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The G20 finance ministers stressed Friday that central banks must remain independent, after months of escalating attacks by US President Donald Trump on Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell.It was the first communique under South Africa’s G20 presidency and marked a rare consensus for a bloc jolted by the drastic trade policies of its richest member, the United States.”Central banks are strongly committed to ensuring price stability… and will continue to adjust their policies in a data-dependent manner,” the group, whose members account for more than 80 percent of the world’s economic output, said after a finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa.”Central bank independence is crucial to achieving this goal,” it said in the statement, also signed by the United States.Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Powell for not lowering interest rates more quickly, calling the central banker a “numbskull” and “moron”.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not attend the two-day meeting in the port city of Durban, with Washington instead represented by acting undersecretary for international affairs Michael Kaplan.Bessent also skipped a similar meeting in February and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio snubbed a meeting for G20 foreign ministers.Trump insists the Fed should boost the US economy by cutting rates from the current range, 4.25 to 4.5 percent.The US central bank has meanwhile adopted a wait-and-see attitude, holding rates steady as it continues its plan to bring inflation to its long-term target of two percent.On Friday, Trump ramped his criticism of Powell, whose term ends in May 2026, calling him “one of my worst appointments”.The attack followed suggestions the 72-year-old banker could be dismissed for “fraud” over his handling of a renovation project at Federal Reserve headquarters.- ‘Difficult’ environment -Since returning to power in January, Trump has upended global trade rules, announcing a host of drastic stop-start tariffs that has unnerved investors and governments around the world, including the G20 — a grouping of 19 nations and the European Union and African Union.The US tariffs are due to jump from 10 percent to various higher levels for a list of dozens of economies, including the EU, come August 1. A separate 50-percent duty on copper imports will also come into force.The G20 said there was a need to strengthen cooperation and acknowledged the World Trade Organization needed reform “to be more relevant and responsive in light of today’s realities”.Washington is due to succeed Pretoria as G20 chair at a summit in November in Johannesburg, although Trump’s attendance remains uncertain.”The fact that we were able to reach a joint communique among other things outlining the global economic challenges or uncertainty coming from trade tensions shows that also US is willing to have constructive engagement,” said EU Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis.The discussions, at a luxury resort on the east coast, had focused on how to “preserve rules-based multilateral trading system”, Dombrovskis added.Reaching consensus was no small feat, acknowledged South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.”It has been a difficult one in this environment. To achieve what we have done in that environment, I think is a huge success,” he told journalists.The International Monetary Fund said “high levels of policy uncertainty” had dominated the talks and urged countries to resolve trade tensions.The leaders have set an objective of “finding a balanced and practical solution” on a global minimum tax of 15 percent, aimed at stopping international corporations from slashing their tax bills by registering in nations with low rates.Anti-poverty charity Oxfam said G20 inaction would amount to betrayal.”The money is there — it’s time to tax the super-rich and fossil fuel excessive profits,” it said.Last month, the Group of Seven nations agreed to exempt US multinational companies from the OECD-negotiated tax, in a win for Trump’s government, which pushed hard for the compromise.

European and Asian stocks markets closed out the week broadly higher Friday following Wall Street’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed down slightly, while Europe’s main indices gained around midday.”The positive tone to risk sentiment is continuing… after a week of record highs for global equities,” noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index also reached an intraday record high earlier this week, topping 9,000 points on Tuesday.”Tariffs dominated market sentiment at the start of this week, but as the focus turns to President Trump’s health, tariff risks could recede,” Brooks added.The White House on Thursday said Trump had been diagnosed with a common, benign vein condition following speculation about his heavily bruised hand and swollen legs.The 79-year-old in January became the oldest person ever to assume the presidency.The dollar dropped Friday as traders bet on the Federal Reserve cutting US interest rates.Trump this week denied he was planning to sack Fed boss Jerome Powell, who has been urged by the president to reduce US borrowing costs to further boost the world’s top economy.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China. Hong Kong stocks were among the biggest winners Friday thanks to tech leaders.On the downside, shares in GlaxoSmithKline slid more than six percent after the British pharmaceutical giant reported a US regulatory setback for its blood cancer drug Blenrep.- Key figures at around 1045 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,977.21 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,840.46 Frankfurt – DAX: FLAT at 24,376.67Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 39,819.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 24,825.66 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,534.48 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1643 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3445 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.56 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.57 pence from 86.43 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $70.05 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $66.79 per barrel

Markets headed into the weekend on a broadly positive note Friday, as investors took up New York’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings from some of Wall Street’s big names.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices once again doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline, indicating the world’s top economy remains in good health. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China. Hong Kong stocks were among the biggest winners thanks to tech leaders, while there were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta. London, Paris and Frankfurt extended Thursday’s gains, but Seoul, Mumbai and Wellington dropped.Tokyo was also in the red as nervous investors eyed Sunday’s vote, with opinion polls suggesting Ishiba’s ruling coalition could lose its majority in the upper house, having lost control of the lower house last year.A poor show for the premier — who has been battered by a cost-of-living crisis — could put pressure on him to step down and likely usher in a period of uncertainty in the world’s number four economy.”Cost-of-living concerns have dominated the campaign for this weekend’s upper house election,” wrote Stefan Angrick, head of Japan and frontier markets economics at Moody’s Analytics.”Ishiba’s government has boxed itself in, promising only some belated and half-hearted financial support that will do little to improve the demand outlook.”Adding to the premier’s problems was news that rice prices had soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, having rocketed 101 percent in May and 98.4 percent in April.Public support for his administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, with people also angry at his failure to reach a deal to avoid the worst of Trump’s tariffs.”While Ishiba’s base applauds his refusal to bow to Trump’s every tweet, the unwillingness to give even an inch on low-hanging fruit like a partial tariff rollback or mild defense spending boost suggests a man more committed to defiance than diplomacy,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.”It’s tempting to say the trade friction was out of Ishiba’s control… But markets, like politics, don’t reward stubborn idealism. They reward adaptability. And on that score, Ishiba has failed to hedge his leadership risks.”- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 39,819.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 24,825.66 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,534.48 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,992.54Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1637 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3438 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: UP at 148.65 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.59 pence from 86.43 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $67.86 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $69.79 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)

North Korea has barred foreigners from a newly opened beach resort, the country’s tourism administration said this week, just days after Russia’s top diplomat visited the area.The sprawling seaside resort on its east coast, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s pet project, opened to domestic visitors earlier this month with great fanfare in state-run media.Dubbed “North Korea’s Waikiki” by South Korean media, the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone appears to be lined with high-rise hotels and waterparks, and can purportedly accommodate some 20,000 people.State media previously said visits to Wonsan by Russian tour groups were expected in the coming months.But following Lavrov’s visit, the North’s National Tourism Administration said “foreign tourists are temporarily not being accepted” without giving further details, in a statement posted on an official website this week.Kim showed a keen interest in developing North Korea’s tourism industry during his early years in power, analysts have said, and the coastal resort area was a particular focus.He said ahead of the opening of the beach resort that the construction of the site would go down as “one of the greatest successes this year” and that the North would build more large-scale tourist zones “in the shortest time possible”.The North last year permitted Russian tourists to return for the first time since the pandemic and Western tour operators briefly returned in February this year.Seoul’s unification ministry, however, said that it expected international tourism to the new resort was “likely to remain small in scale” given the limited capacity of available flights.Kim held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Wonsan last week where he offered Moscow his full and “unconditional” support for its war in Ukraine, KCNA reported.Lavrov reportedly hailed the seaside project as a “good tourist attraction”, adding it would become popular among both local and Russian visitors looking for new destinations. Ahead of Lavrov’s recent visit, Russia announced that it would begin twice-a-week flights between Moscow and Pyongyang.

China has a “plentiful” toolbox to avoid an economic slump in the second half of the year, its commerce minister said Friday as he admitted it faced a “very severe and complex situation”.Growth hit 5.2 percent in the second quarter, official data showed Tuesday, but analysts have warned that more must be done to boost sluggish domestic consumption as exports face the knock-on effects of global trade turmoil.Retail sales rose far less than expected last month and were much weaker than May, suggesting efforts to kickstart consumption have fallen flat.”We are still facing a very severe and complex situation. Global changes are unstable and uncertain. Some of our policies will provide some new responses according to the times and circumstances,” Wang Wentao told journalists at a news briefing.”Our toolbox is plentiful, and we will be fully prepared.”Asked specifically about China’s reliance on exports, Wang suggested the government was preparing policies to “further stimulate the momentum of our consumption development”.”China’s economy is improving, and the long-term fundamentals have not changed, the consumption market’s characteristics of great potential, strong resilience and vitality have not changed,” he said.Wang also namechecked Beijing-based toymaker Pop Mart, whose Labubu monster dolls have become a must-have item internationally, adorning the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Dua Lipa.”We are also promoting new forms of consumption… for example Pop Mart, these kinds of new trends, new fashions and styles… the Labubu phenomenon has swept the world,” he said. – US decoupling ‘impossible’ -Beijing is battling to shift towards a growth model propelled more by domestic demand than the traditional key drivers of infrastructure investment, manufacturing and exports.That desired transformation has become more urgent since Donald Trump came to office. The US president has imposed tolls on China and most other major trading partners, upending trade norms and endangering Beijing’s exports at a time it needs them more than ever to stimulate economic activity. The two superpowers have sought to de-escalate their row after reaching a framework for a deal at talks in London last month, but observers warn of lingering uncertainty.Wang said Friday that despite “storms and rain”, Washington remained an important trading partner.Even though China-US trade has declined proportionally for each country, overall bilateral trade has remained stable, Wang said.In a sign of progress, US tech giant Nvidia said this week that it would resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports.China’s commerce ministry acknowledged the US decision in a statement Friday afternoon, even as it called for Washington to “abandon its zero-sum mentality”.”China believes that the United States should… continue to cancel a series of unreasonable economic and trade restrictive measures,” the statement read.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has met with Chinese leaders this week in Beijing, telling journalists Wednesday that his firm was “doing our best” to serve the country’s vast semiconductor market.Wang praised recent visits by Huang and other US executives on Friday, noting that the solid economic and popular basis for US-China cooperation “makes artificial decoupling and severing supply chains impossible”, he said.Yet an inconsistent tune has “severely impacted and disrupted normal trade cooperation between China and the United States”, said Wang.Since Trump’s first term, “the trend of the trade frictions provoked by the United States has had ups and downs”, he said.

Asian markets headed into the weekend on a broadly positive note Friday, as investors took up New York’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings from some of Wall Street’s big names.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices once again doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline, indicating the world’s top economy remains in good health. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China.Hong Kong stocks led most of Asia higher thanks to tech leaders, while there were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta. Seoul and Wellington dropped.Tokyo was also in the red as nervous investors eyed Sunday’s vote, with opinion polls suggesting Ishiba’s ruling coalition could lose its majority in the upper house, having lost control of the lower house last year.A poor show for the premier — who has been battered by a cost of living crisis — could put pressure on him to step down and likely usher in a period of uncertainty in the world’s number four economy.”Cost-of-living concerns have dominated the campaign for this weekend’s upper house election,” wrote Stefan Angrick, head of Japan and frontier markets economics at Moody’s Analytics.”Ishiba’s government has boxed itself in, promising only some belated and half-hearted financial support that will do little to improve the demand outlook.”Adding to the premier’s problems was news that rice prices had soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, having rocketed 101 percent in May and 98.4 percent in April.Public support for his administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, with people also angry at his failure to reach a deal to avoid the worst of Trump’s tariffs.”While Ishiba’s base applauds his refusal to bow to Trump’s every tweet, the unwillingness to give even an inch on low-hanging fruit like a partial tariff rollback or mild defense spending boost suggests a man more committed to defiance than diplomacy,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.”It’s tempting to say the trade friction was out of Ishiba’s control… But markets, like politics, don’t reward stubborn idealism. They reward adaptability. And on that score, Ishiba has failed to hedge his leadership risks.”- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 39,778.85 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 24,741.54Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,530.73Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1628 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3435 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.45 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.54 pence from 86.43 penceWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $67.55 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $69.54 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,972.64 (close)

Rice prices in Japan soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, official data showed Friday, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections this weekend.Public support for Ishiba’s administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office last year, partly because of frustration over the cost of living.One of the main sources of anger has been inflation and in particular the surging cost of rice, as well as scandals within the ruling party.The price of the grain already rocketed 101 percent year-on-year in May, having jumped 98.4 percent in April and more than 92.5 percent in March.Overall, Japan’s core inflation rate slowed to 3.3 percent last month from 3.7 percent in May, the data from the internal affairs ministry showed.The reading, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was slightly below market expectations of 3.4 percent.Excluding energy and also fresh food, consumer prices rose 3.4 percent, compared with 3.3 percent in May.Opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s election suggest the ruling coalition may lose its majority in the upper house.This could force Ishiba to resign after less than a year in office.In October, his coalition was deprived of a majority in the powerful lower house.It was the worst election result in 15 years for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955.- Tariff pressure -Ishiba is under additional pressure to reach a trade deal with the United States before new tariffs of 25 percent take effect on August 1.Japan’s important auto imports into the world’s biggest economy are already subject to painful levies, as are steel and aluminium.US President Donald Trump wants to get Japanese firms to manufacture more in the United States, and Tokyo to buy more US goods — notably gas and oil, cars and rice — to reduce the $70 billion trade deficit with the Asian powerhouse.Ishiba, who has sent his trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa to Washington seven times to try and broker a deal, was due to host US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday.Akazawa was also set to join the talks, and travel with Bessent to visit the World Expo in Osaka on Saturday, the Japanese government said.The Bank of Japan has been tightening monetary policy since last year as inflation crept up but worries about the impact of US tariffs on the world’s number four economy has forced it to take a slower approach.Factors behind the rising price of rice include shortages due to an intensely hot and dry summer two years ago that damaged harvests nationwide.Since then some traders have been hoarding rice in a bid to boost their profits down the line, experts say.The issue was made worse by panic buying last year prompted by a government warning about a potential “megaquake” that did not strike.The government has taken the rare step of releasing its emergency stockpile since February, which it typically only ever did during disasters.”Policy flip-flops, delayed pass-through from producer to consumer prices, and yen depreciation will keep price pressures elevated in the near term,” said Stefan Angrick at Moody’s Analytics.”With nominal pay gains stuttering, real wages won’t get the lift they need any time soon. And pay growth will likely slow further as US tariffs and tariff threats hit manufacturing and employment conditions,” he said in a note.”This leaves the Bank of Japan in a bind… We expect the BoJ will stay on hold for now, but not for long. A rate hike is likely by January and could come as early as December.”

Small and medium-sized firms like Mitsuwa Electric that form the backbone of Japan’s economy have weathered many storms over the decades, and company president Yuji Miyazaki is hopeful they will also withstand Donald Trump.As part of a campaign against friend and foe, the US president has threatened 25 percent tariffs on imports of Japanese goods from August 1, having already imposed tough levies on its vehicles, steel and aluminium.However, Miyazaki told AFP that he was confident.”We are providing very specialised products for specialised industries, where it is difficult to change suppliers or supplying countries just because of boosted tariffs,” he said on a tour of the 92-year-old firm.”I’m not worried too much, because if American companies can’t produce parts on their own, they have no choice but to import those parts regardless of tariffs,” the descendant of the firm’s founder said.With 100 employees, Mitsuwa Electric is not a household name.But like millions of other SMEs that account for 99.7 percent of Japan’s companies, it is world-class in its specialist niche.It began making light bulb filaments and now produces coils, rods, needles, plates, pipes and wires for a range of goods including car lights, photocopiers and X-ray machines.In 2022 it won a Guinness World Record for the smallest commercially available metal coil, with a diameter around half that of a human hair.Mitsuwa’s customers are across Asia, Europe and North America and include Japanese engineering giant Toshiba and Toyota-affiliated parts maker Koito Manufacturing.Miyazaki said the impact of US tariffs on the company’s business is limited so far, with one auto sector customer asking it to lower prices.”All we can do is to adapt to any changes in the business environment,” Miyazaki said.- Diversify to survive -Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent his tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa to Washington seven times since April to try to win relief from the tariffs.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was due to meet Ishiba and Akazawa on Friday in Tokyo.But the prime minister’s apparently maximalist strategy of insisting all tariffs are cut to zero have been criticised in some parts, especially as August 1 approaches.US-bound exports of Japanese vehicles — a sector tied to eight percent of Japanese jobs — tumbled around 25 percent in May and June. The lack of a deal isn’t helping Ishiba’s popularity ahead of upper house elections on Sunday that may end Ishiba’s premiership after less than a year.What bothers Japanese firms is Trump’s unpredictability and the complexity of the tariffs, according to government-backed SME support organisation JETRO.Since February, the group has received more than 2,000 enquiries from members about US tariffs, with a flood of requests since June asking for “the latest information” as the deadline approaches.Mitsuwa Electric boss Miyazaki admits worrying about Trump’s threat of pharmaceuticals tariffs of 200 percent, or if medical equipment is targeted.Together with its broad product range, the diversification of its customer base has shielded it so far, he said.This is also vital for other firms to survive, said Zenkai Inoue, an SME expert and professor at the Kyushu Institute of Information Sciences.”I’m proposing a ‘tricycle strategy’, which means you have to have (at least) three customers in different regions,” he told AFP.”For SMEs, securing financial stability by asking banks for their funding is important to survive for the time being, then the next step would be expanding their sales channels to other markets,” he said.Inoue added that some Japanese firms had been slow to prepare for Trump’s tariffs, even after he said he would during his 2024 election campaign.”There was a time when Japanese companies, having heavily relied on the Chinese market, (were) hurt badly by a sudden change in China’s policy. But some of them have not learnt a lesson enough from that experience,” he said.

A jump in US retail sales boosted world markets Thursday even as investors mulled the US rates outlook, US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the future of Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell.Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records as investors focused on solid US economic data and earnings and shrugged off lingering worries about tariffs and Powell. “Right now, as long as the markets don’t have a reason to sell off, they’re going to go up,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “The news on the economy this week has been good enough.”Investors were wary heading into second-quarter earnings season, but “the data so far and the earnings are coming in better than expected,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management. Earlier, European markets also finished strongly in the green.Frankfurt and Paris closed almost 1.5 percent ahead although London could only manage a 0.5 percent rise amid a higher official UK jobless count and slowing wages growth.  Overall, US retail sales were up 0.6 percent in June to $720.1 billion, reversing a May 0.9 percent decline. The figures topped analyst expectations.Besides retail sales, another week of modest weekly US jobless claims provided reassurance on the economy, said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.”We’ve been worried about earnings and trade wars, but the economic data (…) remains resilient,” Hogan said.Thursday’s strong session on Wall Street followed a volatile round the day before. Stocks had briefly nose-dived on Wednesday following reports that Trump was planning to fire Powell, lambasting him for not cutting interest rates. But the US president swiftly denied the story, sending markets higher again.Powell’s apparent security in the role also helped lift the dollar again Thursday, its latest rise in July after an historic retreat in the first six months of 2025.Trump’s unrelenting criticism of Powell has prompted foreign exchange traders to anticipate that “we are moving to a world where the US wants to have a more accommodative monetary policy,” said Kit Juckes, chief FX strategist at Societe Generale.But the dollar’s resilience in the wake of the latest Powell-Trump dustup suggests markets still believe “monetary policy in the US is still credible,” Juckes said.Among individual companies, United Airlines climbed 3.1 percent as it offered an upbeat outlook on travel demand in the second half of 2025 despite reporting a drop in second-quarter profits.Tokyo-listed shares in the Japanese owner of convenience store giant 7-Eleven plunged after a Canadian rival, Alimentation Couche-Tard, pulled out of a $47 billion takeover bid.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,297.36 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 20,885.65 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,972.64 points (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 7,822.00 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.5 percent at 24,370.93 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 39,901.19 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,498.95 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,516.83 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1600 from $1.1641 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3415 from $1.3422Dollar/yen: UP at 148.60 yen from 147.88 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.43 pence from 86.71 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $69.52 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $67.54 per barrel

A jump in US retail sales boosted world markets Thursday even as investors mulled the US rates outlook, US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the future of Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell.US indices were near record highs two hours into the Wall Street session with all eyes on an incoming earnings reports, notably for streaming giant Netflix.More than two hours in, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broad-based S&P 500 boasted gains of close on 0.5 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent.The rises came on the back of a better-than-expected US retail sales report and a round of mostly solid corporate earnings.European markets were strongly in the green. Frankfurt and Paris closed almost 1.5 percent ahead although London could only manage a 0.5 percent rise amid a higher official UK jobless count and slowing wages growth.  Market observers have been carefully watching reports that US President Donald Trump, fresh from unveiling new tariff threats, could sack Powell.Overall, US retail sales were up 0.6 percent in June to $720.1 billion, reversing a May 0.9 percent decline. The figures topped analyst expectations.Besides retail sales, another week of modest weekly US jobless claims provided reassurance on the economy, said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.”We’ve been worried about earnings and trade wars, but the economic data (…) remains resilient,” Hogan said.”If earnings are more upbeat than expected and if management continues to tell a reassuring story about consumer spending, stocks could react favorably,” said Bret Kenwell, eToro US investment analyst, who called the retail sales data “reassuring.”All three main New York indices ended in the green Wednesday, with the Nasdaq at another record high, following a brief sell-off after it emerged Trump had raised the idea of firing Powell.Markets recovered after Trump denied he was planning such a move.The news caused a spike in US Treasury yields amid fears over the central bank’s independence. Trump has spent months lambasting Powell for not cutting interest rates.Fawad Razaqzada of FOREX.com suggested markets were in search of a fresh spark.”But here’s the question on every trader’s mind: will we see further highs, or is this rally due a pause amid creeping inflation concerns and the looming August tariff threat?”In Asia, Toko and Shanghai added around half of one percent though Hong Kong edged down. Tokyo-listed shares in the Japanese owner of convenience store giant 7-Eleven plunged after a Canadian rival, Alimentation Couche-Tard, pulled out of a $47 billion takeover bid.- Key figures at around 1550 GMT -Global New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 44,422.84 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,292.52New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 20,887.48London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,972.64 points (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 7,822.00 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.5 percent at 24,370.93 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 39,901.19 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,498.95 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,516.83 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1598 from $1.1641 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3416 from $1.3414Dollar/yen: UP at 148.50 yen from 147.80 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.45 pence from 86.72 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $69.02 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $65.82 per barrel