President Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Fed chair, faced pointed questions Tuesday at his Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing, with lawmakers zeroing in on his lack of investment disclosures, his stance on Fed independence and, of course, inflation.While the public watches the consumer price index (CPI) to follow inflation, the Federal Reserve spends its time tracking a different set of initials: PCE.The personal consumption expenditures price index, a monthly measure of the prices Americans pay for goods and services, is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation and a key input in its interest-rate decisions.Damjan Pfajfar, vice president in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said the central bank prefers the PCE because it provides a “broader measure of inflation.” Speaking with Barron’s on April 17, he said PCE is a “more accurate reflection of what consumers are actually spending.”Compared with the CPI, which only includes urban consumers, the PCE also measures rural households and spending done on behalf of consumers, including employer-provided health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. With monthly updating of its weightings—the relative importance of different sectors—the index also better reflects shifts in consumer behavior, such as substituting pricier options for lower-cost alternatives.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wall Street and Washington will be watching Kevin Warsh on Tuesday for any sign he has an understanding with President Trump to cut interest rates if installed as chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump will be watching for any sign he doesn’t.The high-wire act starts before Warsh even has the job.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kevin Warsh spent the past year constructing a case for the Federal Reserve to deliver the interest-rate cuts President Trump wants: An artificial-intelligence boom would soon deliver a productivity surge that would hold down prices.When Warsh appears Tuesday in front of senators for the confirmation hearing that could put him one step closer to leading the central bank, his toughest audience could be his future colleagues. They have been delicately but unmistakably signaling their pointed skepticism.If confirmed, he stands to inherit a Fed caught between a technological shift that has yet to hold prices down and a fracturing geopolitical landscape that keeps threatening to push prices up.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead a new round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan this week in a fresh effort to end the war with Tehran, but there still appear to be significant gaps between both sides as the U.S. pushes Iran to lock up its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.Vance is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Monday evening for talks with Iran on Tuesday—although Iran was still threatening on Sunday that it wouldn’t attend talks, saying Washington’s demands remain excessive. Pakistan helped broker a two-week cease-fire between the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The US has extended by 30 days its waiver from sanctions for Russian oil purchases. Just days ago, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had ruled that out. This flip-flop is a relief.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been an eventful week – once again dominated by developments around the US-Israel-Iran war.Iran said on Friday (17 April) that the Strait of Hormuz is open. The announcement came almost simultaneously from US President Donald Trump (via Truth Social) and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (on X).“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Dozens of world leaders were discussing how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in a videoconference on Friday when a murmur went up among the presidents and prime ministers. Aides off-screen began furiously tapping their shoulders and passing them notes.In the middle of the meeting, led by France and Britain, President Trump declared on social media he had reached a breakthrough with Iran and the strait would be fully reopened.Foreign leaders, aware that Trump has declared victory before, stayed on the line and kept planning.The details of the coalition meeting, described by several officials on the line, underscored the mix of head-spinning confusion and cautious optimism that has gripped foreign leaders and financial markets over Trump’s efforts to strong-arm Iran into a peace deal.For several hours on Friday, through a series of interviews and social-media posts, Trump insisted he got most of what he wanted from Iran after launching a war against the U.S.’s largest Middle Eastern rival: A full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, falling oil prices, a promise from Iran that it would give up its supply of enriched uranium, and commitments for Iran to halt its support for proxy terror groups in the region.Trump’s optimism had followed a social-media post by Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, declaring the Strait of Hormuz “completely open” during the cease-fire.Then walk-backs began.Mahmoud Nabavian, a conservative lawmaker and member of Iran’s negotiating team, rebuffed Trump’s announcement that the strait was fully open.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In an unusual attempt to get President Trump’s ear, the grandson of Cuban leader Raúl Castro tapped a wealthy Havana entrepreneur to try to personally deliver a letter to the White House last week outside of regular diplomatic channels, said a U.S. official and former U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BE GRATEFUL FOR small mercies. The ceasefire between America and Iran holds. Talks that began in Islamabad last weekend may soon resume.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Last spring, Yale University President Maurie McInnis asked a group of faculty to examine why Americans were losing confidence in higher education—and to propose remedies to restore it.Their much-anticipated findings, released Wednesday, call for changes to address everything from perceived political bias among faculty, to opaque admission standards and crushing student debt.“In its report, the committee calls on Yale to reflect on and take responsibility for our role in the erosion of public trust,” McInnis wrote. “I accept this judgment fully.”The report comes as colleges and universities seek to placate a presidential administration that has filed lawsuits, frozen federal research funds and generally made life uncomfortable for institutions accustomed to more autonomy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.George R.R. Martin offers an insightful verdict on leadership through Tywin Lannister of Game of Thrones. His grandson King Joffrey, seated on the Iron Throne, screams in frustration: “I am the King.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.ROME—As President Trump’s rift with Europe widens, he is casting even his political friends into the chasm.Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has spent the past year trying to act as a bridge while Trump tussled with other European leaders over tariffs, Ukraine and Greenland.Trump, who previously called Meloni a “great leader,” now says he is shocked by her refusal to send forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Iran war. “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.The abrupt breakdown of their political friendship shows how the middle ground is disappearing between a White House that is demanding loyalty from its allies and a Europe where voters and governments increasingly view the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over a small, private dinner of spinach soup, scallops and Diet Coke on Monday night, President Trump told the Dutch king and queen that he wants to bring the war in Iran to a swift end.The only way to get Tehran back to the negotiating table, Trump explained to his royal guests and Dutch officials at the White House dinner, was to increase the pressure, officials briefed on the dinner said.The Dutch government already had declined to help Trump with a blockade on Iranian ports, which it called “worrying” and an “escalation upon escalation.” Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who had seized on the monarchs’ visit to secure an invitation and speak to Trump, told the president that European allies would stand up an international coalition to help secure the Strait of Hormuz—but only after the fighting ended.“We agree to disagree,” Jetten told reporters afterward. The meal “was too short to convince each other, but long enough to get a better understanding of each other’s positions.”The dinner laid bare the conundrum before Trump as he tries to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran, even as he declared that the war is “very close to over.” While Trump said that he would be announcing “other countries” that will be involved with the blockade, none have stepped forward, and many have outright refused.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Trump administration is expected to start accepting claims next week for refunds from the tariffs President Trump collected illegally.In an order Tuesday, Judge Richard Eaton of the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade said the government confirmed in a closed conference earlier in the day that it is on track to begin processing claims for refunds with interest on April 20 for some importers.The refund claims that the government said it can start accepting amount to about $127 billion of the $166 billion the government collected in tariffs that were invalidated by the Supreme Court in February, Eaton said.U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been working to build a system to handle refunds after Eaton directed it to immediately begin the repayment process on March 4, but he ultimately gave the Trump administration more time after it said its current system wasn’t capable of reimbursing for more than 53 million imports that were affected by Trump’s tariffs.More than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed at the trade court by companies seeking a refund.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—President Trump’s decision to post an AI-generated image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure sparked outrage on the religious right, triggering the most significant pushback from his Catholic and evangelical Christian supporters since he returned to the White House.“We are a little bit beside ourselves,” said John Yep, CEO of Catholics for Catholics, a nonprofit that has hosted faith events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and maintains close ties to the administration.On Sunday night, Yep was eating dinner with friends after church services when his phone lighted up with messages about the now-deleted image in which Trump, wearing robes, touches the forehead of a man lying in a hospital bed.The collective sentiment around the table, Yep said in an interview, “was one of sadness, because we were truly confused by this president after Catholics gave him such a resounding vote, and yet he is treating our faith with such disrespect at this moment.” He immediately reached out to contacts close to the administration to voice his “sadness and frustration.”Rod Dreher, a conservative writer who attended the Catholic baptism of Vice President JD Vance before he entered politics, went further. “Not saying Trump is the Antichrist,” Dreher told The Wall Street Journal.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Saudi Arabia is pressing the U.S. to drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table, fearing President Trump’s move to close it off could lead Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes, Arab officials said.The blockade is aimed at raising the pressure on Iran’s already crippled economy.

Democracy is inherently fraught. At its core lies the difficulty of translating individual preferences into a coherent social choice, a problem famously captured by Nobel laureate economist Kenneth Arrow’s impossibility theorem and later developed by another Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in his 1970 book Collective Choice and Social Welfare.

FPIs, amid a two-week shaky truce between Iran and the US announced last week, fuelled the market's first gain in six weeks through last Friday.A breakthrough in the Islamabad talks could have spurred further closure of bearish bets, while the failure to reach an agreement could result in initiation of fresh shorts, analysts said.Last week, the Nifty recovered almost 8.5% from its 52-week low of 22,182.55 on 2 April through Friday's close of 24,050.6, as oil plunged 13% to $95.2 a barrel following President Donald Trump's announcement of a two-week ceasefire to resolve the conflict in West Asia.With talks in Islamabad having failed, uncertainty rises again over volatile oil prices, although a collapse in Nifty to the 52-week low is unlikely unless the fighting resumes, per G Chokkalingam, founder of research firm Equinomics. “If the truce still holds we may see a tempered fall rather than an oversized one , followed by a period of consolidation.”While FPIs net sold shares worth ₹18,274.6 crore last week, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchased shares worth ₹21,602.32 crore, according data from the National Securities Depository Ltd.However, in addition to the net institutional inflow of ₹3,328 crore, according to depository data, FPIs closed out or covered ₹9,775 crore of cumulative short index futures–Nifty and Bank Nifty–positions last week, which accounted for much of last week's rally."Last week's rally was led by FPI short-covering," said Rohit Srivastava, founder of analytics firm IndiaCharts.

construction to consumer durables, aluminium’s price movements have wide-ranging implications for industry.“Caustic soda prices are highly vulnerable to energy price fluctuations, and energy remains a key variable in the current conflict scenario. Any increase in raw material prices is bound to impact user industries,” said Nirmal K.

An image on the 3 April cover of The Economist shows an angry US President Donald Trump shouting on one side, with China’s President Xi Jinping calmly smiling on the other. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” says the headline.A revealing picture in the White House’s archives shows US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai shaking hands in Beijing on 9 July 1971, when Kissinger made his secret dash for a détente with China. The press was told that Kissinger was unwell and resting in Pakistan.

In a market where defence stocks have largely remained in favour despite severe geopolitical strain, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been a bit of an outlier. The stock is down around 11% so far in 2026, while the Nifty India Defence Index is up about 4%.HAL recently posted provisional FY26 revenue of ₹32,250 crore, only slightly higher than the ₹30,981 crore it reported in the previous fiscal year, because of delivery challenges in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A and Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) due to supply-chain disruptions stemming from geopolitical and technical issues.This quickly shifted the focus to execution worries, with some analysts even trimming their estimates after delays in engine supplies from General Electric (GE).