If it just seems like the first Friday of the month wasn't the same without being able to pore through the Bureau of Labor Statistics' hotly watched monthly jobs report, don't worry. You probably didn't miss much. While the BLS has gone dark with the shutdown in Washington, other reports outside the government data suggest the labor market just plodded along in September. The Dow Jones consensus forecast was for growth of 51,000 in nonfarm payrolls with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%. High-frequency data that includes job postings, private payrolls and state-by-state figures...
Global growth faces an "increasingly challenging" outlook due to potential headwinds from sweeping tariffs denting the U.S. economy, the OECD flagged in a statement lowering its estimate for economic activity this year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development slashed its projections for global gross domestic product growth for 2025 to 2.9% from an earlier estimate of 3.1%. Expected global GDP is also tipped to grow by 2.9% next year, down from a prior estimate of 3.0%. Increases in trade barriers and elevated policy uncertainty all pose "significant risks" to growth in...
Britain's trade minister Jonathan Reynolds will meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of a trade deal that has been complicated by the announcement of fresh U.S. tariffs on steel. Reynolds will review recently agreed deals with counterparts from the U.S. and EU, Britain's two biggest trading partners, during a three-day trip to Paris and Brussels this week. The deals struck last month are both political pacts rather than formal trade agreements, and the details of their implementation have not been set out. Starmer and U.S. President Donald...
The Trump administration is reportedly working to deliver on a final trade deal deadline set for Wednesday. A draft letter to various U.S. trading partners sets the deadline so close, Reuters reports, to try and push for faster trade talks as the U.S. scrambles to unveil a major trade deal the administration says is imminent. Trump's team is pushing for a deal to avoid its own tariffs Time is running out for the Trump team to secure, finalize and announce trade deals with other countries that support Donald Trump's "America First" campaign pledge. The White House has temporarily suspended...
A group of small businesses that won a ruling that most of President Donald Trump's global tariffs are illegal wants the tariffs blocked during the government's appeal, saying they are suffering direct harm from economic uncertainty. In a filing Monday with the U.S. Court of International Trade, which last week ruled that Trump exceeded his authority in imposing broad trade levies, the groups opposed the administration's request to keep the tariffs in place during its appeal. The appeals process is likely to drag on for months, so a pause would be a win for the White House. It's unclear...
The ISM Manufacturing PMI in the US fell to 48.5 in May 2025 from 48.7 in April, below market expectations of 49.5. The reading marked the third consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector and the sharpest decline since November 2024, highlighting mounting economic uncertainty and sustained cost pressures, partly driven by volatile trade policies under the Trump administration. Output, new orders, employment, and backlog of orders all declined but at a slower pace, while new export sales dropped more sharply. Meanwhile, the Inventories Index slipped into contraction...
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,...