House tax proposal is out.
$4T in Tax Cuts $1.5T in Spending Cuts 👉 Another $2.5T added to the deficit. 🟢 Amazing for stocks, gold, and bitcoin. 🔴 Terrible for bonds Same old story as always. Source: Spencer Hakimian on X, Bloomberg
The largest trade deficits and surpluses with the US
Source: Markets & Mayhem @Mayhem4Markets
As expected, BoE cut rates by 25bps! (5-4 vote).
It came as Donald Trump hinted a UK-US trade pact was imminent. Some MIXED SIGNALS - Two members (Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor) preferred to reduce Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 4%. Two members (Catherine L Mann and Huw Pill) preferred to leave Bank Rate unchanged, at 4.5%.
Fed leaves rates unchanged, as expected
“The committee … judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.” Powell is facing the worst outcome for a Fed President... The Federal Reserve's dual mandate is to promote two main economic goals: maximum employment and price stability... and uncertainty is on both sides How will President Trump react to this? ECB is cutting rates. PBOC as well as they see a disinflationary shock coming. Meanwhile, the Fed stays put. He is not going to like this...
Breaking
PBOC: TO LOWER RRR BY 50 BPS TO CUT POLICY RATE BY 10 BPS TO CUT STRUCTURAL MONETARY POLICY RATE BY 25 BPS TO CUT PERSONAL PROVIDENT FUND LOAN RATE BY 25 BPS. TO INCREASE THE CAPITAL MARKET SUPPORT TOOLS QUOTA TO 800B YUAN.
US power demand
@zerohedge
Saudiarabia posted a $16 bn budget deficit in the first 3 months of 2025
That's already well over half of the $27 bn the government had budgeted for the entire year. Oil averaged $75 in the first quarter of 2025 -- it's now near $60 Source: Ziad Daoud @ZiadMDaoud, Bloomberg
JUST IN: US JOB DATA RELEASED!
Nonfarm Payrolls, 177K Vs. 138K Est. (prev. 228K) Unemployment Rate, 4.2% Vs. 4.2% Est. (prev. 4.2%) Hourly Earnings, 3.8% Vs. 3.9% Est. (prev. 3.8%) ▶️ The US labor market has remained resilient in April. No visible impact of the tariff announcement on employment dynamics (yet?) ▶️ The US economy added 177k new jobs in April (138k expected) after 185k in March. ▶️ February and March data were revised lower (-58k overall) but remain on a decent trend, consistent with a stable unemployment rate. ▶️ As a result, the unemployment rate remains stable at 4.2% (as expected). ▶️ Wage growth slowed down slightly, to +0.2% from +0.3% (+0.3% expected). Hourly earnings are up +3.8% YoY, stable compared to the previous month. Source: Bloomberg
