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 Federal Reserve's path to interest rate cuts starting in September appeared to widen on Thursday, after a pair of government reports pointed to cooler inflation and signs of potential weakening in the labor market. U.S. producer prices advanced 2.6% in May from a year earlier, after rising 2.5% in April, the Labor Department reported. Taken together with tamer-than-expected increases in the Consumer Price Index in May, economists estimated that inflation by the Fed's preferred gauge of underlying price pressures, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, likely rose in...
A tentative agreement between the United States and China may be a step back from the worst-case scenario of a complete collapse of trade between the world's two largest economies, but it creates more problems than it solves. President Donald Trump has hailed the deal, which is still awaiting final approval from both sides, as a "great deal" that will benefit both countries. While not all the details are known, what has been revealed suggests a deal that will likely hurt both economies and fail to address some pressing issues, such as China's dominance of the rare earths supply chain. The...
US citizens filing new applications for unemployment insurance rose to 248K for the week ending May 31, the US Department of Labor (DOL) reported on Thursday. This was higher than the initial estimate and in line with the previous week's revised count. The report also highlighted the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate at 1.3%, while the four-week moving average rose by 5K to 240.250K from the previous week's revised average. Additionally, Continuing Jobless Claims increased by 54K to 1.956M for the week ending May 24. (alg) Source: FXstreet
US producer prices edged up 0.1% month-over-month in May 2025, following an upwardly revised 0.2% decline in April and compared with a 0.2% increase expected. Goods prices rose 0.2%, with tobacco costs rising 0.9%. Prices for gasoline, processed poultry, roasted coffee, household natural gas, and oilseeds also rose. In contrast, jet fuel prices fell 8.2%. In addition, service costs edged up 0.1%, with the margin for wholesale sales of machinery and vehicles jumping 2.9%. Costs for traveler accommodation services; retail sales of clothing, footwear, and accessories; retail sales of alcohol;...
The UK economy shrank in April following declines in both the services and production sectors, in a month marked by volatile US tariff announcements and higher local taxes. Britain's monthly gross domestic product fell 0.3% in April after rising 0.2% in March, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Thursday. The latest figure is worse than the expected 0.1% decline, signaling the worst monthly drop in the UK GDP since October 2023. Annually, the British economy grew 0.9%, slowing from the previous 1.1% expansion. In the quarter to April, UK GDP increased 0.7%...