Brent crude futures gained $1.28, or 1.96 per cent, to $66.62 a barrel by 1649 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $1.34, or 2.11 per cent, to $64.71
Trump's aggressive and unpredictable policies - especially his sweeping taxes on imports - have muddied the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears
His massive taxes on imports - tariffs - are expected to raise costs for US companies that buy raw materials, equipment and components from overseas
The American job market likely continued to slow last month, hobbled by worries over President Donald Trump's trade wars, deportations and purges of the federal workforce. The Labour Department's numbers on May hiring Friday are expected to show that businesses, government agencies and nonprofits added 1,30,000 jobs last month. That would be down from 1,77,000 in April but enough to stay ahead of people entering the workforce and keep the unemployment rate at a low 4.2 per cent, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. Mainstream economists expect Trump's policies to take a toll on America's economy, the world's largest. His massive taxes on imports tariffs are expected to raise costs for US companies that buy raw materials, equipment and components from overseas and force them to cut back hiring or even lay workers off. Billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has slashed federal workers and cancelled government contracts. Trump's .
President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a 10 per cent minimum tariff on most goods imported to the United States, sparking threats of retaliation and rattling global financial markets
Unions representing some of the civil servants have challenged the layoffs, resulting in reinstatements. Agencies have a Thursday deadline to submit plans for large-scale layoffs
US employers added solid 151,000 jobs last month, but the outlook is cloudy as President Donald threatens a trade war, purges the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants. The Labour Department reported Friday that hiring was up from a revised 125,000 in January. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1 per cent. The job market has been remarkably resilient over the past year despite high interest rates. Despite rising concerns about the health of the economy, momentum remains positive,' Lydia Boussour, senior economist at the tax and consulting firm EY, wrote in a commentary. Billionaire Elon Musk's purge of federal workers was not expected to have much impact on the February jobs numbers. The Labour Department conducted its survey of employers too early in the month for the Department of Government Efficiency layoffs to show up. The American job market has remained remarkably resilient, but it has cooled from the red-hot hiring of 2021-2023. Employers ad
Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Thursday that planned job cuts vaulted 245 per cent to 172,017 last month, the highest level since July 2020
A spike in imports accounts for a large share of the setback, reflecting a scramble by companies to secure goods from overseas ahead of tariffs from the Trump administration
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 219,000 for the week ended February 15, the Labor Department said
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 143,000 jobs last month after rising by an upwardly revised 307,000 in December, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased 556,000 to 7.6 million on the last day of December, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said
The accompanying policy statement did not include the reference to inflation having made progress toward the Fed's 2% target. No rate cut is expected before June
US job openings rose unexpectedly in November, showing companies are still looking for workers even as the labour market has cooled overall. Openings rose to 8.1 million in November from 7.8 million in October, the Labour Department reported Tuesday. They were down from 8.9 million a year earlier and a peak of 12.2 million in March 2022 as the economy was roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns. But they still exceed pre-pandemic levels. Economists had expected job openings to fall slightly in November. Layoffs rose slightly in November, and the number of people quitting their jobs fell, suggesting that Americans are less confident in their ability to find better jobs elsewhere. The American labour market has cooled from the red hot hiring of 2021-2023. Employers added 1,80,000 jobs a month in 2024 through November, not bad but down from 2,51,000 in 2023; 3,77,000 in 2022, and a record 6,04,000 in 2021. When the Labour Department releases December hiring numbers on Friday, they're ..
Franco Pereyra, co-founder, COO of Near sparked an online debate by claiming that the less pay for third-world countries employees is justifiable. However, people denied and countered the narrative
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 220,000 for the week ended Dec 14
Based on the November estimate, job growth would be trending around 145,000 over the past three months, which economists said was consistent
South Korean lawmakers urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign or face impeachment after he briefly declared and then reversed martial law, sparking a political crisis
Entrepreneur-turned politician Vivek Ramaswamy, who along with Tesla owner Elon Musk has been nominated in-charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, has indicated a massive cut in federal government jobs in the United States. "Elon Musk and I are in a position to start the mass deportations of millions of unelected federal bureaucrats out of the DC bureaucracy. That, too, is how we're going to save this country," Ramaswamy, an Indian American, said at an event in Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Thursday. "I don't know if you've got to know Elon yet, but he doesn't bring a chisel. He brings a chainsaw. We are going to be taking it to that bureaucracy. It's going to be a lot of fun, he said. We've been taught to believe over the last four years that we have become a nation in decline, that we're at the end of the ancient Roman Empire. All we have is to fight over the scraps of some shrinking pie. I don't think we have to stay as that nation in decline. I think with what happened las
Before then is the payrolls report at 1230 GMT. A Reuters survey of economists predicts an increase of 113,000 jobs last month, down sharply on disruptions from hurricanes and strikes by aerospace