whether Hamas would accept the plan. Speaking at a joint press conference at the White House after a meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said they were "very close" to an elusive peace deal for the Palestinian territories. However, he warned the Islamist group Hamas that Israel would have full US support to take any action necessary if the militants reject its offer. The White House released a 20-point...
President Donald Trump's administration started detailing its plans on Monday for which services it will pause if the federal government shuts down this week, with the U.S. health department slated to furlough 41% of its workforce. The impending shutdown will be different than past government closures because the administration has threatened mass firings of federal staff, adding that it could use the lapse in funding to downsize the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management in a Monday memo said while training and onboarding of new federal employees is not allowed under the...
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...
As the U.S. government shutdown disrupts federal employee paychecks across the country, it also exacerbates the financial hardship of attorneys who represent the poorest members of society when they...