Stock market, central bank and economic news: indices, rates, inflation, currencies and the data driving global markets.
China’s latest inflation data show two very different price environments operating inside the world’s second-largest economy. Consumer prices rose only 0.5% in July from a year earlier, while factory-gate prices increased 3.5%. That gap matters because it suggests many companies are paying substantially more
The Federal Reserve enters this week’s policy meeting with an unusual problem: investors are not simply debating whether rates are high enough, they are debating how much guidance the central bank intends to give them. That makes the July 28-29 meeting a test of Kevin Warsh’s early
UK inflation fell faster than expected in June, giving Prime Minister Andy Burnham an early economic tailwind but leaving investors with a more complicated question: whether a softer headline number is enough to change the Bank of England’s cautious stance while energy risks are still moving in the wrong
Big U.S. banks opened earnings season with the kind of numbers that make a soft landing look less like a slogan and more like a working assumption. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all reported second-quarter results on Tuesday that showed a rare
China’s latest push against inflated corporate bond ratings is a technical market story with broader consequences. Regulators are trying to make the country’s credit labels mean more at a time when investors are already sorting through weak property developers, indebted local financing vehicles and borrowers that have long
Shein has cleared the most important regulatory obstacle in its long attempt to go public, but the approval says as much about investor skepticism as it does about market access. China’s securities regulator has approved the fast-fashion retailer’s plan to pursue an initial public offering in Hong
Japan has found a new way to talk to markets without selling dollars or forcing another abrupt monetary-policy signal. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday that one priority is to encourage households and pension funds, including the Government Pension Investment Fund, to increase investment in Japanese financial assets. The
The June employment report gave investors a labor market that is weaker in the places that matter for growth but still firm enough to complicate any simple bet on Federal Reserve relief. U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from
America’s largest banks have moved quickly from regulatory exam to shareholder payout. After the Federal Reserve said all 32 banks in its 2026 stress test remained above minimum capital requirements under a severe hypothetical recession, JPMorgan Chase, Citi and Morgan Stanley used the opening to outline higher dividends, large
Alibaba’s decision to sue the U.S. Department of Defense over its inclusion on the Pentagon’s Chinese military-company list is not just another skirmish in Washington’s long technology fight with Beijing. It is a test of how far a reputational blacklist can travel once Congress and
CarMax’s latest quarter offered investors something they have been waiting to see from the used-car retailer: higher revenue, more total vehicle sales and a new chief executive willing to spell out a turnaround plan. The stock’s post-earnings slide showed why that was not enough. In a
GO Inc.’s strong Tokyo debut is a useful reminder that the IPO market does not reopen only through mega-cap technology names or U.S. listings. Sometimes it reopens through a company that looks almost old-fashioned: a taxi platform built around licensed operators, local regulation and a familiar
