U.S. President Donald Trump has urged European Union officials to levy tariffs of up to 100% on China and India as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a U.S. official and an EU diplomat. Trump made the request during a conference call with EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan and other officials, according to the report. Washington signaled it would impose similar duties if Brussels joined the effort, the report said. Both China and India are major buyers of Russian crude and remain key to keeping Moscow's economy afloat as...
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...
The S&P Global US Services PMI rose to 54.3 in March 2025, a three-month high, from 51 in February, surpassing market expectations of 50.8, preliminary data showed. Service sector output rebounded strongly after hitting a 15-month low in February, driven by improved business inflows, strengthening customer demand, and better weather conditions. However, exports remained a weak spot, declining for the third straight month. Employment edged up in April, reversing February's small decline, though job growth remained sluggish as firms hesitated to hire amid demand uncertainty. Input costs...
China's official NBS Manufacturing PMI increased to 49.7 in June 2025 from May's 49.5, matching market expectations while marking the third consecutive month of contraction in factory activity.
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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...
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged European Union officials to levy tariffs of up to 100% on China and India as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported...