The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to reduce risk in large cap stocks. Among the index's contributors, Tencent was a major drag, with its shares falling by around 2.3%, putting pressure on the technology sector, which has recently been a driving force behind market gains. Weakness in large cap companies like this typically quickly impacts sentiment due to their significant weighting in...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday he expects to meet next week with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia to try to forestall an escalation of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods that President Donald Trump said was unsustainable. Bessent made the announcement during a White House cabinet meeting and later confirmed plans for a meeting after a call with He on Friday evening. Bessent said on X the two officials "engaged in frank and detailed discussions regarding trade between the United States and China." "We will meet in-person next week to continue our discussions,"...
China on Thursday accused the U.S. of stoking panic over its rare earth controls and said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had made "grossly distorted" remarks about a top Chinese trade negotiator, rejecting a White House call to roll back the curbs. The official newspaper of the governing Communist Party also issued a seven-point rebuttal after top U.S. negotiators suggested Beijing could avert President Donald Trump's threat to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods by scrapping the measures set to take effect on November 8. While investors are relieved the world's top two economies have...
US President Donald Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day before meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "This conversation is ongoing, it's lengthy, and I will report on its contents, as will President Putin, eventually," Trump wrote on social media on Thursday. Trump has expressed frustration with Putin over the Russian leader's refusal to halt fighting in Ukraine or meet directly with Zelenskiy for peace talks. Zelenskiy is expected to ask Trump for more advanced weaponry when they meet on Friday at the White House. Trump has indicated in recent...
Australia's unemployment rate jumped to 4.5% in September, its highest level since 2021. This figure was worse than expected and indicates that the labor market is starting to weaken. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also showed that only 14,900 new jobs were added last month, although the labor force participation rate rose slightly to 67%. This situation has reinforced speculation that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may cut interest rates again as soon as next month. Following the release of this data, the Australian dollar fell 0.4%, while the yield on three-year...
Ukraine has imposed emergency power outages in all but two regions following a series of Russian attacks that have crippled the country's energy system, officials said Wednesday. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities ahead of winter, seriously damaging gas production and plunging major cities, including the capital, Kyiv, into darkness. In a statement, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said the impact of the recent attacks had forced it to implement the power outages. Planned power outages have been implemented in the eastern Donetsk and northern Chernihiv...