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 Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose to 247,000 in the week ending June 1, 2025. The figure was higher than the 236K estimate and from the previous weekly revised figure of 239K, the Labor Department said on Thursday (6/5). Source : Newsmaker
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. After five rounds of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran's insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment...
Industry executives are warning that U.S. President Donald Trump's recent 50% tariffs on aluminum imports may be too much for consumers to swallow and could destroy demand. "We're concerned about the potential demand destruction" of the levies, especially at current levels, Derek Prichett, senior vice president of global metals at Novelis Inc., said at the 17th Harbor Aluminum summit in Chicago. "Overall, it's a drag," Prichett said, adding that his company's Canadian-U.S. operations have been particularly affected by the tariffs. The Atlanta, Georgia-based company is the largest maker of...
President Donald Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned him that he would retaliate for a recent Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian airfield in a phone call Wednesday, signaling further complications in U.S. efforts to broker a cease-fire. "It was a good conversation, but not one that will lead to immediate Peace," Trump said of the call, which lasted more than an hour, in a social media post. "President Putin said, and very emphatically, that he must respond to the recent attack on the airfield." Trump said the pair also discussed ongoing nuclear talks with Iran and that the...
In a post published on Truth Social on Wednesday (04/06), United States President Donald Trump called on Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell to cut policy interest rates. "ADP NUMBERS ARE OUT!!! "Too late" Powell must now LOWER RATES. He's been great!!! Europe has cut NINE TIMES," Trump said. Earlier in the day, data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) showed that private sector payrolls rose by just 37,000 in May, marking the lowest reading since March 2023. This reading missed market expectations of 115,000 by a wide margin. Market reaction The US Dollar (USD)...