Hong Kong stocks fell for the second session, down 46 points or 0.2% to 25,469 on Wednesday morning, after U.S.-China trade talks ended without a meaningful breakthrough. While extending the current tariff truce remains possible, Treasury Secretary Bessent said President Trump will have the final say. Caution also prevailed ahead of the Fed's rate decision later today, with analysts noting most Fed officials prefer to wait and assess the inflationary impact of tariffs before acting, especially with Trump's August 1 tariff deadline looming. Tech shares led the fall, followed by consumers...
The Nikkei 225 Index rallied 2.2% to around 34,980 while the broader Topix Index jumped 2.3% to 2,590 on Wednesday, with Japanese shares hitting a three-week high and tracking a strong rebound on Wall Street. Those moves came as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled a potential easing in the US-China trade dispute, calling the current tariff standoff "unsustainable." Later in the day, President Donald Trump reinforced market optimism by confirming he has no plans to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, helping to stabilize sentiment around central bank independence and policy...
Asia-Pacific markets climbed Wednesday, after all three key benchmarks on Wall Street advanced overnight on optimism that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that final tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. "won't be anywhere near as high as 145%." However, he added that the duties "won't be 0%." Trump also said he has "no intention" to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell before his term ends, alleviating investors' concerns over the central bank's independence. Hong Kong stocks led gains in the region, with the Hang Seng...
US stocks rose on Tuesday as hopes of an easing in the US-China trade war lifted investor sentiment after a sharp sell-off the previous day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rose 2.5%, while the Dow Jones jumped 1,016 points. Optimism was fueled by comments from Treasury Secretary Bessent at a JPMorgan-hosted summit, in which he said the current tariff standoff was "unsustainable" and hinted that negotiations with China were moving toward a resolution. However, gains eased later in the day as Bessent acknowledged that formal talks had not yet begun and warned that negotiations would likely be...
European stocks reversed early losses and closed higher on Tuesday, helped by a rebound in U.S. equities as markets continued to assess how lower trade risks with the U.S. could affect Europe's corporate giants. The eurozone STOXX 50 gained 0.4% to close at 4,956 and the pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.2% to close at 508. Carmakers were among the biggest gainers on the session, with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen all up more than 2%. Banks, meanwhile, were solidly ahead, with BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and ING all up around 1.5%, although UniCredit slumped almost 3% after the Italian...
US stocks were higher on Tuesday, trimming the selloff from the prior session as markets continued to assess risks to the autonomy of the Federal Reserve and the uncertain economic policy route by the Presidential administration. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, and the Dow were all up by slightly more than 1%. Equities booked sharp losses at the start of the week, aligning with declines in Treasury securities and the US dollar after President Trump and cabinet members signaled pressure on Fed Chair Powell to be replaced. This extended the pivot away from dollar assets amid ongoing trade...