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...
The UK (UK) Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% year-on-year (YoY) in February, following a 3.0% acceleration in January, data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Wednesday. Markets were expecting a 2.9% growth in the reported period. The reading remains well above the Bank of England's (BoE) target of 2%. Core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy) rose at an annual rate of 3.5% in the same period, compared to a 3.7% surge in January, which was below market expectations of 3.6%. (Newsmaker23) Source: FXstreet
Australia's monthly inflation indicator showed price pressures continued to cool in February, keeping the door open for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates further, perhaps as early as next month. The inflation indicator rose 2.4% in the 12 months to February, slightly below market expectations and well entrenched within the RBA's target band, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The data for February comes after the indicator held steady at 2.5% for the previous two months. The hot spots for price gains over the last year were in food and non-alcoholic...
The US economy entered 2025 with a fair amount of momentum. However, GDP growth in the first quarter of the year looks to be soft. Real consumer spending declined in January, although the weakness may be attributable, at least in part, to bad weather. Furthermore, the surge in imports in January, which mechanically reduce GDP (everything else equal), will also weigh on output growth in Q1. In our view, the surge in imports reflects front-running ahead of potential increases in tariff rates.Tariff announcements have come and gone in recent weeks. In terms of our forecast, we assume that the...
US President Donald Trump said Monday that auto tariffs would go into effect soon, though he indicated that not all of the levies he has threatened would go into effect on April 2 and that some countries might get waivers, a move Wall Street took as a sign of flexibility on an issue that has roiled markets for weeks. At the same time, Trump opened another front in the global trade war by imposing secondary tariffs of 25% on any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela, a directive that sent oil prices soaring. At the White House, Trump told reporters that not all of the new tariffs...
United States (US) President Donald Trump spoke with reporters in Washington, DC on Monday, re-announcing plans to issue additional tariffs on automobiles, aluminum, and pharmaceuticals "soon". This follows the Trump administration's recent unilateral 25% import tax on all steel and aluminum entering the US. President Trump also took the opportunity to make a new tariff threat, announcing that the US would be imposing an additional 25% tariff on all goods coming to the US from countries that buy Venezuelan Crude Oil products. Never one to miss an opportunity to make a statement, Donald...
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,...