US President Donald Trump announced tariff cuts on fentanyl-related products from China, reducing them from 20% to 10%. This decision is part of an agreement reached at a summit in South Korea last October. This move aims to ease trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. Trump also announced a freeze on reciprocal tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. This freeze will remain in effect, providing some relief to companies engaged in international trade with China. This policy is expected to help ease trade tensions that have persisted for the past few years. This tariff cut will...
Pending home sales in the United States rose by 1.8% from the previous month in April of 2025, trimming the 6.3% drop in the previous month and contrasting with market expectations of a 0.3% drop. The rebound was broadly distributed through the whole country, led by the West (6%) and the Northeast (2.1%), while growth was less pronounced in the South (1%) and the Midwest (0.3%). "Consistent job gains and rising wages are modestly helping the housing market," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Hourly wages are increasing faster than home prices. However, mortgage rate fluctuations are...
Initial jobless claims in the US fell by 10,000 from the previous week to 236,000 on the week ending June 21st, less than market expectations that they would remain unchanged. Still, the result remained firmly above this year's average, suggesting some softening in the US labor market. Additionally, outstanding claims rose by 37,000 to 1,974,000 in the week prior, well above market expectations of 1,950,000, and the highest since November 2021 to suggest that the unemployed population is having more difficulties in finding suitable employment. Source: Trading Economics
TIANJIN, China — Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday called on other countries to collaborate on trade, despite rising tariffs and other barriers. "Globalization will not be reversed," he said through an official English translation, as he called on all sides not to turn trade into a political or security issue. Engaging in the international economy is a way of "reshaping the rules and order," Li added, calling on countries to keep to the "right" path. Li did not comment specifically on U.S. trade tensions or the Israel-Iran conflict. He was speaking at the opening plenary of the World...
The Trump administration's tariff plans may well just cause a one-time jump in prices, but the risk it could cause more persistent inflation is large enough for the central bank to be careful in considering further rate cuts, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday. Though economic theory may point to tariffs as a one-off shock to prices, "that is not a law of nature," said Powell, detailing why the central bank wants more information about the ultimate level of tariffs and the way they impact pricing and public expectations about inflation before lowering...
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States will make Spain pay twice as much for a trade deal after the country's refusal to meet a NATO defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product. NATO leaders backed a big increase in defense spending on Wednesday that Trump had demanded, but Spain declared that it does not need to meet the goal and can meet its commitments by spending much less. Trump called Spain's decision "very terrible" and vowed to force the country to make up the difference. "We're negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them...
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...
US President Donald Trump announced tariff cuts on fentanyl-related products from China, reducing them from 20% to 10%. This decision is part of an agreement reached at a summit in South Korea last...