Archive

August 11, 2025
2025-08-11 AN_head.png

US/Taiwan: Xi Calls The Shots

  • In stark contrast to its dealings with other trade partners, Washington is firmly in the position of supplicant in its dealings with Beijing.
  • This reflects not only Xi Jinping’s carefully prepared and strong hand but also Donald Trump’s seeming determination to strike a deal with China at more or less any cost.
  • Increasingly, therefore, Taiwan stands to be “a pawn in a bigger game”.

By Alastair Newton


August 05, 2025
2025-08-06 US_head.png

Payrolls Challenge Resilient Narrative

  • Revisions drove payrolls into a stagnation that runs contrary to our narrative of rolling resilience, but some contributors are spurious and don’t break the broader strength.
  • Seasonal adjustment caused 76k of the 258k revision. State and local education workers represented 108k, and are lower since April, despite the DOE closure shifting jobs here.
  • Payrolls still grow by 1% y-o-y, like household employment, with JOLTs data fine and the unemployment rate stable. The Fed should resist cutting without follow-through.

By Philip Rush