The business activity in the US service sector stagnated in September, with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) declining to 50 from 52 in August. This reading came in below the market expectation of 51.7. The Employment Index of the PMI survey edged higher to 47.2 from 46.5 in August, while the Prices Paid Index, the inflation component, rose to 69.4 from 69.2. Assessing the survey's findings, "September's Services PMI level returned to numbers very similar to May and July, with weakness in business activity and continued weakness in...
New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases...
The Federal Reserve is seen as more likely to slash interest rates at its upcoming policy meeting in September following President Donald Trump's nomination of a temporary governor of the central bank, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM). In a note following the announcement, the bank pulled forward its expectation for the next 25 basis point cut to September. It had previously predicted that such a reduction would come in at the Fed's gathering in December. "We continue to look for three like-sized cuts at the subsequent three meetings before pausing indefinitely," the...
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to fill the final months of a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve, as the White House seeks a permanent member for the central bank's board of governors and continues its search for a new Fed chairman. Miran has called for a complete overhaul of Fed governance and will take over from Fed Governor Adriana Kugler following her surprise resignation last week, as she returns to her tenured professorship at Georgetown University. The term expires January 31, 2026, and must be confirmed by...
Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may meet with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, but said he was not aware of any planned meeting between Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "As far as I heard, there are a number of locations, but they agreed to something that they don't want to disclose. The timeline is, I think, next week, but that's again judging from what presidents said themselves," Polyanskiy told reporters about the Putin-Trump meeting. "I haven't heard about any meeting planned with...
Raphael Bostic of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta warned that rising price pressures over the next six to twelve months could intensify the Fed's challenges. A ton of economic scenarios that could play out, hard to assign probabilities.Outlook is for the economy to continue slowing, but also expect real uncertainty about what that means for jobs and inflation. Firms are still in a wait-and-see pattern around employment.Likely to be upward pressure on prices for six to 12 months; that puts pressure on the Fed. The most important question for the Fed is whether tariffs will shift prices...
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...
The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal, setting off what could be a long,...