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...
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Beijing has a choice to be a reliable partner with the rest of the world or not, reiterating that China needs to shift to a more consumption-oriented economy to help ease global imbalances. "They want to be a reliable partner with the rest of the world, or they don't," Bessent said via video link to the American Swiss Foundation Leadership Summit in Zurich on Tuesday. "They're in the middle of a big real estate — I'm not going to be fearmongering and say crisis — but a big real estate development and the way for them to stabilize their economy is not...
Job openings in the United States rose by 191,000 to 7.391 million in April 2025, above market expectations of 7.10 million. The number of job openings increased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+43,000) and in mining and logging (+10,000). On the other hand, The number of job openings decreased in accommodation and food services (-135,000) and in state and local government, education (-51,000). Regarding regional distribution, job openings rose in the Northeast (116K), the South (127K), and in the West (33K), but fell in the Midwest (-85K). Meanwhile, both hires and total...
Global growth faces an "increasingly challenging" outlook due to potential headwinds from sweeping tariffs denting the U.S. economy, the OECD flagged in a statement lowering its estimate for economic activity this year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development slashed its projections for global gross domestic product growth for 2025 to 2.9% from an earlier estimate of 3.1%. Expected global GDP is also tipped to grow by 2.9% next year, down from a prior estimate of 3.0%. Increases in trade barriers and elevated policy uncertainty all pose "significant risks" to growth in...
Britain's trade minister Jonathan Reynolds will meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of a trade deal that has been complicated by the announcement of fresh U.S. tariffs on steel. Reynolds will review recently agreed deals with counterparts from the U.S. and EU, Britain's two biggest trading partners, during a three-day trip to Paris and Brussels this week. The deals struck last month are both political pacts rather than formal trade agreements, and the details of their implementation have not been set out. Starmer and U.S. President Donald...
The Trump administration is reportedly working to deliver on a final trade deal deadline set for Wednesday. A draft letter to various U.S. trading partners sets the deadline so close, Reuters reports, to try and push for faster trade talks as the U.S. scrambles to unveil a major trade deal the administration says is imminent. Trump's team is pushing for a deal to avoid its own tariffs Time is running out for the Trump team to secure, finalize and announce trade deals with other countries that support Donald Trump's "America First" campaign pledge. The White House has temporarily suspended...