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...
During a public meeting with Ireland's Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, United States (US) President Donald Trump took the opportunity to deliver another hodge-podge of comments addressing his usual variety of topics that White House watchers have become increasingly familiar with. Without sharing any specific details, President Trump declared that the EU has been "tough" on the US in terms of trade, noting that Europeans tend to not buy very many US-produced food products or vehicles. Given the enormous costs of shipping both durable and non-durable goods between two...
Inflation in the United States (US), as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined to 2.8% on a yearly basis in February from 3% in January, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Wednesday. This reading came in below the market expectation of 2.9%. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2% following the 0.5% increase recorded in January. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.1% on a yearly basis. This print followed the 3.3% increase in January and came in below analysts' estimate of 3.2%. On a monthly basis, the core CPI rose...
Canada will announce C$29.8 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the United States on Wednesday in response to US President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, a Canadian official said. The official declined to be identified. Trump's increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports take effect on Wednesday as previous exemptions, duty-free quotas and product exclusions expire, and as his campaign to reshape global trade norms in favor of the US gains momentum. Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States. The escalation in the US-Canada trade war...
Many of Japan's biggest companies are expected to offer substantial wage hikes for a third consecutive year when they conclude talks with unions on Wednesday, seeking to help workers cope with inflation and retain staff amid labour shortages. Last year's "shunto" or "spring labour offensive" negotiations resulted in the sharpest increase in 33 years, enabling the central bank to exit its decade-long super-loose monetary policy. Record corporate profits, helped by a weak yen, also support the case for lifting pay and this year economists expect increases to be similar to last year's average...
U.S. job openings increased in January, but demand for labor is likely to soften in the months ahead amid concerns that uncertainty over import tariffs and aggressive government spending cuts could cause a sharp slowdown in economic activity. For now, the labor market is holding steady, with the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, from the Labor Department on Tuesday showing layoffs declining for a fourth straight month to the lowest level since last June. There were 1.13 job openings for every unemployed person, up from 1.09 in December. Hiring, however, remained...
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...