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(Bloomberg) -- Emerging stocks resumed their advance, led by Chinese tech blue-chips, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that US interest rates would be reduced starting from next month.Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South America’s Largest CityWith Housin

(Bloomberg) -- With domestic and international attention focused on Israel’s war in Gaza and escalating tensions with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has stalled discussions on next year’s budget — set to be the most challenging and crucial in decades.Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunHow the

LONDON (Reuters) -World stock markets turned cautious on Monday as optimism that U.S. interest rates are coming soon was tempered by concern over increased tensions in the Middle East, with oil prices rising over 1.5%. U.S. stock futures were a touch firmer, European shares were a tad weaker, and trading was subdued with the London market closed for a UK public holiday. In a highly-anticipated speech to the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said the time had come to start easing policy and emphasised the central bank did not want to see further weakening in the labour market.

(Bloomberg) -- Palm oil advanced for a fourth day — making it costlier than rival soybean oil that generally commands a premium — on expectations of strong purchases by top importers. Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South America’s Largest CityWith Housing Costs High, Democra

(Bloomberg) -- About 100 miles east of UFO-capital Roswell, a dusty corner of New Mexico with more cattle than people is quietly buttressing the US’s world oil dominance.Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South America’s Largest CityWith Housing Costs High, Democrats Hone YIMBY

In 2022, when the Federal Reserve's focus shifted to combating inflation, it had to ratchet up interest rates fast to get monetary policy caught up with fast-rising prices. Two years later, the focus has changed again - this time to protecting the job market, as outlined in Chair Jerome Powell's speech Friday at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole conference. Powell's signal of coming rate cuts completed a Fed shift that began in January when it acknowledged emerging job market risks, and now it has made countering those its top job.

With interest rate cuts virtually locked in, investors are ramping up their focus on economic data over the next few months as they game out whether the “soft landing” narrative that has helped drive U.S. stocks in 2024 can continue. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday said the “time has come” to begin lowering interest rates - a more dovish message than many investors had believed they would hear at the central bank’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. With the S&P 500 up 18% on the year and equities richly valued, market participants will need to see continued evidence that the economy is gliding to a soft landing, where growth remains resilient while inflation cools.