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China and the United States kicked off the latest round of trade talks on Sunday in Madrid, where they are set to thrash out their TikTok dispute and President Donald Trump’s promised hefty tariffs.The Chinese delegation is in the Spanish capital until Wednesday and senior officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, will meet with the US delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The Spanish government said Sunday’s talks got under way at the Palacio de Santa Cruz, the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington have been on a rollercoaster ride in 2025, with both sides slapping escalating tariffs on each other.Tit-for-tat US-China tariffs reached triple digits on both sides at one point this year, snarling supply chains.Washington and Beijing have since reached an agreement to de-escalate tensions, temporarily lowering tariffs to 30 percent on the United States’ side and 10 percent on China’s part.In August, they delayed the threatened reimposition of higher tariffs on each other’s exports for another 90 days — meaning the pause on steeper duties will be in place until November 10.”The Chinese and US delegations convened here on Sunday for talks on economic and trade issues,” China’s official Xinhua news agency said in a report from the Spanish capital.Top leaders from both countries will also discuss their dispute over the TikTok social media platform during the meetings in Madrid.China urged the United States on Friday to address their dispute through dialogue.The deadline for the popular app to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States is September 17, after Trump extended it for the third time.A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s January inauguration.Beijing’s commerce ministry called on Washington on Friday to “work with China on the basis of mutual respect and equal consultations, to resolve each other’s concerns through dialogue and find a solution to the problem”, according to a statement.- Shaky truce -China launched two investigations into the US semiconductor sector on Saturday. Beijing opened an anti-dumping probe into some IC chips originating from the US, its commerce ministry said in a statement. The ministry also said in a separate statement it will launch an investigation into whether the United States had discriminated against the Chinese chip sector.Senior Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang urged “equal dialogue and consultation” between China and the United States after a three-day visit to Washington in August.The US-China trade truce has been an uneasy one, with Washington accusing Beijing of violating their agreement and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.China is the world’s leading producer of rare earths, used to make magnets essential to the automotive, electronics and defence industries.Top diplomats and defence chiefs from both nations held back-to-back discussions on Wednesday, which analysts said could mark a step towards a meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.Trump said in August he expects to visit China this year or shortly afterwards, noting that economic ties between the two countries have improved.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said Friday it was excluding French mining company Eramet from its portfolio, citing risks that the company was contributing to human rights violations and environmental damage at a nickel mine in Indonesia.Managed by the country’s central bank Norges Bank and fuelled by its vast energy revenues, the fund is the world’s biggest, with a value of nearly $2 trillion and investments in more than 8,600 companies across the globe.”Norges Bank’s Executive Board has decided to exclude the company Eramet SA due to an unacceptable risk that the company contributes to or is itself responsible for serious environmental damage and gross violations of human rights,” the fund said in a statement.As of June 30, the fund had a 0.44 percent stake in Eramet, valued at around $6.8 million, according to fund data.The decision was made following a recommendation from the fund’s ethics council, which cited “an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to, or is itself responsible for, severe environmental damage and serious violation of the human rights of uncontacted indigenous people”.Specifically, the council cited “Eramet’s participation in the PT Weda Bay Nickel Joint venture, which is extracting nickel on the island of Halmahera, Indonesia”.The mining would result in the deforestation of rainforest areas and “the loss of critical habitats for endangered and endemic species”, the council said, adding that it also threatened the survival of indigenous people “in voluntary isolation”.Eramet said it “deeply regretted” the fund’s decision.”As a minority shareholder (in Weda Bay Nickel), Eramet strives to promote best practices in mining, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility with its partners, in line with the group’s values and commitment to responsible mining,” it said in a statement.Indonesian authorities told AFP on Friday they had seized nearly 150 hectares (370 acres) of the nickel mine concession that encroached into forest areas without a licence.An AFP investigation earlier this year showed its effects on members of the Hongana Manyawa Indigenous tribe, one of the country’s last isolated hunter-gatherer communities.The community, parts of which remain uncontacted, says the forest they have long relied on for food and shelter is being destroyed by deforestation and environmental degradation linked to the mine.Weda Bay Nickel has denied the allegations and says it is committed to “responsible mining and protecting the environment”.Indigenous rights group Survival International welcomed the fund’s move.”The company is now as toxic as its mining, and we’re calling on all its other shareholders to divest too unless and until there is a no-go zone for the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people,” Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International, told AFP.

Global stocks on Friday mostly held onto gains made earlier this week on expectations of a cut to US interest rates. Wall Street opened mixed after reaching fresh record highs the previous day as US inflation and jobless claims data cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will trim borrowing costs at its meeting next week.”Stock markets (are) at record highs on hopes for falling interest rates,” noted Derren Nathan, head of equity research at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.Markets expect the Fed to cut interest rates by a quarter point next week, and make another two cuts of the same size at its two remaining meetings this year.Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said a lack of buying conviction on Wall Street wasn’t notable, but rather the lack of selling conviction despite reaching new all-time highs which could spark concerns about valuations.”The market is effectively riding the trend until the price action tells it to jump off that ride,” said O’Hare. “That message hasn’t been delivered yet.”European stock markets were steady in afternoon trading, while Asia’s main indices made gains.There were fresh records this week also for the Tokyo and Seoul stock markets, while London on Friday neared a new all-time high.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 rose thanks to a drop in the British pound following data showing the UK economy stalled in July.”While the data underscores the fragile state of the UK economy, sterling weakness and continued strength in energy and financial names are helping the index outperform broader European peers,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at traders Scope Markets.Hong Kong led the way among Asia’s top stock markets on Friday, closing up more than one percent thanks to a surge of more than five percent in the share price of Alibaba.The e-commerce titan’s New York stock had spiked eight percent Thursday, helped by its latest moves in the artificial intelligence sector.This week saw also more record highs for the price of gold, viewed as a safe haven investment, following escalating tensions over the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.Russia’s central bank on Friday trimmed its key interest rate to 17 percent as the country risks an economic slowdown. The Bank of England is next week widely expected to keep its key rate on hold as elevated UK inflation offsets stagnant growth.The European Central Bank on Thursday held interest rates steady with eurozone inflation under control and trade tensions having eased, even as France’s political crisis presents policymakers with a fresh challenge.- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 46,015.94 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 6,583.93New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 22,072.28London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,328.56 Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,831.03Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,693.87Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 44,768.12 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.2 percent at 26,388.16 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,870.60 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1710 from $1.1732 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3540 from $1.3580 Dollar/yen: UP at 147.82 from 147.18 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.48 pence from 86.43 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $67.37 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $63.22 per barrelburs-rl/lth

Hundreds of South Korean workers were greeted by applause and tearful relatives Friday when they returned home after being tangled in a US immigration row that cast a shadow over massive Korean investments in the United States.South Koreans made up the majority of the 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery factory site in the state of Georgia, triggering a delicate effort to resolve the thorny situation between close allies.Officials from South Korea’s government applauded as the 310 workers stepped off the chartered flight at Incheon airport, while some of the workers shouted “freedom” and “I’m back!” at the arrival gate. When the engineers finally appeared, waiting families broke into tears and embraced their loved ones after nearly a week without contact and a roller coaster of emotions.Outside the gate, a large monitor read “Welcome home, fellow Koreans.””The beds and shower facilities were in such poor condition that daily life was unbearable. The food was so bad, I could barely finish a single meal,” an engineer at Hyundai Motors told The Korea Economic Broadcasting of the conditions in US detention.The Georgia raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, a top political priority since he returned to office in January.Experts say most of the detained South Korean workers were likely on visas that do not permit hands-on construction work.The result was a delicate episode for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which maintains multiple plants in the United States and has heeded Washington’s push to onshore manufacturing and boost investment in America.South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told reporters on Friday that he was “deeply pained” by the ordeal.”The return of the workers was unexpectedly delayed by a day,” Cho said. “When I met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday morning, he informed me that President Trump had expressed strong dissatisfaction with how the situation was being handled and ordered a full review of all possible options, which caused the delay.”- Unions urge Washington apologise -He added that the two governments had agreed to establish a working group to create a new visa category for future South Korean investment projects.At the airport, people were seen holding a satirical placard depicting Trump in an immigration officer’s uniform, wearing a gun, alongside the words: “We’re friends, aren’t we?”The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country’s largest umbrella union groups, called for an apology from Trump and for Seoul to halt US investment plans.”The Trump administration’s excessive mass arrests and detentions were a clear violation of human rights,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.At the Hyundai factory site, construction will now be set back due to labour shortages, Chief Executive Officer Jose Munoz said.”This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back,” he said.Kim Dong-myung, president of LG Energy Solution, was more circumspect on delays.”We’ll speak on that once we’re fully prepared,” he said, adding, “It’s not as serious as some media reports suggest. We believe it’s manageable.”Many South Korean companies bring their own workforce during project development periods, with industry sources telling AFP it is common practice to use visa workarounds to avoid project delays.LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimise “any business impact resulting from this incident”.

Indonesian authorities have seized a small section of the world’s largest nickel mine for encroaching on forest areas without permission, authorities said Friday.The Weda Bay Nickel concession, which has long been criticised by environmental and Indigenous rights groups for its effects on the surrounding forest, spans 45,000 hectares on Halmahera island.Authorities have now seized nearly 150 hectares that encroached into forest areas without obtaining a licence, Anang Supriatna, spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney general’s office, told AFP.”The taskforce has taken over the area by sealing it, and the land will be returned to the government,” he added.Weda Bay Nickel is a joint venture of Indonesia’s Antam and Singapore-based Strand Minerals, whose shares are divided between French mining giant Eramet and Chinese steel major Tsingshan. In a statement, Eramet said the area seized was “a quarry producing rocks for construction materials and maintenance”, and mining operations were not affected.Weda Bay Nickel said they were working with the authorities to clarify all existing permits.”We remain committed to taking full responsibility for any potential breaches and to implementing corrective actions,” a company statement said.The seizure comes as Indonesia’s government examines potential forestry regulation violations across several industries, including the palm oil and mining sectors.- Criticism over environmental impact -The concession, which says it accounted for 17 percent of global nickel production in 2023, has long been the target of criticism for its environmental impact.An AFP investigation this year showed its impact on members of one of the country’s last isolated hunter-gatherer communities — the Hongana Manyawa Indigenous tribe.The community, parts of which remain uncontacted, says the forest they have long relied on for food and shelter is being destroyed by deforestation and environmental degradation linked to the mine.Weda Bay Nickel denies the allegations and says it is committed to “responsible mining and protecting the environment”.Activists said the seizure was unlikely to change the broader concession’s impact on local communities, and urged the government to turn the seized land over to affected residents.”If the seizure is aimed for the benefit of the people, then the people should be the ones managing it,” Melky Nahar, coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network environmental group, told AFP. Nickel is central to Indonesia’s growth strategy. It banned ore exports in 2020 to capture more of the value chain. The country is both the world’s largest producer and home to the biggest-known reserves.Mining — dominated by coal and nickel — represented nearly nine percent of its GDP in the first quarter of 2025, government data showed.

Most markets extended gains Friday, tracking record highs across Wall Street, after US inflation and jobs data all but set in stone a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.The bullishness that has characterised trade for the past few weeks has ramped up since a series of reports indicating the labour market in the world’s biggest economy was slowing sharply.Adding to that has been relief that a feared spike in inflation caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs has not so far emerged, giving the central bank room to loosen monetary policy.And that trend continued Thursday with figures showing August consumer prices rose a little more than the previous month but in line with expectations, while jobless claims hit their highest level in four years.A report last week revealed the economy added just 22,000 jobs in August, while revised data showed job growth was more than 900,000 fewer than previously reported in the year through March.Analysts said the readings mean the Fed will now put most of its focus on supporting the labour market, rather than bringing inflation down to its two percent level. It currently stands at around three percent.”Inflation is not getting closer to the Fed’s target, but… as labour market concerns grow more pressing, fears (that) price pressures will be persistent fade,” said Taylor Nugent, senior economist for markets, at National Australia Bank.”There is nothing to stand in the way of Fed cuts this year.”With all three main indexes on Wall Street hitting new heights, Asia was more than happy to pick up the baton heading into the weekend.Hong Kong led the way, rising more than one percent, helped by a surge of more than five percent in market heavyweight Alibaba.The e-commerce titan’s New York stock had spiked eight percent on Thursday, helped by its latest moves in the artificial intelligence sector including raising US$3.2 billion to boost its AI budget.It also said it would ramp up spending on its core e-commerce business.Seoul and Tokyo extended their record run this week, while Sydney, Taipei, Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta were also in the green. There were some losses in Shanghai, Singapore and Manila.London rose even as data showed the UK economy stalled in July, while Frankfurt was also slightly higher and Paris was flat.Traders are keenly awaiting the Fed’s policy meeting next week, with most expecting it to announce a 25-basis-point cut, though there are some rumblings of a 50-point reduction.The post-gathering statement and comments from boss Jerome Powell will be closely watched for clues about its moves for the rest of the year and heading into 2026.”The Fed is seemingly locked in and a done deal. While some may see the risk of potential disappointment if the Fed holds back from delivering a 50-basis-point cut, realistically, the prospects of an oversized 50-point move seems a tall order for the voting committee,” said Pepperstone’s Chris Weston.”The base case is a 25-basis-point cut backed by a commitment to ease further in the meetings ahead.”- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 44,768.12 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.2 percent at 26,388.16 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,870.60 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,322.17 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1740 from $1.1737 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3564 from $1.3580 Dollar/yen: UP at 147.41 from 147.18 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.55 pence from 86.43 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $61.96 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $65.97 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 46,108.00 points (close)

A specially chartered flight carrying hundreds of South Korean workers detained in a US immigration raid last week landed at Incheon International Airport on Friday, AFP reporters saw. South Koreans made up the majority of the 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery factory site in the state of Georgia, triggering a delicate effort to resolve the thorny situation between close allies.The Korean Air Boeing 747-8I, with more than 310 South Koreans on board, departed from Atlanta and touched down on the runway at South Korea’s main gateway in Incheon.”Everything at Atlanta went smoothly,” a foreign ministry official told AFP on Friday, ahead of the workers’ arrival at around 3:25 pm (0625 GMT).”The plane departed as scheduled with the planned number of passengers.”Asia’s fourth-largest economy maintains multiple plants in the United States, and has heeded Washington’s push to onshore manufacturing and boost investment in America. The Georgia raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, a top political priority since he returned to office in January.Experts say most of the detained South Korean workers were likely on visas that do not permit hands-on construction work.At the Incheon airport, people were seen holding a satirical placard depicting President Trump in an ICE uniform, wearing a gun, alongside the words, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”One older man, who was not related to the workers, also staged a protest against the raid, holding a picket that read: “You told us to invest, only to arrest us! Is this how you treat an ally?”President Lee Jae Myung called the raid “bewildering” and noted it could have a chilling effect on future investment. He added that Seoul was negotiating with Washington “to ensure that visa issuance for investment-related purposes operates normally”. At the Hyundai factory site, construction will now be set back due to labour shortages, Chief Executive Officer Jose Munoz said.”This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back,” he said.”Then you need to see how can you fill those positions. And, for the most part, those people are not in the US.”The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country’s largest umbrella union groups, called for an apology from Trump and for Seoul to halt US investment plans.”The Trump administration’s excessive mass arrests and detentions were a clear violation of human rights,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.”The KCTU stands in full solidarity with the workers returning today and strongly urges President Trump to issue an official apology and calls for (South Korea’s) suspension of investments in the US.”- Minimise impact -LG Energy Solution — which said 47 of its employees were arrested, along with about 250 people working for its contractor — thanked the Seoul government for its support.Seoul sent a task force and flew in top officials to negotiate, with a focus on ensuring that workers would not suffer repercussions should they seek to re-enter the United States.”We are especially grateful for their exceptional efforts… for their meticulous attention to addressing various concerns, including ensuring no disadvantages upon re-entry,” the firm said in a statement sent to AFP.Images of the workers being chained and handcuffed during the raid caused widespread alarm in South Korea, and Seoul said the government had negotiated to make sure the workers were not handcuffed again as they were repatriated.The raid came less than a month after Trump welcomed Lee to the White House.The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion venture to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.Many South Korean companies bring their own workforce during project development periods, with industry sources telling AFP it is common practice to use visa workarounds to avoid project delays.LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimise “any business impact resulting from this incident”.

Hundreds of South Korean workers were headed back to Seoul on Friday after their detention in a US immigration raid that Hyundai warned will delay completion of its battery factory. South Korean workers accounted for most of the 475 people arrested last week at the Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Georgia, prompting tense negotiations between Seoul and Washington, staunch security allies.A specially chartered Korean Air Boeing 747-8I carrying 316 South Koreans and 14 foreign employees departed Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Thursday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.”Everything at Atlanta went smoothly,” a foreign ministry official told AFP on Friday, ahead of the workers’ expected arrival at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT).”The plane departed as scheduled with the planned number of passengers.”The Georgia raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown, a top political priority since he returned to office in January.Experts say most of the detained South Korean workers were likely on visas that do not permit hands-on construction work.President Lee Jae Myung called the raid “bewildering” and noted it could have a chilling effect on future investment. He added that Seoul was negotiating with Washington “to ensure that visa issuance for investment-related purposes operates normally”. Asia’s fourth-largest economy maintains multiple plants in the United States, and has heeded Washington’s push to onshore manufacturing and boost investment in America. At the Hyundai factory site, construction will now be set back due to labour shortages, Chief Executive Officer Jose Munoz said.”This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back,” he said.”Then you need to see how can you fill those positions. And, for the most part, those people are not in the US.”The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country’s largest umbrella union groups, called for an apology from Trump and for Seoul to halt US investment plans.”The Trump administration’s excessive mass arrests and detentions were a clear violation of human rights,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.”The KCTU stands in full solidarity with the workers returning today and strongly urges President Trump to issue an official apology and calls for (South Korea’s) suspension of investments in the US.”- Minimise impact -LG Energy Solution — which said 47 of its employees were arrested, along with about 250 people working for its contractor — thanked the Seoul government for its support.Seoul sent a task force and flew in top officials to negotiate, with a focus on ensuring that workers would not suffer repercussions should they seek to re-enter the United States.”We are especially grateful for their exceptional efforts… for their meticulous attention to addressing various concerns, including ensuring no disadvantages upon re-entry,” the firm said in a statement sent to AFP.Images of the workers being chained and handcuffed during the raid caused widespread alarm in South Korea, and Seoul said the government had negotiated to make sure the workers were not handcuffed again as they were repatriated.The raid came less than a month after Trump welcomed Lee to the White House.The site of the raid is a $4.3 billion venture to build a battery cell manufacturing facility in Georgia.Many South Korean companies bring their own workforce during project development periods, with industry sources telling AFP it is common practice to use visa workarounds to avoid project delays.LG said it remained committed to its US projects, adding that it was also working to minimise “any business impact resulting from this incident”.

Global stock markets rose on Thursday as US inflation data came in as anticipated, reinforcing the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.Meanwhile, the European Central Bank held rates steady for a second consecutive meeting, as expected, and raised its forecasts for eurozone growth and inflation this year.US Labor Department data showed the consumer price index (CPI) picked up to 2.9 percent in August, as economists monitor the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the world’s biggest economy.The figure was in line with analysts’ expectations and is seen as unlikely to deter the Fed from cutting interest rates next week.While inflation is above the Fed’s two-percent target, recent weak jobs figures “have strengthened the likelihood of monetary policy easing,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at European asset manager Moneyfarm.Data released last week showed that the US economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, while revised figures showed job growth was significantly weaker than previously reported in the year through March.Separate data released on Thursday showed initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 27,000 to 263,000 last week, the highest level since October 2021.”The real news of the day sits with the weekly jobless claims,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, who expects the Fed to lower interest rates by 75 basis points by the end of the year.”That’s just more evidence that we’re seeing weakness in the labor market,” Hogan said. “So, clearly, the Fed’s full employment mandate is front and center.”Official figures that showed producer prices falling in the world’s biggest economy last month helped reassure analysts that the inflationary effect of the tariffs on consumer prices will be modest and short-lived as well.”While a 2.9 percent CPI rate is not exactly dovish, the lack of feed-through from tariffs into the CPI report could ease Fed concerns about the future path of inflation,” said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.”In the aftermath of this report, the dollar has done a 180-degree turn and is lower across the board,” and yields on US government bonds have fallen, she added.Wall Street’s three main indices closed at fresh records.European stocks also held onto gains following the ECB’s rate decision.The bank now expects the eurozone economy to expand by 1.2 percent this year, up from its previous forecast of a 0.9-percent expansion, with inflation to come in at 2.1 percent.In Asia, the Tokyo stock market hit a record high, helped by a 10-percent surge in the share price of tech investment titan SoftBank. Oil prices fell Thursday as ample supply of crude helped to offset this week’s escalation of tensions in the Middle East and over the Russia-Ukraine war.The International Energy Agency on Thursday said global oil supply hit a record high in August as the OPEC+ grouping and other countries ramped up production, with a looming surplus keeping prices in check.- Key figures at around 2015 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 46,108.00 points (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.9 percent at 6,587.47 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 22,043.07 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 9,297.58 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 7,283.52 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 23,703.65 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 44,372.50 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 26,086.32 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.7 percent at 3,875.31 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1737 from $1.1696 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3580 from $1.3528 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.18 from 147.40 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.43 pence from 86.46 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.7 percent at $66.37 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.0 percent at $62.37 per barrelburs-rl-bys/bgs

Global stock markets rose on Thursday as US inflation data that came in as expected reinforced the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.Meanwhile, the European Central Bank held rates steady for a second consecutive meeting, as expected, and raised its forecasts for eurozone growth and inflation this year.Labor Department data showed the consumer price index (CPI) picked up to 2.9 percent in August, as economists monitor the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the world’s biggest economy.The figure was in line with analysts’ expectations and is seen as unlikely to deter the Fed from cutting interest rates next week.While inflation is above the Fed’s two-percent target, recent weak jobs figures “have strengthened the likelihood of monetary policy easing”, said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at European asset manager Moneyfarm.Data released last week showed that the US economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, while revised figures showed job growth was significantly weaker than previously reported in the year through March.Separate data released on Thursday showed initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 27,000 to 263,000 last week, the highest level since October 2021.”The real news of the day sits with the weekly jobless claims,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, who expects the Fed to lower interest rates by 75 basis points by the end of the year.”That’s just more evidence that we’re seeing weakness in the labor market,” Hogan said. “So, clearly, the Fed’s full employment mandate is front and center.”Meanwhile official figures that showed producer prices falling in the world’s biggest economy last month helped reassure analysts that the inflationary effect of the tariffs on consumer prices will be modest and short-lived.”While a 2.9 percent CPI rate is not exactly dovish, the lack of feed-through from tariffs into the CPI report could ease Fed concerns about the future path of inflation,” said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.”In the aftermath of this report, the dollar has done a 180-degree turn and is lower across the board,” and yields on US government bonds have fallen, she added.Wall Street’s three main indices struck fresh records following the data.European stocks held onto gains following the ECB’s rate decision.The bank now expects the eurozone economy to expand by 1.2 percent this year, up from its previous forecast of a 0.9-percent expansion, with inflation to come in at 2.1 percent.In Asia, the Tokyo stock market hit a record high, helped by a 10-percent surge in the share price of tech investment titan SoftBank. Oil prices fell Thursday as ample supply of crude helped to offset this week’s escalation of tensions in the Middle East and over the Russia-Ukraine war.The International Energy Agency on Thursday said global oil supply hit a record high in August as the OPEC+ grouping and other countries ramped up production, with a looming surplus keeping prices in check.- Key figures at around 1530 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,064.58 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,584.43New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 22,039.77London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 9,297.58 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 7,283.52 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 23,703.65 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 44,372.50 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 26,086.32 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.7 percent at 3,875.31 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1739 from $1.1696 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3572 from $1.3528 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.19 from 147.40 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.49 pence from 86.46 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.6 percent at $66.41 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.8 percent at $62.51 per barrelburs-rl/rlp