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...
On April 6, the Sunday after Donald Trump announced the "Liberation Day" tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined the president on his flight back to Washington from Mar-a-Lago. Bessent wanted to discuss damage control. At the time, photos of Trump in the Rose Garden waving a placard proclaiming tariffs as high as 49% had spooked investors worldwide, triggering the biggest two-day stock selloff since the pandemic. "We are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market for capital investment," billionaire...
President Donald Trump on Monday delayed high U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from snapping back into place for another 90 days, a White House official told CNBC. Those tariffs were set to resume Tuesday. But Trump signed an executive order hours beforehand that extends the deadline until mid-November, according to the official. The delay was the expected outcome from the latest round of talks between U.S. trade negotiators and their Chinese counterparts, which took place in Stockholm in late July. If the deadline were not extended, then U.S. duties on China would have shot back up to where...
Barrick Mining CEO Mark Bristow said on Monday that the gold industry is awaiting clarity from the White House regarding potential U.S. tariffs on gold bars, but added that, regardless of the outcome, the impact on miners would be minimal. According to a ruling published on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service's website on Friday, Washington may place the most widely traded gold bullion bars in the U.S. under country-specific import tariffs. A White House official later told Reuters it would issue an executive order "clarifying misinformation". The ruling has disrupted global...
U.S. President Donald Trump avoided a question on Monday about whether he would extend an August 12 deadline for higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, saying, "we'll see what happens," as he lauded China's cooperation in talks with the U.S. "We've been dealing very nicely with China. As you have probably heard, they have tremendous tariffs that they're paying to the United States of America," Trump said at a news conference at the White House. "They've been dealing quite nicely," he said, adding that he had a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A tariff truce between...
President Trump's deadline for Russia to strike a peace deal with Ukraine passed without stricter US sanctions imposed on Moscow. This likely contributed to the recent weakness in crude oil prices, with Brent trading at its lowest levels since early June, ING's commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note. Speculators are bearish towards the oil market "The market is focused on Trump's meeting with President Putin on Friday – and whether any progress towards a peace deal can be made. But with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede occupied territory to end the war, it's difficult to...
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...