WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Friday said President Donald Trump and his team were continuing to study if they could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a sign that such a move, a matter of great consequence for the central bank’s independence and for global markets, is still […]
Category: Top News
Judge blocks mass layoffs at CFPB in the latest twist over the fate of the agency
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Friday halted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s attempt to lay off the vast majority of its employees and gut the agency. Her order comes after the CFPB had sent reduction-in-force notices to more than 1,400 staffers across the agency on Thursday. The CFPB had proceeded with layoffs after […]
As tariffs darken the economic outlook, Trump sizes up Powell as a scapegoat
Donald Trump is showing why independent central banks are a good idea. The president’s double tirade against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday conjured another dark cloud over financial markets and an economy repeatedly traumatized by his tariff and trade-war chaos. “If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe […]
Mortgage rates climb to highest level in two months as Trump’s tariffs continue to rock markets
Springtime home shoppers may be feeling the impact of an intensifying trade war. The average rate on a standard, 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.83% in the week ending April 17, up from 6.62% a week ago, mortgage financing provider Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s the largest one-week jump in mortgage rates in nearly a year. […]
Nvidia says it follows export laws ‘to the letter’ a day after AI chip sales to China stopped
A day after Nvidia revealed it would incur $5.5 billion in costs related to canceled orders for the H20 chip, which the government said this week requires a license to export to China, the company said it abides by rules on where it can sell its artificial intelligence processors. “The U.S. government instructs American businesses […]
Temu slashes U.S. ad spending, plummets in App Store rankings after Trump China tariffs
Chinese online retailer Temu, whose “Shop like a billionaire” marketing campaign made its way to last year’s Super Bowl, has dramatically slashed its online ad spending in the U.S. and seen its ranking in Apple’s App Store plunge following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on trade partners. Temu, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant […]
China Q1 GDP growth beats expectations, but US tariff shock looms large
BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) – China’s first-quarter economic growth outstripped expectations, underpinned by solid consumption and industrial output, but analysts fear momentum could shift sharply lower as U.S. tariffs pose the biggest risk to the Asian powerhouse in decades. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods to eye-watering levels, prompting Beijing to […]
Nvidia shares fall after it says US controls on exports of AI chip will cost it $5.5 billion
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in computer chip makers slumped in after-hours trading and in Asia after Nvidia said tighter U.S. government controls on exports of computer chips used for artificial intelligence will cost it an extra $5.5 billion. The company, which announced Monday that it will produce its artificial intelligence super computers in the United […]
US begins probes into pharmaceutical and chip imports, setting stage for tariffs
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed. The filings set to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission […]
Trump threatens new tariffs on smartphones days after exempting them
Donald Trump says Chinese-made smartphones and other electronics will not be exempt from tariffs – adding they are simply moving into a different levy “bucket”. European stock markets bounced up on Monday morning after Friday’s official announcement that some of these products would escape levies of up to 145%. China has called on Donald Trump […]
US stock futures rise amid temporary tariff exemptions for tech products
Stock futures rose Sunday after a temporary reprieve from tariffs on electronic imports from China by the Trump administration. Dow futures were up 0.5%, or 212 points. The S&P 500 futures rose 0.75%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite futures gained 1.26%, as of 6:18 pm ET. The Trump administration late Friday exempted electronic imports from […]
Tariffs on imported semiconductor chips coming soon, Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector. The president’s pledge means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China likely will be short-lived as […]