Macroeconomic data, trends, and policy developments.
Coverage of key economic indicators, central bank policy decisions, inflation trends, labor data, and growth signals. This category focuses on the macroeconomic forces that shape markets, interest rates, and long-term capital allocation.
6,932 total articles
Federal judges have increasingly criticized the Justice Department for misconduct by its lawyers, but the two internal watchdog offices charged with policing the department - the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of Inspector General - have seen substantial staff losses and a marked decline in new investigations. Internal departu…
U.S. stock futures traded near unchanged as investors weighed reports of progress in talks with Iran and sifted through a steady stream of corporate earnings. Key developments included negotiations over maritime routing through the Strait of Hormuz, mixed corporate guidance from Sandisk and Block, softer-than-expected private payroll growth in July…
President Donald Trump said discussions with Iran appeared to be moving in a positive direction, but provided no details as attention remains fixed on a possible agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran disputed parts of the U.S. account and said talks were limited to mediators in Oman, even as both sides signalled steps toward agreeing on …
A poll of 35 economists indicates China’s export growth moderated in July from June’s sharp rebound but remained robust, supported by global demand for AI-related products and an uptick in shipments ahead of expected U.S. tariff increases. Imports are also expected to have slowed from June, while the trade surplus likely narrowed. Official activity…
Asian equity benchmarks cooled after recent rallies in AI-linked technology stocks, with South Korea and Japan posting notable declines following prior sharp gains. The swings followed sell-offs in U.S. equities including SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices over worries about heavy AI investment. At the same time, a reported Iran-Oman proposal touchi…
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said she is prepared to raise the central bank's short-term interest rate target if inflation does not begin to moderate. Speaking in remarks prepared for an Anchorage luncheon, Cook emphasized that risks to the inflation side of the Fed's mandate are currently larger than risks to employment and stressed a commit…
The U.S. Senate voted 51 to 44 to confirm Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, filling a role that had been occupied by acting leaders for almost a year. Her nomination faced scrutiny over whether she would push back against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy and pers…
The Dallas and New York Federal Reserve Banks will launch a pilot survey of the private credit market - estimated at $1.3 trillion - after the third quarter concludes. The initiative will segment lenders by borrower EBITDA into upper middle, middle and lower middle cohorts, and the Fed expects to publish survey results in the first quarter of 2027.…
Virginia health authorities reported the state's first dengue infection in a person with no recent travel outside Virginia. Officials said the patient was probably infected by a local mosquito that had bitten an infected traveler. Similar locally acquired cases have been identified in parts of Florida, and experts warn changing conditions are makin…
The U.S. Treasury has taken Fly Baghdad Airlines, Iraq Express and two Boeing 737 aircraft off its Specially Designated Nationals list after determining the carrier altered its conduct. The sanctions had been applied in 2024 over alleged ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. Treasury officials said the change does not signal …
The Federal Reserve banks of Dallas and New York will jointly run a pilot survey of the private credit market - estimated at $1.3 trillion - after the close of the third quarter, the New York Fed said in a statement on Wednesday. The work will classify borrowers by EBITDA size and aims to shed light on credit availability, lending standards and pot…
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran and Oman have settled on geographic coordinates for a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. A joint announcement is nearing completion contingent on no interference from third parties, and Tehran emphasized the agreement alone does not guarantee security in the strategic passage.…
The Institute for Supply Management's services index rose slightly to 54.1 in July, signaling continued expansion in the US services sector. New orders and business activity strengthened, but input costs climbed sharply to a reading of 70.3 amid higher oil and gasoline prices after a breakdown of a temporary agreement between the US and Iran. Emplo…
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the combined dollar value of natural gas and electricity trade between the United States and Canada rose in 2025. Higher natural gas prices and expanded trade volumes were the main contributors to the increase. Key figures include a 52% jump in the value of U.S. natural gas imports from Canad…
A sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields prompted large hedging flows into SOFR-based swap futures early in the week, with mortgage investors appearing to pay fixed in swaps to offset extended portfolio duration caused by slower refinancing and lower prepayments. The activity pushed Eris SOFR futures volume to levels several times higher than the secon…
U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels to 407 million barrels in the week ending July 31, according to Energy Information Administration figures. Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub rose by 2.4 million barrels. Refinery runs and utilization fell, while gasoline and distillate inventories both declined, with distillates dropping mor…
Crude and condensate exports from key Gulf producers were effectively steady in July, averaging 10.7 million barrels per day - about 40% below pre-war volumes. A small month-on-month rise was driven by higher shipments from Iraq, Kuwait and Iran, even as traffic through key waterways and Red Sea loadings stayed suppressed amid renewed fighting and …
ADP Research reported that private-sector employment increased by 44,000 in July, a marked slowdown from June's revised 95,000 and below economists' forecasts. Year-over-year wage growth was strongest for workers who switched jobs, while employees who stayed saw more moderate gains. The release, produced with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, arriv…
The U.S. Treasury announced it will maintain its current guidance for debt issuance through 2027, leaving auction sizes for notes, bonds and floating rate notes unchanged while continuing a heavier reliance on short-term Treasury bills amid rising longer-term yields and dealer expectations for no near-term shifts in strategy.
The European Central Bank reports that ongoing uncertainty from wars and trade tensions has trimmed euro zone growth, but a measurable reallocation of corporate spending toward intangible assets such as artificial intelligence is helping to offset some of the weakness. The ECB estimates uncertainty shaved 0.4% from growth between Q1 2025 and Q1 202…
FX strategists surveyed in a July 31-August 5 poll expect the U.S. dollar to remain firm over the coming months, with weakness following later in the year. The same respondents produced some of the weakest consensus forecasts for the Japanese yen since this polling began in the early 1990s. While Tokyo's recent unilateral and coordinated interventi…
Several of Asia's largest multi-strategy hedge funds logged their biggest monthly drawdowns of the year in July as a severe selloff in semiconductor and AI-related equities erased gains accumulated earlier in 2024. While multi-strategy platforms generally outperformed the region's broader stock-picking hedge fund cohort, losses in July were nonethe…
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's chief economist cautioned that a convergence of wars in Iran and Ukraine, rising crude prices, disruptions to fertiliser and diesel supplies, and a potentially strong El Nino is likely to lift commodity and consumer food prices. While food costs have been relatively subdued so far this year, th…
Carlyle reported a notable increase in second-quarter profits driven by higher fee-related earnings and proceeds from portfolio sales in Japan and the U.S. Distributable earnings reached $1.07 per share, up 18% from a year earlier, while fee-related income rose 11%. Significant deal recognition and healthy fundraising lifted inflows to $16.8 billio…
Compensation for bank executives on Wall Street is poised to increase more than in any other financial sector this year, driven chiefly by strong equity market performance and heightened deal flow, according to a report from compensation consultancy Johnson Associates. The firm projects the largest gains for equity traders and equity capital market…
