China’s trade surplus tops $1 trillion despite plunge in US-bound exports
China’s towering annual trade surplus surpassed $1 trillion for the first time last month, data showed Monday, as a sharp drop in shipments to the United States was offset by surging exports to other major markets. Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump reached a tentative truce to their fierce trade war when they met in […]
What does US ‘terrorist’ designation for Venezuela mean?
Washington’s designation of an alleged Venezuelan cartel as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) takes effect on Monday, opening the door to new forms of US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. The FTO list, which includes Islamist groups, separatists, guerrillas, and more recently, gangs and drug organizations from Mexico and Colombia, is overseen by the State […]
EU to seek more tariff exemptions during US commerce secretary visit
The EU will demand more tariff exemptions on products including wines when US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick meets the bloc’s trade ministers on Monday. US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen struck a deal in July for most EU exports to face a 15-percent US levy, but the European Union has […]
Asian stocks rise as US rate hopes soothe nerves after torrid week
Asian markets mostly rose Monday as fresh hopes for a US interest rate cut provided some calm after last week’s rollercoaster ride fuelled by worries of a tech bubble. The scramble to snap up all things AI has helped propel equities skywards this year, pushing several companies to records — with chip titan Nvidia last […]
US airspace recovers as budget shutdown ends
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday that US air travel is recovering after the disruptions caused by the more than month-long government funding shutdown. “Yesterday was one of the best days our airspace had in a while with just a few air traffic controllers calling out from work,” he said on his X account on […]
Asian markets struggle as fears build over tech rally, US rates
Asian markets struggled Monday on simmering concerns that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates as hoped next month, while fears of a bubble continue to weigh on sentiment. The increasingly risk-averse mood on trading floors also dragged on the crypto sector, with bitcoin erasing all its gains this year — just over a […]
US to cancel flights as longest govt shutdown drags on
US officials said the scheduled capacity for flights was being cut by 10 percent in 40 busy air traffic areas nationwide on Friday, as the longest government shutdown drags on. Federal agencies have been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30, with some 1.4 million federal workers, from air […]
Drugmaker AstraZeneca profit jumps as US business grows
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced surging quarterly profit Thursday on strong sales of cancer drugs and as the group zones in on the United States, pressured by President Donald Trump. Net profit jumped 77 percent to $2.53 billion in the third quarter compared with the July-September period one year earlier, AstraZeneca said in a statement. […]
US Fed official backed rate pause because inflation ‘too high’
A senior member of the US Federal Reserve on Friday said he voted against cutting interest rates this week because inflation was “too high” for comfort. Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid was one of two people who dissented on Wednesday’s vote, at which the US central bank backed a quarter percentage-point rate cut. The […]
US stocks rise to open big earnings week
Wall Street stocks rose early Monday as markets looked ahead to a heavy week of corporate earnings and monitored the positioning of political leaders on the US government shutdown. This week’s earnings calendar includes results from Netflix, Tesla and Procter & Gamble. A Factset analysis of earnings forecasts and results projected third-quarter growth of 8.5 […]
