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...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said that his sweeping trade tariffs could help him cut income taxes for people making less than $200,000 a year, amid heightened anxiety over his economic agenda. Trump repeated his past claims that revenue from trade tariffs could help the U.S. government reduce income taxes, although he has not elaborated on these claims. "When Tariffs cut in, many people's Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year," Trump said in a post on Truth.Social. Trump's comments...
China exempted some US imports from its high tariffs on Friday in a sign that the trade war between the two countries may be easing, though China quickly dismissed US President Donald Trump's assertion that negotiations were underway. Business groups said China had allowed some US-made pharmaceutical drugs into the country without paying the 125% tariffs that Beijing imposed earlier this month in response to Trump's 145% tariffs on US imports. In addition, a list of 131 product categories that were said to be under consideration for exemptions has been circulating among some business and...
British retailers reported the best start to the year since 2021 in what may be a fleeting boost for the economy, with rising bills and the U.S. trade war increasingly weighing on consumer morale. Retail sales volumes rose by 0.4% in March alone, after downwardly revised growth of 0.7% in February, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a month-on-month fall of 0.4%. For the first quarter as a whole, retail sales rose by 1.6% - the strongest reading in four years, and providing a 0.08 percentage point boost to overall economic output...
China's government is weighing the exemption of some U.S. goods from its 125% import tariffs, Bloomberg reported on Friday, as the country grapples with the high economic cost of a trade war. Officials are considering exempting levies on medical equipment and some industrial chemicals like ethane, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Chinese officials are also considering waiving tariffs on plane leases, the report said. China's potential exemptions mirror those seen with the U.S., which excluded electronics from its 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, amid concerns...
Initial jobless claims in the United States rose by 6,000 from the previous week to 222,000 on the third week of April, in line with market expectations to remain relatively close to the two-month low from the prior period. In the meantime, outstanding jobless claims fell by 37,000 to 1,841,000 on the second week of April, a two-month low, and well below market expectations that they would rise to 1,880,000. The result continued to reflect a historically tight labor market in the US to extend the momentum from the latest jobs report. Initial unemployment claims filed under programs for...
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,...