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 Korea's Kospi climbed 0.83%, and the small-cap Kosdaq jumped 0.65%. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 added 0.41%. Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 26,464, higher than its last close of 26,086.32. Equities in several parts of the world have been rallying as easing inflation pressures and expectations for U.S. rate cuts boost investor sentiment. "Momentum and the promise of...
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had "sort of" agreed to the terms. "We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP. "We're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this... there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don't want to do it the second way," he said. An Iranian source familiar with the negotiations...
Japan's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, could travel to Washington as early as next week for a third round of trade talks with the U.S., two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Thursday. The date of his visit is still uncertain and will depend on how much progress the two countries can make in narrowing differences in staff-level talks, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Japan is considering a package of proposals to gain U.S. concessions that could include increased imports of U.S. corn and soybeans,...
The world got a taste of an effective U.S.-China trade embargo, and after a breakthrough on Monday with lowered tariffs, there's no going back. China now has the "mutual respect" it has long craved from the U.S. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC's Joe Kernen that "there is a sense of mutual respect" during the talks, a point that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also emphasized in his remarks to the press on Monday. That's in stark contrast to how the first high-level bilateral meeting under the Biden administration kicked off with an exchange of insults in Alaska,...
Republicans in the U.S. Congress advanced major elements of President Donald Trump's budget package on Wednesday, as key committees approved tax cuts that would add trillions of dollars to the U.S. debt, while cutting spending on healthcare for the poor and disabled. With Democrats boycotting this top priority of Trump's, Republicans relied on their majorities in the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce panel overseeing Medicaid and other healthcare programs to advance the controversial package of bills. Flexing their majority muscles,...
As per the commerce ministry's announcement on Wednesday, China has temporarily halted some non-tariff measures that were previously imposed on 17 U.S. entities from its unreliable entity list and 28 U.S. entities from its export control list. These entities were added to the lists in April. China's unreliable entities list, which was updated on April 4, included 11 U.S. entities. Measures against these entities have been suspended for a period of 90 days, effective from Wednesday. Furthermore, measures against six more U.S. entities, which were added to the list on April 9, have also been...
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...
Less than four months ago, President Donald Trump met with Qatar's leader, praised his magnificent palace, and signed a comprehensive defense agreement with the Gulf monarchy, a key ally that hosts...