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...
Initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose 20,000 from the previous week to 242,000 in the period ended Feb. 22, beating market expectations of 222,000.Source: Newsmaker23
US President Donald Trump hit markets with new tariff headlines on Wednesday, reiterating his insistence on 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and adding the European Union to the list of countries that will punish US consumers for importing goods from them. While redoubling his plans to fund the US deficit spending with import taxes, President Trump also delayed his own tariffs for the fourth straight time, deciding that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will not go into effect until April. Key highlights Not stopping tariffs. Tariffs will go into effect, not all, but many. Tariffs...
New-home sales in the US fell at the start of the year to a three-month low, reflecting a combination of affordability challenges as well as harsh winter weather. Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 10.5% last month to a 657,000 annualized rate, according to government data issued Wednesday. That trailed the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected an annual rate of 680,000. Around the US, new-home sales declined by nearly 15% in the South, the biggest homebuilding region, where several areas experienced record snowfall in...
U.S. Treasury yields regained some lost ground on Wednesday after the House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump's tax-cut agenda, while the dollar and oil prices struggled on mounting worries over the U.S. growth outlook. U.S. copper prices surged more than 4% while those elsewhere fell overnight after Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports. The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday narrowly passed Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, sending the budget resolution to the Senate, where Republicans are...
The monthly Consumer Price Index in Australia increased by 2.5% yoy in January 2025, unchanged from the previous month but below market estimates of a 2.6% rise. Still, the latest result was the highest reading in four months, with food prices rising the most in three months (3.3% vs 2.7%). Also, prices rose faster for tobacco (6.4% vs 5.8%), clothing (2.1% vs 1.3%), and housing (2.1% vs 1.5%). Excluding volatile items and travel, the CPI rose by 2.9%, the most in five months, accelerating from a 2.7% gain in the previous month. Source: Trading Economics
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,...