Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said concerns about private-sector hiring have fueled his call for the central bank to cut interest rates this month. "The private sector is not performing as well as everyone thought," Waller said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. The monthly employment report for June, released on July 3, showed a sharp slowdown in private-sector job growth and a slowdown in wage growth, even as the unemployment rate declined slightly. His comments followed a speech he delivered Thursday in New York in which he argued that with limited inflation...
Euro zone inflation rose slightly to 2% in June, according to flash data from statistics agency Eurostat on Tuesday, meaning consumer prices in the single currency area are now in line with the European Central Bank's target of 2%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the reading to come in at 2% in the twelve months to June. Euro zone inflation had fallen by more than expected to 1.9% in May. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, tobacco and alcohol prices, was unchanged at 2.3% in June. The closely watched services inflation print picked up to 3.3% in June, after cooling...
Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), and Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank (ECB) President, will speak at the 2025 ECB Forum on Central Banking at 13:30 GMT on Tuesday, July 1.Alongside Fed Chairman Powell and ECB President Lagarde, Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey and Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda will also be taking part in the same panel. The Fed left its policy rate unchanged in the range of 4.25%-4.5% following the June policy meeting, and the revised Summary of Economic Projections (the so-called dot-plot) showed that policymakers...
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. It was the softest contraction in the sequence, with output rising the most in three months (51.0 vs 50.7 in May), supported by a trade deal with the US and Beijing's ongoing efforts to stimulate domestic demand and bolster the sluggish economy. Additionally, new orders grew for the first time in three months (50.2 vs 49.8), while foreign sales fell the least in three months (47.7 vs 47.5). A...
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA for visits to Iranian nuclear sites. "(IAEA head Rafael Grossi's) insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent," Araqchi wrote in a post on X. "Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defense of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty." The IAEA earlier said in a statement: "(Grossi) emphasised the need for IAEA inspectors to continue their verification activities in...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday the Trump administration's various trade deals with other countries could be done by the Sept. 1 Labor Day holiday, citing talks with 18 main U.S. trading partners and new revisions to a deal with China aimed at expediting rare earths shipments. After a week where tariffs took a back seat to the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and the massive tax and spending bill in Congress, the Trump administration's trade negotiations have picked up. The United States sent a new proposal to the European Union on Thursday and India sent a...
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...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to send a single letter to over 150 countries outlining the tariff rate they will face, saying, "It's all going to be the same for everyone, for that...