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President Donald Trump said on Thursday US complaints against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd might be resolved within the framework of a US-China trade deal, while at the same time calling the Chinese telecommunications giant "very dangerous."Washington last week effectively banned US firms from doing business with Huawei, the world's largest telecoms network gear maker, citing national security concerns."You look at what they've done from a security standpoint, from a military standpoint, it's very dangerous," Trump said in remarks at the White House. "If we made a deal, I could imagine Huawei being possibly included in some form or some part of it."Trump predicted a swift end to the trade war with China, although no high-level talks have been scheduled between the two countries since the last round of negotiations ended in Washington two weeks ago.
Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal bill will not be published or debated until early June, the government says.The prime minister is under pressure to resign following a backlash from her own MPs against her pledged "new deal" on Brexit.Andrea Leadsom quit as Commons Leader, saying she could not announce the bill which had "new elements that I fundamentally oppose".She has been replaced by Treasury minister Mel Stride.Downing Street has confirmed that the prime minister met Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid at No 10 on Thursday morning and would "give full consideration their views" about the bill.Mrs May had Told that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - the legislation needed to implement the agreement between the UK and EU - would be published on Friday so MPs would have "the maximum possible time to study its detail".
China’s commerce ministry said on Friday that more efforts should be made to achieve the goal of stabilizing trade while improving its quality, adding that the trade environment is growing more uncertain and challenging.The domestic economy still faces downward pressure and some structural issues remain to be resolved, the ministry said in a statement summarizing the foreign trade trends for this year.The statement made no mention of the United States or China’s trade disputes with it.
The Bank of Canada is done raising interest rates until at least the end of next year, with a serious risk of a cut by then as policymakers become more wary of slowing growth and global trade tensions, a poll showed on Friday.The central bank, which last raised its overnight rate in October, abandoned its tightening bias last month, putting it more in line with peers like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
An inflation gauge closely watched by the Bank of Japan accelerated at its fastest pace in almost three years as some retailers passed on rising costs to households, a positive sign for the central bank as it seeks to stoke consumer prices.Core consumer prices rose 0.9% in April from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and accelerating slightly from the previous month’s 0.8% gain, government data showed on Friday.The so-called core-core CPI, which strips away the effects of volatile food and energy costs and is the main policy focus for the BOJ, rose 0.6% in April, marking the biggest increase since June 2016, the data showed.
Asian stocks stumbled to a four-month low on Friday and crude oil plunged on worries the U.S.-China trade spat was developing into a more entrenched strategic dispute between the world’s two largest economies, pushing investors to safe-haven assets.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.2 percent to a fresh four-month low, and was on track for a third straight weekly loss, down 1.0% so far on the week.
Gold prices held steady on Friday after rising above $1,280 in the previous session as weak U.S. data pushed the dollar off 2-year highs and reignited hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year.Spot gold was mostly steady at $1,283.41 per ounce by 0252 GMT, after rising as much as 1.1% to a one-week peak of 1,287.23 in the previous session. The metal has risen 0.5% so far this week.
Oil prices jumped more than 1% on Friday amid OPEC supply cuts and Middle East tensions, but still did not fully recoup losses earlier in the week on economic slowdown jitters and swelling inventories - their steepest drops since the start of the year.