AFP USA

Biopic “Peter Hujar’s Day” on Wednesday topped the nominations for the Spirit Awards, which also saw singer SZA given a nod for her debut film role.The awards honor lower budget movies and are among the first significant pre-Oscars galas to unveil their shortlists.”Peter Hujar’s Day,” which premiered at Sundance this year, bagged five nods, including best feature, best director and best lead performance.It stars American Ben Whishaw as the titular character, a photographer in 1970s New York, in conversation with his friend, played by Rebecca Hall.There were four nominations each for “Train Dreams,” “Blue Sun Palace,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Lurker” and “One of Them Days.”Netflix’s “Train Dreams” — based on Denis Johnson’s novella — charts the flux of early 20th century America through the life of a logger and railroad worker. It scored nominations for best feature, best director and best lead performer Joel Edgerton.”Blue Sun Palace,” a best first feature and best first screenplay nomination for Constance Tsang, recounts the bond between two Chinese migrants in New York as they grapple with tragedy.”Sorry, Baby” — nominated for best feature, screenplay and best director — is a black comedy drama about the aftermath of an assault at a liberal arts college.”Lurker,” a psychological thriller set around a rising star, will compete for best first feature and for the gender-neutral best lead performance for Theodore Pellerin.Comedy “One of Them Days” scored a best breakthrough performance nod for singer SZA, one of two friends — opposite Keke Palmer — who has to scramble to come up with the rent after an irresponsible boyfriend splurges it.Movies with budgets over $30 million are not considered for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which aim to celebrate independent movies.The awards will be handed out at a ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium on February 15th.Oscars voting ends on March 5, and the season-capping 98th Academy Awards take place on March 15.

President Donald Trump is poised to roll back his predecessor Joe Biden’s tough fuel-economy standards, arguing the move will lower car prices even as critics warn it will leave drivers paying more at the pump and accelerate climate change.Trump will be joined in the Oval Office on Wednesday by the CEOs of Ford and Stellantis, and a General Motors manager, to announce the rollback — with the presence of the so-called “Big Three” automakers signaling critical industry buy-in.”Joe Biden’s fuel efficiency regulations would have raised the cost of a new vehicle by $1,000,” the White House said on X, adding that Trump’s reset would save Americans $109 billion.”As America’s largest auto producer, we appreciate President Trump’s leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.Environmentalists quickly pushed back, saying the move stood out even among Trump’s many anti-green actions because of its outsized impact on car-dependent America.”Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the biggest single step any nation has ever taken to combat oil use, global warming pollution, and helping save consumers money at the gas pump,” Dan Becker, an activist with the Center for Biological Diversity who has campaigned for green car policies since the 1980s, told AFP. “This is the big one.”At stake are the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, created in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo, which require vehicles to achieve the “maximum feasible” mileage per gallon.The full extent of the rollback was not immediately clear.But the Trump administration has repeatedly signaled its opposition to efficiency increases enacted under Biden’s administration, which it boosted by eight percent for model years 2024–2025 and 10 percent for 2026, targeting more than 50 miles per gallon by 2031.In a proposed rule issued in June, Trump’s Department of Transport argued that Biden officials had improperly factored in electric and hybrid vehicles when devising those targets, saying the standards would be unattainable for gasoline-powered cars and would effectively force a shift in the market.Becker called that argument “ludicrous” because it would force automakers to ignore that advanced technology exists. – Trump EV fight -Trump has railed against what he calls an EV “mandate” — an issue that has put him at odds with his on-again, off-again billionaire ally Elon Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla, which still has the highest EV market share in the US even as other brands are gaining.Republicans in Congress have repealed clean-energy tax credits in a major tax and spending bill, and targeted California’s ability to set its own vehicle-emission limits.Throughout 2025, GM and other US automakers have curtailed or pushed back new EV plant capacity.But whether savings from reduced EV investment will filter through to consumers remains unclear.While the shift away from EVs does allow automakers to delay or forgo billions of dollars in new investments, some of those funds are being steered into new initiatives to add US carbuilding capacity in light of Trump’s tariffs.GM, for example, announced in June $4 billion in spending to retool factories in Michigan, Kansas and Tennessee. GM, which has said it expects a $3.5 billion — $4.5 billion tariff hit in 2025, has also placed a heavy priority on returning excess cash to shareholders.Gina McCarthy, a former senior official under Biden and Barack Obama, said the move would ultimately harm the auto industry by slowing its shift to electric vehicles and worsen climate change.”The rest of the world will continue to innovate and create cleaner cars that people want to buy and drive, while we’re forced to sit in our clunkers, paying more for gas, and pumping out more tailpipe emissions.”

US private-sector hiring data released Wednesday painted a downcast picture of the job market in the world’s biggest economy, especially among small businesses.The report showed US companies shed 32,000 jobs in November, payroll firm ADP said, in a surprise drop set to firm up expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.President Donald Trump has been touting the economy’s health, and forecasts had incorrectly predicted the monthly data would show a net rise in employment.”Hiring has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said.”While November’s slowdown was broad-based, it was led by a pullback among small businesses.”The ADP data had been expected to show 20,000 new jobs created, according to a consensus of analysts reviewed by Briefing.com.”This is no longer a low hiring job market, it’s a start-to-fire job market,” said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union.”The only industries still hiring are hospitality and healthcare. If you don’t want to work at a bar or in health care, you’re out of luck.”While medium and large establishments added jobs last month, small establishments lost 120,000 jobs, according to ADP.Long described small firms as the most impacted by Trump’s barrage of tariff announcements, adding that the ADP report points to the potential for more weakness ahead.”The start-to-fire labor market is likely to remain in place for the first half of 2026 until there’s more certainty on tariffs and more confidence among businesses to begin hiring again,” Long said.- Dearth of information -The figures are considered unreliable by some analysts, but are still closely watched as a gauge of the US economy especially as official data is incomplete due to a federal government shutdown that has now ended.When the Fed meets next week, it will be forced to do without influential inputs for evaluating monetary policy.The Labor Department won’t publish employment data for October and has pushed the November reading back until December 16 — after the Fed’s December 10 meeting decision date.The US central bank is also contending with a dearth of consumer pricing data.Fed officials have signaled greater concern about the state of the job market, lifting expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates next week for the third straight time.”The (ADP) report shows the job market is losing more momentum at year-end and skews risks toward modestly higher unemployment early next year,” said Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin.”There’s a high level of disagreement among Fed policymakers right now, but we maintain our call the doves will prevail over the hawks … to vote for another 25 basis point interest rate reduction at next week’s meeting.”Other US data released Wednesday contained conflicting signs on the economy.Industrial production increased 0.1 percent in September, in line with analyst expectations.The US services sector reported growth in November, with the Institute of Supply Management’s overall rating coming in at 52.6, a 0.2 percentage point gain from the prior month and slightly more than analyst expectations.But the employment index came in at 48.9, below the 50 level that separates growth from contraction. Multiple officials surveyed pointed to the lingering cloud surrounding trade policy, ISM said in a press release.A real estate official said tariff uncertainty adds “complexity to purchasing, and economic conditions remain mixed, with some indicators pointing to good prospects and others to worrying ones.”

He still mocks his predecessor as “Sleepy Joe” Biden. But it was Donald Trump who seemed to be fighting to stay awake at a cabinet meeting.The 79-year-old, the oldest man to be elected US president, repeatedly had his eyes closed as his top team took turns praising his leadership in front of the cameras.The incident put the Republican billionaire’s health under fresh scrutiny, even as he and his aides were pushing back against earlier speculation on the issue.The White House strongly rejected any suggestion that Trump was snoozing on Tuesday.”President Trump was listening attentively and running the entire three-hour marathon cabinet meeting,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP on Wednesday.Leavitt highlighted Trump’s “amazing” answer at the end of the meeting when he raged against Somali immigrants.”This epic moment put an exclamation point on President Trump’s ninth Cabinet meeting of his second term — all of which have been entirely open to the press for the whole world to see.”- ‘Sharper than 25 years ago’ -In fact, at the start of Tuesday’s lengthy meeting, Trump had brushed off suggestions that he was running out of steam.”You always find something new, like, ‘is he in good health? Biden was great, but is Trump in good health?'” Trump said to reporters, branding them “crazy”.He repeated a familiar riff about how he “aced” a cognitive health test and said: “I’ll let you know when there’s something wrong. There’ll be some day that’s going to happen to all of us. But right now I think I’m sharper than I was 25 years ago.”But minutes later Trump could be seen closing his eyes for stretches of several seconds at a time as cabinet members listed the administration’s achievements on his first year back in power.He even appeared to do so as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seated right next to him, described Trump as the “only leader in the world” who could help end the Ukraine war.All this came less than a month after Trump, who turns 80 in June, also appeared to close his eyes for a time during an event in the Oval Office on lowering drug prices. The focus on Trump’s health sharpened in late November after a New York Times article said he had sharply reduced his public events, domestic travel and working hours compared to his first term.- MRI test -Trump raged against the “hit piece” while Leavitt held up print-outs during a briefing this week of previous New York Times stories that she said had played down concerns over Biden’s health.The anger in the White House has been fueled by what they allege was a media cover-up of Democrat Biden’s health while in office.Trump loves to contrast his vigor with that of Biden, who dropped out of the 2024 election at the age of 81 after a disastrous debate performance raised concerns about his age and acuity.But the health of US presidents is always a global concern, particularly given the punishing demands of the job, and now Trump’s is back in the spotlight.He faced mockery on late night TV over the cabinet meeting, with long-time critic Jimmy Kimmel running footage of Trump with his eyes closed on his show on US broadcaster ABC.”Tell us again how sleepy Joe is, will ya?” said Kimmel.Social media users also queried whether Trump was tired after a flurry of more than 160 late night and early morning Truth Social posts between Monday and Tuesday, although staffers are known to post some of his messages.Matters have not been helped by the fact that Trump has long faced criticism for limited transparency around his health.After questions about a second “annual” health check up in hospital in October featuring an MRI scan, his official doctor said this week that the “preventative” exam showed Trump was in “excellent” cardiovascular health.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that its army’s recent battlefield successes in Ukraine had bolstered its position in talks to end the fighting, as both Moscow and Kyiv prepared for more negotiations with the United States.US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner negotiated into the early hours with Vladimir Putin but no breakthrough for a peace settlement was announced.The Kremlin said the two sides had failed to find a “compromise” on the crucial issue of territories and that Ukraine’s participation in NATO remained a “key” question in the talks.The White House had previously voiced optimism about its plan to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II but that hope appeared to fade on Wednesday, with Moscow saying it had found parts of the plan “unacceptable”.Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end the war.Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine gathered pace last month and Putin has said in recent days that Moscow is ready to fight on to seize the rest of the land it claims if Kyiv does not surrender it.”The progress and nature of the negotiations were influenced by the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield in recent weeks,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov — who took part in the US-Russia talks — told reporters, including AFP.”Our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, have helped make the assessments of our foreign partners regarding the paths to a peace settlement more appropriate,” he added.Moscow insisted it was incorrect to say Putin rejected the plan in its entirety.It also said Russia was still committed to diplomacy, despite Putin’s stark warning that Moscow was prepared to fight Europe if it wanted war.”We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. – ‘Keep fight ongoing’ -The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US arms for Kyiv. NATO chief Mark Rutte said it was positive that peace talks were ongoing but that the alliance should make sure that “Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going”.Russian troops have been grinding forward across the front line against outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces.Earlier this week, Moscow claimed to have captured the important stronghold of Pokrovsk but a Ukraine army unit fighting in the city said urban combat was still ongoing.”The enemy is bogged down in urban combat for Pokrovsk and currently cannot seize the city using weapons,” the 7th Air Assault Corps said. According to Ukrainian online map project DeepState, most of the city is occupied by the Russians.European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow will reach agreements without them and have spent the last weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate. In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable, with Putin delivering an exceptionally hawkish statement on Tuesday.”We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said.Britain has downplayed Putin’s hawkish messaging, calling it “yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn’t serious about peace”.- Ukraine role in NATO ‘key’ in talks -Moscow went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, saying it wanted to prevent Kyiv joining NATO — a prospect that Ukraine and the Western alliance have called a pretext to start the fighting and that they say was not going to happen.Since the full-scale offensive, Kyiv has said that joining the Western alliance would protect it from future Russian attacks.Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukrainian membership in the bloc.Ushakov said the issue was “key” at the talks.Zelensky’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov held a lengthy meeting with European security advisors on Wednesday as the Kyiv team was expected to meet Trump’s envoys later.”I gave my colleagues a detailed update on the negotiations in Geneva and Florida, and on the next steps in the diplomatic process,” Umerov said.”It’s important that Europe stays an active part of this,” he added.Zelensky has said that any peace deal for the conflict should make sure Moscow will not attack again.Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, which has killed thousands, has also been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent at home unseen since the Soviet era. 

Equities struggled on Wednesday as data showed US businesses unexpectedly shed jobs last month.The US private sector lost 32,000 jobs in November, according to payroll firm ADP, compared to a small gain expected by analysts.The jobs numbers reinforced concerns over the health of the US economy, which has struggled with dislocations and price rises caused by tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration.”There’s no way to portray that as good news, unless, of course, you’re a stock trader who is focused more on the likelihood for Fed cuts than you are about what it says about the economy,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.After opening lower, all three of Wall Street’s main indices had pushed into positive territory by mid-morning, with the jobs figures underpinning expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid back into the red.”The modest fall in the ADP payrolls measure in November… should be enough to persuade the FOMC to vote for another cut next week,” said Stephen Brown at Capital Economics.Money markets now put the chances of the Fed cutting interest rates on December 10 at nearly 90 percent.Lower interest rates make it easier for companies and consumers to borrow money, so the prospect of Fed rate cuts tends to boost stocks.Optimism over US rate cuts won an additional boost from reports that Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett — a proponent of more rate reductions — is the frontrunner to take the helm at the Fed when Jerome Powell’s tenure ends in May.Investors are also looking ahead to the release on Friday of the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation — the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index.Investors see the Fed cutting rates three times next year, which has been a factor weighing on the dollar.The euro hit a seven-week high against the dollar, noted analyst Axel Rudolph at trading platform IG. “The US central bank is expected to cut rates in December with a near 89 percent probability whereas the ECB isn’t likely to do so for much of next year,” he said.Meanwhile the pound gained one percent against the dollar, also receiving a boost from data showing stronger than expected activity from the UK services sector.Stronger sterling weighed on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index, which features major companies earning in dollars, and which ended the day down 0.1 percent.A recovery in Bitcoin has also helped support equity markets.”A continued bounce in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has stoked a renewed speculative bid,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Bitcoin is back above $90,000. It plunged below $83,000 last month after having set a record high of $126,251 in October.Asian stock markets mostly rose Wednesday.Elsewhere, the Indian rupee weakened past 90 per dollar for the first time, extending declines through the year as New Delhi struggles to strike a trade deal with the United States.- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 47,685.20 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.1 percent at 6,837.46New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,402.90London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,692.07 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,087.42 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 23,693.71 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 49,864.68 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 25,760.73 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,878.00 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1664 from $1.1622 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3341 from $1.3209Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.03 yen from 155.86 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.43 pence from 88.00 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $63.19 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $59.47 per barrelburs-rl/rlp

Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday they were ready for more talks with the United States to end almost four years of war, after US envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner left the Kremlin with no breakthrough on a peace deal.Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s talks with the US officials ended in the early hours of Wednesday, with neither side announcing concrete progress.The Kremlin said that no “compromise” had been found on the crucial question of territories.The morning after the meeting, the Kremlin said it had told the Americans what was “unacceptable” to them.Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end Europe’s bloodiest war in 80 years, after the US held talks with Kyiv.The Kremlin insisted it was incorrect to say Putin had rejected the plan in its entirety, and that Russia was still committed to diplomacy — despite the Russian leader issuing a stark warning that Moscow was “ready” to fight Europe if it wanted war.”We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky says any deal should offer lasting peace and ensure Moscow does not attack again.- NATO ministers meeting -As the Americans returned from Moscow, Zelensky announced that his top negotiator Rustem Umerov and army ground chief Andriy Gnatov were headed for Brussels, where NATO foreign ministers were gathering.They will also travel to the US to meet with Trump’s envoys, Zelensky said on social media.Washington’s Steve Witkoff has held a string of Kremlin meetings but has so far not met Ukrainian officials.NATO foreign ministers are due to discuss Washington’s push to end the fighting in Brussels. “Ukrainian representatives will brief their colleagues in Europe on what is known following yesterday’s contacts by the American side in Moscow,” Zelensky said on social media. The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US arms for Kyiv. “The peace talks are ongoing, that’s good, but at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place — and we are not sure when they will end — that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said. – Kremlin blasts Europe – European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow will reach agreements without them, and have spent the last weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate. In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable.Putin delivered an exceptionally hawkish statement on Tuesday ahead of meeting the Americans.”We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said.His spokesman on Wednesday accused Europe of being “obsessed with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia”.Moscow has felt emboldened in recent months by the growing pace of its army’s advance in Ukraine.Earlier this week, Russia claimed control of east Ukrainian hub of Pokrovsk.Ukraine on Tuesday said that fighting for the town — which had 60,000 people before Moscow launched its 2022 offensive — was ongoing. Moscow on Wednesday claimed another village in the Zaporizhzhia region, where it has also made considerable advances in recent weeks. Russia occupies large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has insisted that Kyiv surrender the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has claimed as its own for any peace deal to be possible.

Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez is not planning any immediate return to his country due to threats for his life, his wife told AFP, after the former leader received a surprise pardon from President Donald Trump. From her home in Tegucigalpa, Ana Garcia thanked the US president, saying the pardon put an end to an “injustice” that she blamed in part on former Democratic President Joe Biden.”He’s not thinking about returning to public or political life, but rather a private life where we can have time as a family and return to our professions,” she said. They are both lawyers. “The situation for him isn’t easy due to the insecurity, the threats against his life, and the constant hate speech this government has directed against him,” Garcia said.Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from a West Virginia prison on Monday after Trump’s pardon and just days after Honduras held s presidential election. He had been sentenced last year to more than four decades behind bars.”We’re just now processing the news. I hadn’t been able to see him, to speak freely with him” Garcia added.Hernandez was convicted of helping to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States starting in 2004, long before he became president.During his two terms at the helm of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, Hernandez was thought of as a loyal ally in the US-led war on drugs.But prosecutors charged Hernandez with using drug money to enrich himself, finance his political campaigns and commit electoral fraud in the 2013 and 2017 elections.In March 2024, he was convicted and in June that year sentenced to 45 years behind bars.Hernandez “has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly,” said Trump, whose administration has killed dozens of alleged but unproven drug smugglers in boat strikes in Latin America.Garcia called the pardon a “surprise” after the former president sent a letter to Trump, who had also received a formal legal request for the pardon. “We weren’t expecting a response. I don’t know why it came out the way it did, but President Trump chose to express his will that way, and I am grateful for what he did for my husband, for bringing justice in the face of a terrible injustice,” she said.

European and Asian stock markets mostly rose Wednesday following a resumption of Wall Street’s rally, but gains were muted as investors await the last tranche of US data before next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.With a cut to US interest rates expected, trading has softened ahead of key indicators this week that could still play a role in the central bank’s planning over the next year.Most in focus are the private jobs report from payrolls firm ADP on Wednesday and Friday’s personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.”The justification for a rate cut next week centres around weakness in the (US) jobs market,” noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at trading group Scope Markets.”While we are seeing confidence return for the US tech stocks, fears around an AI bubble will undoubtedly play a key role for investors going forward,” he added.Money markets have put the chances of a December 10 cut at around 90 percent, with another three forecast by the end of next year, weighing on the dollar.The pound was up 0.5 percent against the dollar on UK data showing stronger than expected activity from the British services sector.Stronger sterling weighed on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index, which features major companies earning in dollars.Optimism over US rate cuts has meanwhile won an additional boost from reports that President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett — a proponent of more reductions — is the frontrunner to take the helm at the Fed when Jerome Powell’s tenure ends in May.While a number of bank decision-makers have thrown their hat in the ring for a reduction, there remains differences on the policy board about the need to target the soft labour market or stubbornly high inflation.Elsewhere on Wednesday, the Indian rupee weakened past 90 per dollar for the first time, extending declines through the year as New Delhi struggles to strike a trade deal with the United States.- Key figures at around 1050 GMT -London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9,680.66 pointsParis – CAC 40: FLAT at 8,073.80Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,751.63Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 49,864.68 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 25,760.73 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,878.00 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 47,474.46 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1665 from $1.1622 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3283 from $1.3209Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.52 yen from 155.86 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.81 pence from 88.00 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.3 percent at $63.26 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $59.52 per barrel

Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday following a resumption of Wall Street’s rally, but gains were muted as investors await the last tranche of US data before next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.With a third successive interest rate cut already priced in, trading has softened ahead of key indicators this week that could still play a role in the central bank’s planning over the next year.Most in focus are the private jobs report from payrolls firm ADP, which is due later Wednesday, and Friday’s personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index, which is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.Money markets have put the chances of a December 10 cut at around 90 percent, with another three forecast by the end of next year.The optimism has also been boosted by reports that President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett — a proponent of more reductions — is the frontrunner to take the helm at the Fed when Jerome Powell’s tenure ends in May.But while a number of bank decision-makers have thrown their hat in the ring for a reduction, observers said there appeared to still be some differences on the policy board about the need to target the soft labour market or stubbornly high inflation.And Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities said this could lead to a “hawkish cut”.IG market analyst Fabien Yip wrote: “Friday’s core PCE index represents the final major inflation gauge before the Fed’s December policy meeting.”Any deviation could alter expectations regarding the Fed’s policy stance, particularly as the central bank weighs inflation persistence against a softening labour market.””The release of personal income and spending data alongside the PCE will provide additional perspective on consumer resilience,” Yip said.While calls for a rate cut have been driven by worries over the jobs outlook and signs the world’s top economy was slowing, the National Retail Federation provided some early festive cheer by releasing an upbeat appraisal of the “Black Friday” holiday shopping weekend.A record 202.9 million consumers shopped over the five-day stretch, topping estimates, the NRF said, adding that the reading “reflects a highly engaged consumer”.All three main indexes on Wall Street ended in the green, and most of Asia followed suit.Tokyo piled on more than one percent with Seoul, while Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also up.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila fell.London opened in the red, while Paris and Frankfurt rose.Bitcoin climbed back above $90,000, recovering from this week’s swoon that saw it lose almost 10 percent amid a risk-off start to the week for risk assets.However, sentiment in the crypto sector remains soft after the unit plunged last month to as low as $80,550, having hit a record above $126,250 in October.The Indian rupee weakened past 90 per dollar for the first time, extending declines through the year as New Delhi struggles to strike a trade deal with the United States.Dilip Parmar, an analyst at HDFC Securities, told AFP the rupee’s fall was “first and foremost” an “imbalance of demand and supply” with foreign fund outflows and trade deal uncertainties adding fuel to the fire.But another key factor, Parmar added, was a lack of “big and impactful” interventions from India’s central bank.Analysts believe the Reserve Bank of India has this year sporadically defended the rupee through aggressive dollar sales to support key levels, but also appears of late to be allowing greater currency flexibility.”Defending a specific level in the current macro backdrop would be costly and counterproductive,” Raj Gaikar, research analyst at SAMCO Securities, told AFP.”With inflation running well below earlier expectations, the policy priority has shifted toward supporting growth rather than expending reserves to hold an artificial line,” he said.- Key figures at around 0815 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 49,864.68 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 25,760.73 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,878.00 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,694.82 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.71 yen from 155.86 yen on TuesdayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1643 from $1.1622 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3242 from $1.3209Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.92 pence from 88.00 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $58.95 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $62.74 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 47,474.46 (close)