Consumer confidence in the US took a hit in February, with the Consumer Confidence Index falling to 98.3 (from 105.3) according to the Conference Board. The index fell to its lowest level since June 2024. Consumers' views of current business and job market conditions deteriorated, with the Current Situation Index dropping 3.4 points to 136.5. Meanwhile, their near-term outlook for income, business, and employment weakened further, with the Expectations Index dropping 9.3 points to 72.9. Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board, explained that in...
US President Donald Trump signed another Executive Order on Tuesday evening (2/25), signaling the US Commerce Department to launch a formal "investigation" into the Copper market. President Trump, citing "national security concerns," ordered an investigation into the futures and delivery markets of Copper. US law provides an ambiguous backdoor for the president to issue Executive Orders that allow the White House to bypass normal congressional channels to start a trade war, and has been the basis for hundreds of Trump administration Executive Orders since Trump took office in...
The monthly Consumer Price Index in Australia increased by 2.5% yoy in January 2025, unchanged from the previous month but below market estimates of a 2.6% rise. Still, the latest result was the highest reading in four months, with food prices rising the most in three months (3.3% vs 2.7%). Also, prices rose faster for tobacco (6.4% vs 5.8%), clothing (2.1% vs 1.3%), and housing (2.1% vs 1.5%). Excluding volatile items and travel, the CPI rose by 2.9%, the most in five months, accelerating from a 2.7% gain in the previous month. Source: Trading Economics
U.S. Treasury yields regained some lost ground on Wednesday after the House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump's tax-cut agenda, while the dollar and oil prices struggled on mounting worries over the U.S. growth outlook. U.S. copper prices surged more than 4% while those elsewhere fell overnight after Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports. The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday narrowly passed Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, sending the budget resolution to the Senate, where Republicans are...
New-home sales in the US fell at the start of the year to a three-month low, reflecting a combination of affordability challenges as well as harsh winter weather. Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 10.5% last month to a 657,000 annualized rate, according to government data issued Wednesday. That trailed the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected an annual rate of 680,000. Around the US, new-home sales declined by nearly 15% in the South, the biggest homebuilding region, where several areas experienced record snowfall in...