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Oct 06, 2017 07:38 AM IST IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
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highlights
After discussing Iran and North Korea with US military leaders on Thursday, President Donald Trump posed for a photo with them before dinner and declared the moment “the calm before the storm.” What storm? “You’ll find out,” Trump told questioning reporters, reports Reuters.
Earlier in the evening, while seated with the top defence officials in the cabinet room, Trump talked about the threat from North Korea and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. “In North Korea, our goal is denuclearisation,” he said. “We cannot allow this dictatorship to threaten our nation or our allies with unimaginable loss of life. We will do what we must do to prevent that from happening. And it will be done, if necessary, believe me.”
After discussing Iran and North Korea with US military leaders on Thursday, President Donald Trump posed for a photo with them before dinner and declared the moment “the calm before the storm.” What storm? “You’ll find out,” Trump told questioning reporters, reports Reuters.
Earlier in the evening, while seated with the top defence officials in the cabinet room, Trump talked about the threat from North Korea and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. “In North Korea, our goal is denuclearisation,” he said. “We cannot allow this dictatorship to threaten our nation or our allies with unimaginable loss of life. We will do what we must do to prevent that from happening. And it will be done, if necessary, believe me.”
Britain and the European Union plan to send a letter to the rest of the World Trade Organization’s 164 members next week, setting out Brexit plans that have already been rejected by seven key agricultural exporters, trade officials said. Britain is a member of the WTO in its own right but it has to establish its own distinct membership terms as part of its withdrawal from the European Union, reports Reuters.
Growth in the number of workers hired in Britain via recruitment agencies slowed last month and fell in London for the first time in nearly a year as Brexit makes it harder for companies to find staff, reports Reuters. The IHS Markit/Recruitment and Employment Confederation said permanent roles filled by recruitment firms rose at the weakest pace in five months.
British new car registrations on Thursday appeared on course for their first annual fall since 2011 after a 9.3% tumble in September, a month which normally accounts for around 15% of demand, reports Reuters. Sales were hurt by business and political uncertainty as Britain prepares to leave the EU and confusion over government plans on diesel and petrol cars, which could include new levies or restrictions, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. Sales totalled 426,170 vehicles with demand falling across the board, SMMT data showed, leaving year-to-date registrations down 3.9%.
British shops enjoyed their biggest jump in sales in more than three years in September, a survey of the retail sector showed, suggesting consumers are finding ways to cope with the squeeze on their incomes, reports Reuters. Accountancy firm BDO said its High Street Sales Tracker found overall like-for-like store sales rose by an annual 2.9%, adding to a smaller rise in August. However, the increase was distorted by weak sales in September 2016, suggesting underlying growth remained slow.
British author Kazuo Ishiguro, best known for his novel The Remains of the Day, has won the Nobel Literature Prize, the Swedish Academy said. The 62-year-old, "in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world," the Academy wrote in its citation.
A new party led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said it hopes to pursue policies to revive the economy that do not rely excessively on fiscal and monetary stimulus steps in a party platform unveiled ahead of a national election on October 22, reports Reuters. Koike’s Party of Hope said it would seek to boost Japan’s potential growth through deregulation in a package of measures dubbed “Yurinomics”.
Taxing companies’ huge cash-pile and using the proceeds to create jobs would be among its proposed steps, along with increasing capital expenditure and revitalising Japan’s stock market. The party, which is challenging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition, also vowed to end nuclear power by 2030 amid public safety worries after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Gold was steady on Friday ahead of key US jobs data later in the day, with prices curbed as the dollar stood firm near a seven-week high.
Oil markets opened cautiously in Asia on Friday as traders monitored a tropical storm heading for the Gulf of Mexico and as China remained closed for a week-long public holiday. But the prospect of extended oil production cuts led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) helped support prices.
Asian stocks rose on Friday after optimism over US tax reform plans lifted Wall Street shares to new highs, while the dollar hovered near a seven-week peak following additional indications of solid economic growth. Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.3%, Australian stocks rose 0.7% and South Korea's KOSPI advanced 0.9%. The SGX Nifty is currently trading 23 points higher.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but the continued impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on the data made it difficult to get a clear picture of the labour market, reports Reuters. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 260,000 for the week ended September 30, the Labour Department said. Other data on Thursday pointed to underlying economic strength despite the weather-related disruptions. The trade deficit narrowed in August as exports of goods and services rose to more than a 2-1/2-year high.
President Donald Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the landmark international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, in a step that potentially could cause the 2015 accord to unravel, reports Reuters. A senior administration official said Trump is also expected to roll out a broader US strategy on Iran that would be more confrontational.
New orders for US-made goods rose in August and orders for core capital goods were stronger than previously reported, suggesting robust business spending could help offset some of the economic drag of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, reports Reuters. Factory goods orders increased 1.2% as demand for a range of goods rose, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Orders fell by an unrevised 3.3% in July.
Congressional Republicans moved to hasten an overhaul of the US tax code on Thursday, while Federal Reserve officials warned in rare public remarks that President Donald Trump’s tax plan could lead to inflation and unsustainable federal debt, reports Reuters. In a procedural step forward, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved by a 219-206 vote a fiscal 2018 spending blueprint to help advance an eventual tax bill. The blueprint contains a legislative tool that would let Republicans pass a tax bill by a simple majority vote in the Senate, where they hold 52 of 100 seats, allowing them to bypass Democrats. Separately, the Senate Budget Committee approved its own budget resolution and sent it to the full Senate for a vote, expected after October 16.
The S&P 500 posted its sixth straight record high close on Thursday, its longest run since 1997, as investors cheered increased prospects for a tax overhaul with Congress moving closer to agreement on a budget resolution, reports Reuters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 113.75 points, or 0.5%, to close at 22,775.39, while the S&P 500 gained 14.33 points, or 0.56%, to 2,552.07. The Nasdaq Composite added 50.73 points, or 0.78%, to 6,585.36. The S&P 500 has closed higher for the last eight sessions, and posted record closes for the last six, the longest such run since an eight-day streak in June 1997.