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.
6,527 total articles
President Donald Trump called on leading agricultural equipment makers, including John Deere, Case and Caterpillar, to reduce the price of tractors and related equipment, and outlined a set of measures aimed at supporting agricultural communities. Market reactions included a modest drop in Deere & Co shares and a smaller decline for CNH. The White …
European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said the bank should avoid rushing into interest-rate increases following a recent spike in inflation. Speaking at a university lecture in Zürich, Schnabel called for time to assess whether the rise in prices is becoming entrenched in expectations and wages, while reiterating that the ECB will act …
U.S. and Israeli forces conducted airstrikes on multiple Iranian nuclear facilities and steel plants, including a heavy water reactor at Arak and a yellow cake production site in Yazd. Iran responded with drone and missile strikes across the Persian Gulf that damaged two ports in Kuwait and triggered missile alerts in Doha. Regional states reported…
A pro-Iran hacking collective said it breached the personal email account of FBI Director Kash Patel and released portions of the files online. Security firm Check Point reported the leaked material is largely personal - photographs, financial records and other private data - while U.S. authorities and news organizations have questioned the provena…
European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said in Zurich that the bank should avoid hasty policy moves in response to the Iran war, urging careful monitoring of data to judge whether the energy-driven inflation shock is producing second-round effects and becoming entrenched in expectations and wages.
Following a meeting with G7 foreign ministers in France, the U.S. Secretary of State said the U.S. expects its operation connected to Iran to finish in weeks rather than months, that Russian support for Iran is not hindering U.S. actions, and that Washington does not plan to deploy ground forces. He also called a potential Iranian tolling scheme fo…
A federal judge has warned the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs it could be held in contempt after the agency terminated a bargaining agreement covering roughly 320,000 employees following a prior judicial order to reinstate the contract. The move came in an after-hours filing and prompted the judge to demand immediate compliance and explanation…
The U.S. dollar strengthened to roughly 160 yen on Friday, a level traders view as a potential trigger for official action by Japanese authorities. The move accompanies gains in the dollar index as investors seek U.S. currency amid geopolitical uncertainty, while Japan's fiscal policy stance and reliance on energy imports leave the yen and local go…
Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Anna Paulson told a San Francisco Fed event that the conflict in the Middle East has introduced fresh risks to U.S. inflation and growth. She reiterated that inflation has remained above the Fed's 2% goal despite significant progress in reducing price pressures, and described longer-run inflation expectations …
Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Anna Paulson said Friday that the war in Iran is creating new risks for the U.S. economy, particularly for inflation and growth, but did not indicate any immediate implications for near-term monetary policy. In remarks prepared for an event hosted by the San Francisco Fed, Paulson also weighed how rapid produc…
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin told an economics forum that the range of uncertainty facing policymakers and businesses has widened over the past year. He pointed to rapid advances in artificial intelligence and the conflict involving Iran as primary new sources of ambiguity, while noting that growth, consumer spending, and s…
Canada reported a C$31.21 billion budget deficit through the first ten months of the 2025/26 fiscal year as government outlays grew faster than receipts. Program spending rose modestly, while public debt charges edged lower overall due to reduced rates on short-term instruments but were partly offset by higher effective rates on a larger stock of m…
Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said the twin shocks of the U.S. war with Iran and the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence technologies have increased uncertainty around the central bank's outlook, making it appropriate to keep interest rates on hold. Barkin warned that an oil-price shock from the Iran conflict and AI-drive…
Bank of America strategists say markets are now factoring in a more hawkish Federal Reserve response to inflation risks stemming from an energy shock tied to the Iran war. The repricing shows up in a recent divergence between the rate-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield and West Texas Intermediate crude, and has largely erased expectations for rate cut…
Representatives of the European Union and members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership met on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial in Cameroon and said the World Trade Organisation is at a "critical juncture". They urged urgent, deep, comprehensive and inclusive reform of the WTO and pledged to enhance cooper…
The Indian government said on Friday it will borrow 8.2 trillion rupees ($86.5 billion) in the first half of the financial year beginning April 1, roughly half of the amount scheduled for the entire 12-month period. Authorities also reduced the gross borrowing target for the year and cut plans for ultra-long dated securities, a move that could limi…
A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday overturned a $16.1 billion judgment tied to Argentina's 2012 nationalization of YPF SA, ruling that a Manhattan judge erred in deciding for former shareholders. The lawsuit had backing from litigation funder Burford Capital Ltd., which had stood to receive a significant share of any award. The decision elimina…
Two Hong Kong-flagged container ships operated by China’s COSCO attempted to leave the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz but turned back shortly after beginning the transit, ship-tracking data shows. The incident occurred despite a statement from Iran saying it had allowed passage for friendly nations including China. The move was the first recorde…
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, 71, was discharged from a Brasilia hospital and moved to his residence to begin a 90-day period of so-called humanitarian house arrest approved by a Supreme Court justice. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year sentence since November for plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat. He was treated in inte…
The first quarter has closed on a turbulent note as global financial markets absorbed a severe geopolitical shock in the Middle East alongside large moves in energy prices and interest rates. An estimated $7 trillion was wiped from global equity markets, oil posted one of its largest quarterly gains of the century, European gas prices nearly double…
Morgan Stanley warned that rising crude costs tied to the Middle East conflict could move from primarily lifting inflation to damaging economic growth if price gains become sharp enough. Analysts led by Michael Gapen say the bank is watching retail sales excluding gasoline, upcoming March payroll data, business confidence measures and inflation-lin…
Marcopolo is leaning on international markets to make up for a softer outlook at home in 2026, boosting exports across Latin America and preparing a push into European markets. International operations accounted for nearly half of the company's net revenue in 2025, and executives say they are seeing momentum in multiple neighboring countries while …
Early economic effects from the Iran war are surfacing in Britain, with surging gas prices and downgrades to growth and inflation forecasts constraining both monetary and fiscal policymakers. The combination of higher energy costs, falling consumer confidence, and limited fiscal headroom raises difficult trade-offs for the Bank of England and the g…
The Bank of Spain estimates first-quarter GDP rose between 0.5% and 0.6%, a deceleration from 0.8% in Q4. It raised its baseline growth forecast for 2026 to 2.3% from 2.2%, factoring in the economic effects of the war in Iran. The central bank also adjusted inflation and public finance projections while noting that energy price and external market …
China’s commerce minister told the European Union’s trade commissioner that Beijing is prepared to increase imports from the 27-member bloc and urged the EU to relax controls on high-tech exports and avoid politicising trade relations, according to a statement from China’s commerce ministry. The exchange took place on the sidelines of a World Trade…
