Markets suggest quarter-point reduction to 4.25% is almost certain but some economists say Bank must go further

The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates on Thursday amid growing concerns over the hit to UK jobs and growth from Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic global trade war.

In the Bank’s first intervention since the US president’s “liberation day” tariff policy announcement sent shock waves through the world economy, Threadneedle Street is expected to reduce its key base rate from the current level of 4.5%.

Continue reading…

Imports worth less than $800 will be subject to 120% levy meaning prices on Chinese exports will probably increase

At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of the US president Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, Trump said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”

Continue reading…

Financial markets can fall fast but investors should look for where longer-term problems may be brewing

Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee forecasts a potential short-term economic bump from President Trump’s tariffs, followed by a summer drop-off.

Fund is one of the world’s biggest equity investors making 46mn trades a year

Trend poses ‘much bigger threat’ to region’s capital markets than defections of listed groups to Wall Street, says report