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...
The number of job openings on the last business day of August stood at 7.22 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday. This reading followed the 7.2 million openings reported for July and came in above the market expectation of 7.2 million. "Over the month, both hires and total separations were little changed at 5.1 million," the BLS noted in its press release. "Within separations, both quits (3.1 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.7 million) were little changed." This data failed to trigger a noticeable...
Washington braced for a looming government shutdown on Tuesday, as Republicans and Democrats appeared unlikely to reach a deal that would extend funding past the midnight deadline. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote on a stopgap spending bill that has already failed once, with no signs that a second vote will be successful. Democrats want to modify the must-pass spending bill to extend health benefits for millions of Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans say they should address the issue separately. Meanwhile, federal agencies released...
President Donald Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's endorsement on Monday for a US-sponsored peace proposal to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza, but questions arose over whether Hamas would accept the plan. Speaking at a joint press conference at the White House after a meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said they were "very close" to an elusive peace deal for the Palestinian territories. However, he warned the Islamist group Hamas that Israel would have full US support to take any action necessary if the militants reject its offer. The White House released a 20-point...
President Donald Trump's administration started detailing its plans on Monday for which services it will pause if the federal government shuts down this week, with the U.S. health department slated to furlough 41% of its workforce. The impending shutdown will be different than past government closures because the administration has threatened mass firings of federal staff, adding that it could use the lapse in funding to downsize the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management in a Monday memo said while training and onboarding of new federal employees is not allowed under the...
President Donald Trump said on Monday he would impose a 100% tariff on all films produced overseas that are then sent into the U.S., repeating a threat made in May that would upend Hollywood's global business model. The step signals Trump's willingness to extend protectionist trade policies into cultural industries, raising uncertainty for studios that depend heavily on cross-border co-productions and international box-office revenue. "Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing candy from a baby," Trump said in a post...