U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet with his budget director Russell Vought on Thursday to determine which "Democrat Agencies" to cut, as he looks to inflict pain on his political opposition in the second day of a government shutdown. "I can't believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity," Trump said in a social media post. Trump has already frozen federal transit and green-energy funding for Democratic-leaning states and has threatened to fire more federal workers during the shutdown, which began on Wednesday due to a partisan standoff in...
China is intentionally mischaracterising World War Two-era documents to put pressure on, and isolate, Taiwan, as those accords made no determination of the island's ultimate political status, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said. The 80th anniversary of the war's end has been marked by a bitter dispute between Taipei and Beijing on its broader historical meaning and relevance today. Beijing says documents such as the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation support its legal claims of sovereignty over the island, as they call for Taiwan to be "restored" to Chinese rule at a time when...
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...
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the US dropped to 55.4 in September 2025, down from 58 in August and well below market expectations of 58, according to preliminary estimates. This marked the second consecutive monthly decrease, pushing sentiment to its lowest level since May. The current conditions index deteriorated to 61.2 from 61.7 and the expectations gauge fell to 51.8 from 55.9. Meanwhile, year-ahead inflation expectations held steady at 4.8% while the five-year expectations moved up for the second straight month to 3.9% from 3.5%. Source : Trading Economics
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 closest European allies. Poland, backed by aircraft from other NATO, shot down drones that had violated its airspace on Wednesday, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired during Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland. Trump told reporters in Washington...
The University of Michigan (UoM) is expected to release the preliminary reading of its monthly Consumer Confidence Index for September on Friday. This survey captures US consumers' views on their personal finances, business conditions, and purchasing plans, and is typically released alongside the University of Michigan Consumer Expectations Index and the University of Michigan Consumer Inflation Expectations Index. Consumption is a major contributor to US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The UoM Consumer Sentiment Index and Inflation Expectations Index have a solid reputation as...
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,...