China says U.S. should change attitude or risk conflict
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – The United States should change its “distorted” attitude towards China or “conflict and confrontation” will follow, China’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, while defending its stance on the war in Ukraine and defending its close ties with Russia.The U.S. had been engaging in suppression and containment of China rather than […]
Fed’s Powell sees long-term damage if US debt ceiling not raised
NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – The United States risks long-term damage if Congress does not raise the national debt ceiling, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday.”Congress really needs to raise the debt ceiling … if we fail to do so, I think that the consequences are hard to estimate, but they could […]
China says must advance relations with Russia as world becomes more turbulent
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – China must advance its relations with Russia as the world becomes more turbulent, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.Speaking to reporters at an annual parliamentary session in Beijing, Qin said the close interactions between both leaders – President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin – provided the anchor for […]
US prepares new rules on investment in technology abroad- WSJ
March 3 (Reuters) – The Treasury Department is preparing a new program that could prohibit U.S. investment in certain sectors of adversarial nations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing copies of reports provided to lawmakers on Capitol Hill viewed by the newspaper.The Biden administration’s work on the new rules would in practice largely […]
Fed “acutely aware” of trouble inflation is causing – report
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is “acutely aware” of the challenges high inflation poses to the economy and is “strongly committed” to its 2% target for price increases, the central bank said on Friday in its latest semiannual report to Congress on monetary policy and the economy.While largely a backward-looking summary […]
China lethal aid to Russia would come at real cost, U.S. says
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – China has not moved toward providing lethal aid that would help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and the United States has made clear behind closed doors that such a move would have serious consequences, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.”Beijing will have to make its […]
Analysis: Fed’s quandary: Can the economy keep motoring and inflation fall?
WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – A year into the U.S. Federal Reserve’s most aggressive monetary crackdown since the 1980s the strength of the U.S. economy has befuddled policymakers now faced with an unexpected dilemma: Are things too good?There’s little sign the U.S. job market, currently sporting a more-than-half-century low 3.4% unemployment rate, is weakening. Consumers […]
Analysis: Looming U.S. default risk prompts investors to cut some debt exposure
NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Bond investors are starting to trim holdings of U.S. debt to brace for a possible government default that they see as highly unlikely but potentially seismic for financial markets around the world.The U.S. Treasury hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit last month. Unless congress raises or suspends that cap, […]
U.S. posts $39 billion January deficit after pension fund bailout
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. government posted a $39 billion budget deficit for January after a $119 billion monthly surplus a year earlier, as revenues dipped and one-time costs, including the bailout of a union pension fund, pushed outlays sharply higher, the Treasury Department said on Friday.The report, which comes as Treasury employs […]
Debt talks can include everything but cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Republicans say
WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Republicans say they would not cut Social Security and Medicare programs but “everything else is on the table” in talks over raising U.S. government borrowing limits, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said on Sunday.”We need to shore those programs up. They’re running out of money. But at the end […]