March
The market playbooks are being rewritten after just three months
We’re in uncharted waters and people are listening to the captain to differing degrees, but there is a truckload of money to be made somewhere.
US consumer spending edges higher, key inflation metric rises
The data represent a double whammy for the economy before the brunt of tariffs from President Donald Trump.
Trump’s attack on the judiciary: ‘speed and intent is remarkable’
The US president is testing constitutional limits and challenging the courts to stop him. Who will blink first?
Trump 2.0 is different – and it could go two ways
Donald Trump’s second coming involves a far more staunch and legacy-focused US president who will deliver more radical change than markets expect.
Investors cheer as traders dial up Fed rate cut bets
Equities rallied around the world as bond markets priced in the possibility of two rate cuts from US Federal Reserve this year and in Australia.
ASX rises 1pc as banks, tech rally; Nanosonics soars 14pc
ASX’s best day in six weeks, job numbers boost rate cut hopes; copper hits record; NAB downgraded; Nanosonics rallies; Fed sees “transitory” tariff impact.
Employment falls; Single word boosts shares; Apple pulls iPhone ad
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
This single word just sparked a sharemarket pop
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has kept rates on hold, citing extreme uncertainty. But his use of one particular word to describe tariff-related inflation shocked investors.
Fed cuts growth forecast on Trump tariff uncertainty
Federal Reserve policymakers also held rates steady, though they indicated borrowing costs would drop by 50 basis points by the end of the year.
APRA holds firm against deregulation push
The banking regulator is resisting the US push for greater deregulation to boost growth. But can that last given the international upheaval under way?
ASX to surge as investors pile back into battered Wall Street stocks
Although the market is set to stage a comeback after weeks of heavy selling, traders remain uneasy about the “waterfall risk”. Gold hits $US3000 on the anxiety.
Johns Hopkins to cut more than 2000 workers in Trump era
The university, a leader in scientific research, has been hard hit by the Trump administration’s cuts, which will slash at least $US800 million from its budget.
Donald Trump delivers the 60/40 strategy’s biggest test in decades
For years, balancing stocks with bonds was a comforting failsafe for investors. The tumult gripping Wall Street has created questions about its effectiveness.
Sticky inflation data is a reminder of market’s stagflationary fear
The latest US CPI data did nothing to cool the market’s fears that we could be headed into a perfect storm of low economic growth and elevated inflation.
US inflation eases, as economists await impact from Trump’s tariffs
Analysts anticipate that the president’s escalating trade wars will drive up prices on a range of goods from food to clothing in the coming months.
In Trump’s inflationary American dream, cheap does not mean good
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent backs the president’s trade war even if it worsens the cost-of-living squeeze on ordinary Americans.
Powell says Fed will wait for clarity on Trump policy shifts
“We are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves,” the Fed boss said, adding the US economy is in “a good place”.
Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation rises 0.3pc
The latest report offers respite on the inflation front after other reports on prices have suggested progress has not only stalled but is now reversing.
February
Bessent says US ‘long way’ from boosting longer-term debt sales
In a wide-ranging interview, the US treasury secretary reiterates his view that the world’s second-largest economy is dangerously unbalanced.
Why the RBA will cut (but shouldn’t)
It is too soon to say “mission accomplished”. Monetary loosening should wait until inflation is substantially below forecast for a prolonged period.