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. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Donald Trump's removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, saying the central bank has "made a lot of mistakes" even as he stressed its independence, according to a Reuters interview. Speaking to Reuters, Bessent argued that allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook warranted scrutiny and suggested she should resign if they prove true. "She hasn't said she didn't do it. She's just saying the president can't fire her. There's a big difference," Bessent told Reuters. Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed Board, was...
President Donald Trump's latest legal setback regarding tariffs is increasing uncertainty for American importers and delaying the economic benefits that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted his administration would generate. A US appeals court ruling late Friday, declaring most of Trump's tariffs illegal, adds further complications and calls into question the president's authority to tax companies to incentivize them to produce or source needed resources domestically. The judges left the levies in place while the case proceeds, threatening to freeze corporate investment decisions...
Indonesia's central bank will remain active in the foreign exchange market to stabilise the rupiah, it said on Friday, while the stock exchange regulator said market fundamentals remained strong despite a sudden fall in prices. The rupiah dropped nearly 1% on Friday to its weakest level since August 1 before regaining some of the losses. The stock index fell as much as 2% to reach its lowest point since August 12. Bank Indonesia (BI) will continue to take action to stabilise the rupiah by intervening in offshore and onshore non-deliverable forward markets and the spot market, said Erwin...
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that most of President Donald Trump's global tariffs were illegal, finding he exceeded his authority when imposing them. A panel of judges in Washington upheld an earlier decision by the Court of International Trade that Trump wrongfully invoked an emergency law to issue the tariffs. Despite the ruling, the tariffs will remain in place for now as the case continues through the legal system. The ruling does not affect Trump's first-term Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and autos, nor the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, as these were imposed...
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the US dropped to 58.2 in August of 2025 from the five-month high of 61.7 in the previous month, revised down from the preliminary estimate of 58.6 and well under the initial market expectations of 62. It was the first drop in the sentiment gauge in four months, mainly due to growing inflation concerns and sharply worse buying conditions for durable goods, which fell to their lowest in one year. Expectations on overall business conditions and the outlook on the US labor market also deteriorated, although expectations on personal finances...
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,...