President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is planning to kill the $7,500 consumer tax credit as part of broader tax-reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday.”It would be so counterproductive,” she said when asked about the report. “You eliminate these credits, and what do you do? You end up ceding the territory to other countries, particularly China.” More
ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s inflation rate rose for the second straight month in October, advancing to 33.88% in annual terms from 32.70% in September mainly due to higher food prices, official data showed on Friday.Inflation quickened sharply in the second half of last year after President Bola Tinubu devalued the country’s naira currency and cut subsidies to try to lift economic growth and shore up public finances.It started to ease in July this year as the impact of the naira devaluation began to fade, but a series of petrol price increases and severe flooding that has wiped out crops again spurred price pressures, exacerbating the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades in Africa’s most populous nation.A report by the National Bureau of Statistics said food inflation reached 39.16% year-on-year in October from 37.77% the previous month, caused by price rises for staples such as rice, maize, bread, potatoes and cooking oil.Torrential rain and floods in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states this year have destroyed more than 1.5 million hectares of cropland, making millions go hungry and causing mass displacement. The central bank has hiked interest rates five times this year to try to get inflation under control. It is due to announce its final rate decision of the year on Nov. 26. More
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there was no need to rush interest-rate cuts, pushing up bond yields and pressuring rate-sensitive equities. In a speech on Thursday, Powell pointed to ongoing economic growth, a solid job market, and inflation above the Fed’s 2% target as reasons the central bank can afford to be careful as they determine the pace and scope of rate cuts going forward.U.S. Treasury yields rose broadly after Powell’s comments, while Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower. “Fed Chair Powell telegraphed news that markets didn’t want to hear but news that was clearly manifest in the last CPI report, that the Fed cannot yet declare victory in its campaign to quell inflation,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA). Traders increased bets that the Fed will keep rates on hold at its December meeting – pricing in a 41.3% chance, compared with 14% a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool. They now expect only about 73 basis points of total easing by the end of 2025, per LSEG calculations. All three major U.S. stock indexes are set for weekly losses, as a sharp post-election rally has fizzled out with market focus shifting to the state of the economy and potential inflation risks under a second Donald Trump presidency.Stocks of vaccine makers lost ground after the President-elect selected Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has spread misinformation on vaccines, to head the Department of Health and Human Services. BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) dropped 2.5%, while Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) fell more than 1% in premarket trading. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) dipped 0.5%. Dow E-minis were down 168 points, or 0.38%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 32 points, or 0.54%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 164.25 points, or 0.78%.Futures tracking the more rate-sensitive, small-cap Russell 2000 dropped 0.1%.Megacap stocks also fell. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) edged 0.3% lower, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped 0.8% and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was down 0.5%. Powell’s comments come after both consumer and producer prices data this week pointed to persistent inflation.Friday’s October retail sales data, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, will provide more signals on how consumers have coped with rising prices. Import and export prices as well as industrial production data are on deck through the day, while remarks from Fed officials Austan Goolsbee, Susan Collins and John Williams are also expected. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) fell 8% after the chipmaking equipment supplier forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Thursday.Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) said on Thursday it made new investments in Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) and sold its entire stake in cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA).Domino’s shares were up 7.5%, while Ulta was down 4.9%.U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) gained 4.7% despite missing quarterly revenue estimates. More
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The White House is racing to finish grant agreements for chip manufacturers, but some of its biggest successes might be credited to the Trump administration.The Biden administration said on Friday that it had completed an agreement to award Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company up to $6.6 billion in grants, as federal officials race to put in place their plans to boost U.S. chip manufacturing before the end of President Biden’s term.The administration struck a preliminary agreement in the spring to provide TSMC with the funding, which will support three new factories in Phoenix. The government will give TSMC the money in tranches as the company meets milestones.In a statement, Mr. Biden said that the foreign direct investment in the facilities was the largest for a new factory project in U.S. history, and that the announcement on Friday was “among the most critical milestones yet” in the rollout of his chips program.The agreement “demonstrates how we are ensuring that the progress made to date will continue to unfold in the coming years, benefiting communities all across the country,” Mr. Biden said.The administration is expected to finish more grant awards in the coming weeks. But the projects might come too late for Mr. Biden to receive much credit. Chip factories take years to build, and many of these projects will not break ground — or produce chips — until well into President-elect Donald J. Trump’s term.Mr. Biden’s administration is working to cement its legacy with the grants as part of a $39 billion program to revitalize U.S. technology manufacturing and reduce reliance on foreign nations for critical semiconductors. The program is a pillar of the president’s economic policy, which has largely focused on bolstering American manufacturing.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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Gross domestic product fell by 0.1% in September, following growth of just 0.2% the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth of 0.2% for September.
For the third quarter as a whole, the British economy grew just 0.1% compared to the previous quarter, below the 0.2% growth expected by economists.
U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said Friday she was “not satisfied” with the numbers.
Bank of England in the City of London on 6th November 2024 in London, United Kingdom. The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the primary central business district CBD of London. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City is also colloquially known as the Square Mile. (photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images
The U.K. economy showed a surprise contraction in September and only marginal growth in the third quarter following a strong rebound at the start of the year, initial figures showed Friday.
Gross domestic product fell by 0.1% in September, following growth of just 0.2% the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth of 0.2% for September.
For the third quarter as a whole, the British economy grew just 0.1% compared to the previous quarter. That’s below the 0.2% growth expected by economists and follows an expansion of 0.5% in the second quarter of the year.
U.K.’s dominant services sector also grew just 0.1% on the quarter, the Office for National Statistics said. Construction rose by 0.8%, while production slipped 0.2% in the month.
It comes after inflation in the U.K. fell sharply to 1.7% in September, dipping below the Bank of England’s 2% target for the first time since April 2021. The fall in inflation helped pave the way for the central bank to cut rates by 25 basis points on Nov. 7, bringing its key rate to 4.75%.
The Bank of England said last week it expects the Labour Government’s tax-raising budget to boost GDP by 0.75 percentage points in a year’s time. Policymakers also noted that the government’s fiscal plan had led to an increase in their inflation forecasts.
U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said Friday she was “not satisfied” with the numbers.
“At my Budget, I took the difficult choices to fix the foundations and stabilise our public finances. Now we are going to deliver growth through investment and reform to create more jobs and more money in people’s pockets, get the NHS back on its feet, rebuild Britain and secure our borders in a decade of national renewal,” she said in a release.
Analysts flagged underlying weakness in the economy and growing risks from geopolitical tensions as potential barriers to further growth.
“It’s clear that the economy has a bit less momentum than we previously thought. And it’s striking that the economy has only grown in two of the past six months,” said Ruth Gregory, deputy chief U.K. economist at Capital Economics.
“Overall, despite the contraction in September, we still expect GDP growth to pick up in the coming quarters as the government’s debt-financed spending boosts activity and as the drags from higher inflation and higher interest rates continue to fade,” Gregory added.
A rate cut at the BOE’s next meeting in December now looks “improbable,” according to Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He said inflation risks and growing global headwinds will likely prevent policymakers from pursuing back-to-back rate cuts.
“These figures suggest that the economy went off the boil even before the budget, as weaker business and consumer confidence helped weaken output across the third quarter, particularly in September,” Thiru said in emailed comments.
The outcome of the recent U.S. election has fostered much uncertainty about the global economic impact of another term from President-elect Donald Trump. While Trump’s proposed tariffs are expected to be widely inflationary and hit the European economy hard, some analysts have said such measures could provide opportunities for the British economy.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey gave little away last week on the bank’s views of Trump’s tariff agenda, but he did reference risks around global fragmentation.
“Let’s wait and see where things get to. I’m not going to prejudge what might happen, what might not happen,” he told reporters during a press briefing.
The British pound was broadly flat against the U.S. dollar by mid-morning in London. The euro strengthened 0.4% against the pound following Friday’s GDP release. More
