Us Economy

Trump announces $1,776 'Warrior Dividend' for military service members

Taking a dig at the previous Joe Biden administration, Trump said in his address that he 'inherited a mess'

Trump to deliver prime-time address on Thursday morning amid waning support

The address, coming near the end of Donald Trump's first year back in the White House, is set for a pivotal moment as his poll numbers soften and the economy faces headwinds

Four US economic policy shifts of 2025 and their impact on global markets

Astonishingly, these shakeups have failed to unsettle the US or global economy - but 2026 will tell whether that continues

Black Friday kicks off holiday shopping amid tariffs, economic uncertainty

Black Friday may no longer be the retail bacchanalia of years past, when the promise of one-time bargains caused people to leave Thanksgiving tables for malls where some customers got into fistfights over toys or TVs. But the event still has enough enthusiasts to make it the biggest shopping day in the US. For that reason, the day retains its crown as the official start of the holiday shopping season. This year's kickoff comes as companies navigate an uncertain economic environment and wrestle with the volatility of President Donald Trump's wide-ranging tariffs on imported goods. Many have absorbed some of the costs and pulled back on hiring instead of raising prices for customers. Consumer confidence in the US economy fell this month to the lowest since April when Trump announced his tariffs in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation, according to a report The Conference Board issued Tuesday. Shoppers nonetheless have remained resilient and ..

Trump bets on tech, Saudi-backed AI investments to drive US economy

President Donald Trump is increasingly counting on the tech sector and the development of artificial intelligence to deliver on his economic agenda, a reality laid bare this week as he hosted Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The crown prince has committed to invest USD 1 trillion with US companies, a pledge that is largely about using Saudi Arabia's oil and natural gas reserves to pivot his nation into becoming an AI data hub. We will work closely with friends and partners like those in this room to build the largest, most powerful, most innovative AI ecosystem in the world, Trump said at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday. Sitting in the front row of the audience at the Kennedy Center were Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang and tech billionaire Elon Musk. Trump took credit for the new investments and stock market performance this year both of which have been a function of the AI buildout. For all of Trump's claims that his tariffs are generating new investmen

US trade deficit shrinks in August as imports see steep drop post-tariffs

The report, which was initially scheduled for release on October 7, was delayed because of the recently ended 43-day shutdown of the government

Trump praises McDonald's extra value meals in affordability pitch

Trump's pitch came nearly two weeks after Republicans suffered prominent defeats in off-year state and local elections where affordability concerns were front and center

US govt shutdown nears end, but would leave lasting impact on economy

The longest federal government shutdown in US history appears to be nearing an end, but not without leaving a mark on an already-struggling economy. About 1.25 million federal workers haven't been paid since October 1. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, a trend that is expected to continue this week even as Congress moves toward reopening the government. Government contract awards have slowed and some food aid recipients have seen their benefits interrupted. Most of the lost economic activity will be recovered when the government reopens, as federal workers will receive back pay. But some cancelled flights won't be retaken, missed restaurant meals won't be made up, and some postponed purchases will end up not happening at all. Short-lived shutdowns are usually invisible in the data, but this one will leave a lasting mark," Gregory Daco, chief economist at accounting giant EY said, "both because of its record length and the growing disruptions to welfare programs and travel.

Why the US economy might benefit from abandoning clean energy goals

By selling more fossil fuels and avoiding the expense of meeting green regulations, the US would see its GDP grow by about 1% more than it would have had it continued the clean energy transition

US govt shutdown means no inflation data next month for 1st time in decades

The government shutdown likely means there won't be an inflation report next month for the first time in more than seven decades, the White House said Friday, leaving Wall Street and the Federal Reserve without crucial information about consumer prices. Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history, the Trump administration said in an email. Some of the inflation data is collected electronically, but most is gathered in person by government employees who visit stores across the country. The Bureau of Labour Statistics, which prepares the inflation report, has already reduced the data collected each month because the Trump administration's hiring freeze left some cities without surveyors. The announcement follows Friday's release of September inflation data, which showed prices ticked higher but remained lower than many economists had expected. That report, which was ...

US government shutdown costing economy $15 billion a day, says Bessent

The only thing slowing us down here is this government shutdown, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said

US government shutdown delays release of crucial inflation figures

The government shutdown is delaying another major economic report, leaving policymakers at the Federal Reserve with a cloudier picture even as the economy enters a challenging phase of stubbornly persistent inflation and a sharp slowdown in hiring. The Labour Department's monthly inflation data was scheduled for release Wednesday, but late last week was postponed until October 24. The department is recalling some employees to assemble the data, which was collected before the shutdown began. The figures are needed for the government to calculate the annual cost of living adjustment for tens of millions of recipients of benefit programmes such as Social Security. The shutdown could make things worse for agencies like the Fed if it continues, because government agencies cannot collect the raw data that are then compiled into the monthly reports on jobs, inflation, and other economic trends. The September employment report, for example, which was due to be released October 3 but was no

IMF more upbeat about US growth, but outlook dimmer than last year

The US and global economies will grow a bit more this year than previously forecast as the Trump administration's tariffs have so far proved less disruptive than expected, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, though the agency also said the extensive duties still pose risks. The United States' economy will expand 2 per cent in 2025, the IMF projected in its influential semiannual forecast, the World Economic Outlook. That is slightly higher than the 1.9 per cent forecast in the IMF's last update in July and 1.8 per cent in April. The US should grow 2.1 per cent next year, also just one-tenth of a per cent faster than its previous projection, the IMF said. Its current forecasts are still down from a year ago, however, a sign that the international lending agency expects the tariffs to weaken the US economy, in part by creating more uncertainty for businesses. Last October, the IMF forecast the US would grow 2.2 per cent this year. All the projections also represent a ...

Lack of jobs data due to govt shutdown muddies view of hiring, US economy

From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 am eastern as everyone awaits the Labor Department's crucial monthly jobs report. But with the government shut down, no information was released Friday about hiring in September. The interruption in the data has occurred at a particularly uncertain time, when policymakers at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street investors would need more data on the economy, rather than less. Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, threatening to drag down the broader economy. Yet at the same time, consumers particularly higher-income earners are still spending and some businesses are ramping up investments in data centres developing artificial intelligence models. Whether that is enough to revive hiring remains to be seen. It's the first time since a government shutdown in 2013 that the jobs report has been delayed. .

$100K H-1B visa fee could hurt key sectors: US business groups warn Trump

Industry groups have warned the Trump administration that the $100,000 H-1B fee could block foreign skilled workers, affecting tech, healthcare, and other critical sectors across the US economy

US economy shows surprising 3.8% growth rate after major revision of Q2 GDP

The US economy expanded at a surprising 3.8 per cent from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth. US gross domestic product the nation's output of goods and services rebounded in the spring from a 0.6 per cent first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Donald Trump's trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3 per cent. The first-quarter GDP drop, the first retreat of the US economy in three years, was mainly caused by a surge in imports which are subtracted from GDP as businesses hurried to bring in foreign goods before Trump could impose sweeping taxes on them. That trend reversed as expected in the second quarter: Imports fell at a 29.3 per cent pace, boosting April-June growth by more than 5 percentage points. Consumer spending rose at a 2.5 per cent pace, up from 0.6 per cent in the first quarter and well above the

The US Fed's wrong move: Rate cuts risk fuelling inflation rebound

The Fed's estimate of the neutral rate is wrong. To adequately slow demand, the Fed appears to need the policy rate to be above 4 per cent

Fed cuts rates 25 bps but inflation risks keep investors on edge

Some investors are now less certain that a rapid shift to lower borrowing costs will materialize, potentially dampening optimism that stocks and bonds would get a strong lift from easier policy

US jobless claims fall to 231,000 after recent surge to 4-year high

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid last week retreated significantly after surging to a nearly four-year high a week earlier. US filings for unemployment benefits for the week ending September 13 fell by 33,000 to 231,000, the Labour Department reported Thursday. That's less than the 241,000 analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. The previous week, applications surged to 264,000, their highest level since the week of October 23, 2021. Last week's figure was revised up by 1,000. Concerns about the health of the American labour market led the Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday as many expected. The rate cut is a sign that the central bank's focus has shifted quickly from inflation to jobs as hiring has grounded nearly to a halt in recent months. Lower interest rates could reduce borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and business loans, and boost growth and hiring. The problem is that it can also exacerbate

US Fed slashes rates by 25 bps, expects steady pace of cuts coming

Only new Governor Stephen Miran, who joined the Fed on Tuesday and is on leave as the head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, dissented in favor of a half-percentage-point cut