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.
4,095 total articles
President Lai Ching-te defended a proposed $40 billion special defence budget, arguing Taiwan's robust economic expansion - led by its semiconductor sector and AI demand - makes the spending affordable. The measure faces parliamentary resistance, and Taiwan has taken steps to secure arms contracts pending final approval. Lai emphasized using AI to …
BCA Research's Global Investment Strategy team has moved its short-term allocation to global equities from neutral to underweight after a sharp rise in oil and gas prices and a deteriorating geopolitical backdrop tied to the Iran war. The firm says higher near-term inflation and constrained central bank flexibility raise the odds of a global downtu…
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Ecuadorian Minister Luis Alberto Jaramillo signed a finalized trade agreement that cuts tariffs on a range of industrial and agricultural goods, opens Ecuador's 18 million-consumer market to U.S. exporters of machinery, IT and chemicals, and creates a roadmap for investment in critical mineral projects. …
The Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. Treasury is due roughly $10 billion from the investor consortium that assumed control of TikTok’s American operations. The payment - described by President Trump as a "fee-plus" - was financed by backers including Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, and is separate from capital invested to create th…
The U.S. Department of Commerce quietly removed a proposed rule intended to limit international shipments of advanced artificial intelligence chips, according to a government website post on Friday. The draft had been in interagency review since late February and was seen as a central element of the administration's approach to controlling the glob…
U.S. President Donald Trump announced that American forces have destroyed every identified Iranian military installation on Kharg Island while sparing oil export facilities for now, conditioned on unhindered commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The strike compounds market volatility as tanker transits have plunged and emergency releases…
Court filings unsealed Friday reveal that lawyers for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Justice Department officials in January that he might remain on the Fed's board of governors after his chairmanship ends in May, a precedent-breaking possibility raised during discussions tied to a DOJ criminal probe of renovations to the central bank's W…
The Federal Reserve Board engaged Robert Hur, a former special counsel who examined President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents, in its dispute with the Justice Department over subpoenas seeking records connected to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. A federal judge in Washington blocked the subpoenas, citing insufficient evidence of criminality a…
A federal judge in Rhode Island has reinstated a collective bargaining agreement that the Department of Veterans Affairs canceled in August after implementing President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order limiting federal bargaining rights. U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose found no evidence the VA's national security rationale motivated the cance…
President Donald Trump's pick for Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, remains blocked as U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro appeals a federal judge's decision that quashed grand jury subpoenas in a criminal probe of Chair Jerome Powell. Republican senator Thom Tillis has refused to advance any Fed nominees while the investigation continues, tying Warsh's …
A federal judge has ordered that subpoenas issued by the Justice Department to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell be blocked, concluding the government offered little evidence of criminal conduct and that the investigation appeared aimed at pressuring the Fed to lower interest rates or force Powell from office. Powell had publicly disclosed the pr…
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Friday aimed at lowering barriers to housing construction and loosening mortgage-related regulatory constraints. One order targets state and local permitting and other regulatory obstacles to homebuilding; the other seeks to reduce mortgage-related regulatory burdens to help community banks exte…
A U.S. federal judge has voided subpoenas the Justice Department issued to Federal Reserve Board officials that sought documents connected to Chair Jerome Powell. The ruling states the subpoenas seemed designed to coerce Powell into changing his policy stance or stepping down, and found the government's evidence thin and unpersuasive. Powell has li…
Farmers in the United States and Canada are confronting a substantial shortage of fertilizer and sharp price increases after disruptions in the Persian Gulf disrupted global trade routes. Industry groups and agricultural organizations warn that constrained nitrogen supplies, interrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and thin dealer inventor…
The U.S. Department of State has announced a reward of up to $10 million through its Rewards for Justice program for information leading to the identification of senior leaders who command and direct elements of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its component branches. The move reiterates U.S. characterizations of the IRGC as cent…
China’s central bank eliminated a 20% reserve requirement on foreign-exchange forward contracts as it seeks to slow a sharp rally in the yuan that has pressured exporters. The move, effective March 2, follows a near three-year high for the currency and record forex inflows, and is paired with a softer-than-expected daily trading reference to curb a…
Elon Musk has initiated another round of personnel reductions at xAI, prompting several co-founders to leave as he voiced dissatisfaction with the startup's coding division. The moves follow a management reorganization ahead of a planned initial public offering and internal audits conducted by staff from SpaceX and Tesla.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani circulated a memo to state lawmakers proposing a near-90% reduction in the state's estate tax exemption - from just over $7 million to $750,000 - alongside an increase in the top estate tax rate from 16% to 50%. The proposal is one item among nearly a dozen revenue options offered to help close a $5.4 billion budg…
Rising oil prices linked to the conflict in Iran are prompting African policymakers to pause or reverse recent interest-rate cuts, threaten productivity in sectors such as mining and agriculture, and place pressure on foreign-exchange reserves and currencies across the continent. Several central banks that had been easing are reassessing policy ami…
China's foreign minister welcomed encouraging signals from the Netherlands' recently formed government during a Friday phone call with his Dutch counterpart, highlighting a desire to deepen communication and restore normal economic and trade exchanges between companies following recent bilateral friction tied to a corporate seizure in October 2025.
A Reuters poll of 33 economists conducted March 10-13 found unanimous expectation that the Bank of Canada will keep its overnight rate at 2.25% on March 18, with a strong majority forecasting no rate rises through 2026. Economists said Canada’s softer economy and sluggish labour and housing markets, together with trade uncertainty, make a near-term…
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed that Havana is engaged in talks with the Trump administration aimed at resolving bilateral disputes. Díaz-Canel emphasized that such negotiations are lengthy and require the right conditions and willingness to proceed. The announcement comes amid heightened U.S. rhetoric about Cuba's future and an ongoing…
Morgan Stanley anticipates the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady at its upcoming meeting, maintaining an easing bias even as recent rises in oil prices push up headline inflation forecasts. The bank expects the Fed to show an unchanged dot plot, project one rate cut this year and one next year, and record three dissents in favor of a …
Consumer confidence in the United States softened in early March, with the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index sliding to 55.5 from 56.6 in February. The decline coincided with a spike in oil and gasoline prices following the onset of conflict in the Middle East, and households reported weaker expectations for their personal finances.
Brazil’s Finance Ministry slightly increased its inflation projection for the year after adjusting for a higher-than-expected average oil price tied to the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. The update, issued ahead of next week’s central bank policy meeting, assumes the oil shock will be temporary but nonetheless shifts near-term inflation and feder…
