Investors cheered Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole address, which gave a green light to buy risky assets on the hope the central bank is ready to cut rates, but took his dovish message with a note of caution as they see a risk of stagflation ahead and worry markets are over-optimistic. In his final address as Fed chair at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, economic symposium, Powell hinted at a September interest rate cut but stopped short of committing, striking a careful balance between mounting job-market risks and lingering inflation worries. The speech on Friday came amid...
US retail sales rose by 0.1% mom in April 2025, following an upwardly revised 1.7% surge in March. The modest gain suggests consumers scaled back spending in response to a wave of tariff announcements in early April, yet the result still exceeded market expectations for no change. Biggest increases were seen in sales at food services and drinking places (1.2%), building material and garden equipment supplies dealers (0.8%), furniture (0.3%) and electronics and appliances stores (0.3%). On the other hand, the largest decreases were recorded at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument,...
Initial jobless claims in the United States were unchanged from the previous week at 229,000 on the period ending May 10th, aligned with market expectations, to hold the decline form the two-month-high of 241,000 from the last week of April. In the meantime, outstanding claims edged slightly higher to 1,881,000 in the first week of May, slightly below market expectations of 1,990,000. The result continued to reflect a resilient labor market when compared to historical levels, aligned with the assessment by Federal Reserve Chairman Powell in the central bank's latest decision. In the...
U.S President Donald Trump said on Thursday that India had offered the U.S a trade deal that proposed "no tariffs". New Delhi is seeking to clinch a trade deal with the U.S. within the 90-day pause announced by Trump on April 9 on tariff hikes for major trading partners, which had included a 26% tariff on India. "It is very hard to sell in India, and they are offering us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariffs," Trump said in a meeting with executives in Doha. The United States is India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade totalling some $129...
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had "sort of" agreed to the terms. "We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP. "We're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this... there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don't want to do it the second way," he said. An Iranian source familiar with the negotiations...
Japan's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, could travel to Washington as early as next week for a third round of trade talks with the U.S., two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Thursday. The date of his visit is still uncertain and will depend on how much progress the two countries can make in narrowing differences in staff-level talks, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Japan is considering a package of proposals to gain U.S. concessions that could include increased imports of U.S. corn and soybeans,...
President Donald Trump said he would fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors if she does not resign her post over mortgage-fraud accusations from a top...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market...