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...
President Donald Trump's plan to revive U.S. shipbuilding using massive fees on China-linked ship visits to American ports is causing U.S. coal inventories to swell and stoking uncertainty in the embattled agriculture market, as exporters struggle to find ships to send goods abroad. Trump is drafting an executive order that would rely on funding from a U.S. Trade Representative proposal to levy fines of up to $1.5 million on China-made ships or vessels from fleets that include ships made in China. Those potential port fees have limited the availability of ships needed to move agriculture,...
The White House said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to seek a limited ceasesire on energy and infrastructure targets for 30 days. "The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace," according to a readout of President Donald J. Trump's call with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. "These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East," the White House...
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said it was important to strengthen ties with "reliable allies" in Europe, as he met British and French leaders on his first overseas visit amid tensions with the United States. Carney's decision to visit Paris and London instead of Washington, as is usual for Canadian leaders, comes after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated trade tensions with both Canada and Europe, and floated threats of annexing Canada. "(It) is more important than ever for Canada to strengthen its ties with reliable allies like France," Carney said, ahead of a working lunch with...
President Donald Trump's tariff hikes will drag down growth in Canada, Mexico and the United States while driving up inflation, the OECD forecast on Monday, cutting its global economic outlook and warning that a broader trade war would sap growth further. In the case of a generalised trade shock, not only will U.S. households pay a high direct price, but the likely economic slowdown will cost the United States more than the extra income the tariffs are supposed to generate, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated in its interim outlook. Global growth is on...
Retail Sales in the United States (US) rose by 0.2% in February to $722.7 billion, the US Census Bureau announced on Monday. This reading followed the 1.2% decrease reported in January and came in worse than the market expectation for an increase 0.7%. On a yearly basis, Retail Sales were up 3.1%. Source: FXstreet