• Oct 01, 2024

The Dow drops 300 points as October starts with a port strike and a cautious Fed

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 300 points Tuesday morning following the Federal Reserve’s signal that future interest rate cuts will be less aggressive. The comments by Fed chair Jerome Powell on Monday came less than two weeks after the Federal Open Market Committee approved a half-percentage-point (50 basis points) cut, marking its first reduction after years of hikes to address post-pandemic inflation. Additionally, due to Iran planning an attack on Israel, oil prices incr

  • Oct 01, 2024

Exclusive-Brent oil traders use little known rule to reroute US cargoes

Big energy merchants trading oil cargoes that form the basis of the Brent benchmark have used an obscure clause to reroute U.S. shipments from Europe, in a practice that raises doubts over whether reforms to the crude price marker have succeeded. Brent, the most significant benchmark across commodity markets, is used to price more than 60% of globally traded crude and underpins oil futures. Platts, a unit of S&P Global Commodity Insights, last year allowed U.S. WTI Midland crude delivered to Europe to be included in its Brent price assessment, called dated Brent.

  • Oct 01, 2024

Dockworkers go on a strike that could reignite inflation and cause shortages in the holiday season

Workers began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation even though progress had been reported in contract talks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight. Workers at the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle outside the port and chanted “No work without a fair contract.”

  • Oct 01, 2024

Inflation in Europe falls below 2% and opens the way for faster rate cuts

Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro fell to 1.8% in September, below the European Central Bank's target of 2% for the first time in more than three years as falling energy prices give consumers relief from a burst of inflation that at one point reached into double digits. Tuesday's official figure coupled with an anemic growth outlook could pave the way for faster interest rate cuts from the ECB, which has already trimmed rates twice. Inflation fell from 2.2% in August, according to European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

  • Oct 01, 2024

Strike Shuts Eastern US and Gulf Ports, Threatening Economy

(Bloomberg) -- Most Read from BloombergA 7,000-Year-Old City Emerges as a Haven from Dubai’s Sky-High RentsGang Violence Is Moving to the Amazon’s Fast-Growing CitiesNew Rowhouses in London That Offer a Bridge to the 19th CenturyClimate Migrants Stand to Overwhelm World’s MegacitiesA Housing Crisis Brews in Rwanda’s Capital CityDockworkers walked out of every major port on the US East and Gulf coasts for the first time in nearly 50 years, staging a strike that could ripple across the world’s lar

  • Oct 01, 2024

Global factory activity hit by economic uncertainty

Global factory activity weakened in September as soft demand and economic uncertainty pointed to a tough outlook, surveys showed, keeping policymakers under pressure to shore up fragile growth. Manufacturing activity across the euro zone slowed at its fastest pace this year as demand waned sharply despite factories cutting prices and Germany, Europe's largest economy, recorded its most pronounced worsening of conditions for 12 months.

  • Oct 01, 2024

BlackRock’s Fink says market is wrong on Fed rate-cut bets

(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said the market is pricing too many interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve given the US economy continues to grow.Most Read from BloombergA 7,000-Year-Old City Emerges as a Haven from Dubai’s Sky-High RentsGang Violence Is Moving to the Amazon’s Fast-Growing CitiesNew Rowhouses in London That Offer a Bridge to the 19th CenturyClimate Migrants Stand to Overwhelm World’s MegacitiesA Housing Crisis Brews in Rwanda’s Capital City“

  • Oct 01, 2024

Rattled Mexico Investors Seek Economic Clues as Sheinbaum Takes Office

(Bloomberg) -- Claudia Sheinbaum has spent the final weeks of her time as Mexico’s president-elect offering few specifics about how she will approach the major economic questions her predecessor is leaving behind. Markets are hoping she uses her first speech as the nation’s president to change that.Most Read from BloombergA 7,000-Year-Old City Emerges as a Haven from Dubai’s Sky-High RentsGang Violence Is Moving to the Amazon’s Fast-Growing CitiesNew Rowhouses in London That Offer a Bridge to th