August 11, 2025
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
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
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