President Donald Trump announced a new peace pact between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he linked to US access to critical minerals. At a meeting in Washington, Trump claimed his administration had "succeeded where many others have failed," calling this the eighth war he has ended in less than a year. However, the reality on the ground is far more complicated, as fighting in eastern Congo continues despite the signing of the previous peace agreement. The agreement is not just about a ceasefire; it also concerns the mineral trade. The agreement grants US companies access...
Federal Reserve officials are taking note of what they see as rising inflation risks and the uncertain impact of President Donald Trump's trade, immigration and other policies. On Thursday, several signaled they still feel that cooling U.S. inflation will in time allow the U.S. central bank to deliver further interest rate cuts; one said that current conditions call for holding rates steady, and gave no indication of when, or whether, she felt cuts would be needed. "Going forward, I consider it is appropriate to hold the federal funds rate in place for some time, given the balance of risks...
Applications for US unemployment benefits were little changed last week, indicating solid demand for workers. Initial claims increased by 5,000 to 219,000 in the week ended Feb. 15, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 215,000 applications.Source: Bloomberg
The minutes of the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy meeting on January 28-29 will be released on Wednesday (2/19) at 19:00 GMT. Policymakers decided to keep the policy interest rate in the range of 4.25%-4.5% for the first meeting of 2025. However, the central bank removed its previous statement that inflation had "made progress" towards its 2% target, and instead stated that the pace of price increases "remains high." The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted unanimously to keep the policy rate unchanged. The statement showed that officials expressed confidence that progress...
United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics will publish the January CPI data on Wednesday.The annual UK headline and core CPI inflation are expected to increase in January.The Pound Sterling braces for volatility on the UK CPI report data release amid a prudent BoE.The high-impact Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the United Kingdom (UK) for January will be published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday at 07:00 GMT. The Pound Sterling (GBP) could witness a big reaction to the UK CPI inflation report, which will likely have a strong bearing on the Bank of...
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr delivered remarks before the Council on Foreign Relations today, discussing the state of the economy, inflation, and policy uncertainty. Barr sounded a positive note about the economy, citing strong growth over the past year and low and stable unemployment. He also noted the substantial progress that has been made on inflation, while acknowledging that there is still much work to be done. He described the path to 2% inflation as "bumpy but steady." Barr also discussed the spike in inflation that occurred in January, attributing it...
Asian stock markets fell in unison on Thursday, following Wall Street's decline. A brief rally in tech stocks led by Nvidia quickly faded, prompting investors to turn away from riskier assets like...
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 announced a new peace pact between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he linked to US access to critical minerals. At a meeting in Washington, Trump claimed...