World shares mixed ahead of meeting between Trump and Putin
Bitcoin briefly rose more than 3% to a new record of over 123,000 dollars, according to CoinDesk.
It later fell back below 122,000 dollars.
A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average (Richard Drew/AP)
The future for the S&P 500 was unchanged, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.
Later Thursday, a report will show how bad US inflation was at the wholesale level across the US.
Economists expect it to show inflation ticked up to 2.4% in July from 2.3% in June.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.5% to 24,296.02.
In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.4% to 7,832.60.
Europe is bracing for Mr Trump's encounter with Mr Putin, though the US president has said he will prioritise trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Mr Putin on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Trump-Putin meeting could have major implications for energy markets, potentially leading to an easing of sanctions against Moscow, or an escalation if no progress is made on ending the war in Ukraine.
Early on Thursday, US benchmark crude rose 28 cents to 62.93 dollars per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 32 cents to 65.95 dollars per barrel.
During Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell nearly 1.5% to 42,649.26 as investors sold to lock in recent gains that have taken the benchmark to all-time records.
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) in Seoul, South Korea (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The Japanese yen rose against the dollar after US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg that Japan was 'behind the curve' in monetary tightening.
He was referring to the slow pace of increases in Japan's near-zero interest rates.
Low interest rates tend to make the yen weaker against the dollar, giving Japanese exporters a cost advantage in overseas sales.
The dollar fell to 146.50 Japanese yen Thursday, down from 147.39 yen.
The euro slid to 1.1681 dollars from 1.1705 dollars.
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.4% to 25,519.32, while the Shanghai composite index slid 0.5% to 3,666.44.
South Korea's Kospi rose less than 0.1% to 3,225.66.
In Australia, the S&P ASX 200 index added 0.5% to 8,873.80.
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and India's Sensex edged 0.2% higher.
On Wednesday, US stocks ticked higher, extending a global rally fuelled by hopes the Federal Reserve will cut US interest rates.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow climbed 1%.
The Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.
Treasury yields eased in the bond market in anticipation that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September.
Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for US households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, though they risk worsening inflation.
Mr Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Fed chairman Jerome Powell while doing so.
But the Fed has hesitated, worried that Mr Trump's sweeping higher tariffs could make inflation much worse.
Fed officials have said they want to see more fresh data about inflation before moving.
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Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Trump says he thinks Putin is ready to make deal for peace in Ukraine
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies have intensified their efforts this week to prevent any deal between the US and Russia emerging from Friday's summit in Alaska that leaves Ukraine vulnerable to future attack. 'I think President Putin will make peace, I think President Zelensky will make peace,' Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. 'We'll see if they get along.' Mr Trump has downplayed talk of a ceasefire emerging from the summit and speculated about a possible second meeting to come, involving more leaders. 'I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not. I don't know that.' Putin earlier spoke to his most senior ministers and security officials as he prepared for a meeting with Mr Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, at 11.30am Alaskan time (8.30pm Irish time) that could shape the endgame to the largest war in Europe since World War II. In televised comments, Putin said the US was 'making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict'. This was happening, Putin said, 'to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole – if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons'. His comments signalled that Russia will raise nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Mr Trump. A Kremlin aide said Putin and Mr Trump would also discuss the 'huge untapped potential' for Russia-US economic ties. A senior Eastern European official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Putin would try to distract Mr Trump from Ukraine at the talks by offering him possible progress on nuclear arms control or something business-related. 'We hope Trump won't be fooled by the Russians; he understands all [these] dangerous things,' the official said, adding that Russia's only goal was to avoid any new sanctions and have existing sanctions lifted. Mr Trump said there would be a press conference after the talks, but that he did not know whether it would be joint. He also said in an earlier interview with Fox News that there would be 'a give and take' on boundaries and land. 'This meeting sets up like a chess game,' Mr Trump said. 'This meeting sets up a second meeting, but there is a 25pc chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting.' Mr Trump said it would be up to Putin and Mr Zelensky to strike an agreement, saying: 'I'm not going to negotiate their deal.' Russia controls around a fifth of Ukraine, and Mr Zelensky and the Europeans worry that a deal could cement those gains, rewarding Putin for 11 years of efforts to seize Ukrainian land and emboldening him to expand further into Europe. An EU diplomat said it would be 'scary to see how it all unfolds in the coming hours. Trump had very good calls yesterday with Europe, but that was yesterday'. Mr Trump had shown willingness to join the security guarantees for Ukraine at a last-ditch virtual meeting with European leaders and Mr Zelensky on Wednesday, European leaders said, though he made no public mention of them afterwards. Today's summit, the first Russia-US summit since June 2021, comes at one of the toughest moments for Ukraine in a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Speaking after Wednesday's meeting, French president Emmanuel Macron said Mr Trump had said the transatlantic Nato alliance should not be part of any security guarantees designed to protect Ukraine from future attacks in a post-war settlement. However, Mr Trump also said the US and all willing allies should be part of the security guarantees, Mr Macron added. Expanding on that, a European official told Reuters that Mr Trump said on the call he was willing to provide some security guarantees for Europe, without spelling out what they would be. On Wednesday, Mr Trump threatened 'severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine and has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting today proves fruitless.
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Air Canada cancels flights before strike that could impact hundreds of thousands
Air Canada started cancelling flights ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travellers. A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day. The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday. Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a news conference (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) In response, the airline issued a lockout notice. Mark Nasr, chief operations officer for Air Canada, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations. 'All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning,' he said. Mr Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart 'which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete'. He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas flights that were due to depart on Thursday night. 'By tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 customers,' Mr Nasr said. Air Canada executives leave after they are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) 'By the time we get to 1am on Saturday morning we will be completely grounded.' He said a grounding will affect 25,000 Canadians a day abroad who may become stranded. They expect 500 flights to be cancelled by the end of Friday. He said customers whose flights are cancelled will be eligible for a full refund, and it has also made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide alternative travel options 'to the extent possible'. Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, head of human resources for Air Canada, said their latest offer includes a 38% increase in total compensation including benefits and pensions over four years. Air Canada executives are interrupted by Air Canada flight attendants during a press conference (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP) The union has said its main sticking points revolve around what it calls flight attendants' 'poverty wages' and unpaid labour when planes are not in the air. 'Despite our best efforts, Air Canada refused to address our core issues,' the union said in a bargaining update posted online. The union rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on. Ms Meloul-Wechsler said they have hit an impasse but are still available for talks and consensual arbitration. She said that if a deal is not reached, the resulting 'very serious disruptions' would prompt the company to consider asking for government intervention. Some flight attendants at the airline's news conference on Thursday held up signs that read 'Unpaid work won't fly' and 'Poverty wages = UnCanadian'.
RTÉ News
12 hours ago
- RTÉ News
US consumer prices increase moderately in July, as data quality concerns rising
US consumer prices increased moderately in July, though rising costs for goods because of import tariffs led to a measure of underlying inflation posting its largest gain in six months. The US consumer price index rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. In the 12 months to July, the CPI advanced 2.7% after rising 2.7% in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2% and increasing 2.8% year-on-year. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest gain since January, after climbing 0.2% in June. The so-called core CPI increased 3.1% year-on-year in July after advancing 2.9% in June. The Federal Reserve tracks different inflation measures for its 2% target. Prior to the CPI data, financial markets expected the US Fed would resume cutting interest rates in September after July's weak employment report and sharp downward revisions to the nonfarm payrolls counts for May and June. The Fed left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range last month for the fifth time in a row since December. The CPI report was published amid mounting concerns over the quality of inflation and employment reports following cuts in budget and staffing that have led to the suspension of data collection for portions of the CPI basket in some areas across the country. Those worries were amplified by President Donald Trump firing Erika McEntarfer, the head of the BLS, early this month after stall-speed job growth in July, reinforced by sharp downward revisions to the May and June nonfarm payrolls counts. The suspension of data collection followed years of what economists described as the underfunding of the BLS under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The situation has been exacerbated by the Trump White House's unprecedented campaign to reshape the government through deep spending cuts and mass layoffs of public workers. Citing the need to "align survey workload with resource levels," the BLS suspended CPI data collection completely in one city in Nebraska, Utah and New York. It has also suspended collection on 15% of the sample in the other 72 areas, on average. This affected both the commodity and services pricing survey as well as the housing survey, which the BLS said resulted in the number of collected prices and the number of collected rents used to calculate the CPI temporarily reduced. That has led to the BLS using imputations to fill in the missing information. The share of different cell imputation in the CPI data jumped to 35% in June from 30% in May. Different cell imputation, which the BLS uses when all prices are unavailable in the home cell, maintains the item category but expands geography. The home cell method, considered by economists as higher quality, uses the average price of the same item in the same location as the missing product's price. The use of different cell imputation has grown from a share of only 8% in June 2024. Economists said while these measures adopted by the BLS will not introduce bias in the CPI data, the volatility was a cause for concern.
