Currencies

Canada March retail sales rise 0.8%; seen up 0.5% in April

OTTAWA -Canadian retail sales grew by 0.8% in March from February, more than analysts had forecast, and looked set to have increased by 0.5% in April, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday. ...

Trump's Tariff Threats Weigh Heavily on European Stock Markets

The specter of a global trade war returned to haunt investors at the close of the week. European stock markets slumped by as much as three percent at times on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump...

BofA joins peers in lifting rupee forecast; sees 84/USD by December (May 22)

MUMBAI -Bofa Global Research expects the Indian rupee to strengthen to 84 per U.S. dollar by December 2025 from a prior forecast of 87, joining peers in turning more bullish on the currency amid...

Hungary's Orban says EU plan to ban Russian energy imports must be prevented

BUDAPEST -The European Union's plan to ban Russian energy imports must be prevented by all means, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.   The European...

Rupee soars with Asian peers to post best day in over two years

The Indian rupee rose sharply on Friday to post its best single-day gain in more than two years as worries over U.S. fiscal health and the impact of trade tariffs continued to weigh on the dollar,...

BOJ vigilant on markets as super-long yields soar

BANFF, Alberta -Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank will closely monitor market moves as yields on super-long Japanese government bonds reached record highs this...

Bank of Canada head warns of weak growth if tariff uncertainty persists

BANFF, Alberta -Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Thursday he expected second-quarter growth to be quite a bit weaker than the first quarter, and that it could be worse in subsequent...

Fed's Perli encourages firms' use of Standing Repo Facility

NEW YORK -A Federal Reserve Bank of New York official responsible for implementing monetary policy said on Thursday the central bank is encouraging usage of a key liquidity tool that thus far has...

Russian lawmakers push for right to ignore Western company buyback options

Russian lawmakers are pushing for new rules to give domestic companies the right to ignore any buyback options they agreed with Western firms that left the country, to keep a grip on strategic...

G7 glosses over tariffs, pledges to cut global economic imbalances

BANFF, Alberta -Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven democracies papered over their differences on Thursday, pledging to tackle excessive imbalances in the global...

US real earnings stalled across age, income groups in past year, study shows

WASHINGTON -Inflation-adjusted earnings stalled across age and income groups over the past year, while the sometimes rapid wage gains of the COVID-19 era have left workers as a whole little better...

China lodges complaint with EU over Russia-related sanctions on its firms

BEIJING -The Chinese Mission to the EU said on Thursday that it had lodged solemn representation with the EU over its Russia-related sanctions on Chinese firms. China is strongly...

Pound holds near three-year high on trade optimism

LONDON -The British pound dipped slightly against the dollar but remained close to its highest level since 2022 reached the day before as hot inflation and improving relations with Europe and the...

Plan to beef up Fed forecasts hits hurdle among its regional presidents

AMELIA ISLAND, Florida -A proposal for the U.S. Federal Reserve to release detailed economic forecasts after some of its meetings to anchor the discussion of monetary policy is drawing fire from the...

Poland checking for any explosive devices near undersea power cable, PM says

Poland is looking into whether any explosive devices were planted where a ship from Russia's shadow fleet was seen moving suspiciously near a power cable linking Poland with Sweden on Wednesday,...

South African rand stable after fraught Ramaphosa-Trump meeting

JOHANNESBURG -South Africa's rand was steady for most of Thursday's trading session, as markets tried to digest U.S. President Donald Trump's Oval Office ambush of South African leader Cyril...

Euro zone rebound hopes dashed by services slump

FRANKFURT/LONDON -The euro zone economy is still just limping along and a raft of surveys published on Thursday point to only lukewarm optimism among firms as services, the bloc's engine in the past,...

Japan's possible response to rise in super-long bond yields

TOKYO -Japan's super-long government bond yields have spiked to record highs, as mounting political calls for tax cuts and big spending draw investors' attention to the country's fiscal woes. ...

India cenbank bought net $14.36 billion in spot forex market in March, bulletin shows

MUMBAI -The Reserve Bank of India bought a net of $14.36 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in March, data released on Wednesday as part of the central bank's monthly bulletin showed.   ...