US economy added 143,000 new jobs last month, fewer than expected

Hong Kong’s appeal to the WTO (see earlier post) comes as Donald Trump’s new trade war is further blurring the lines between Hong Kong and Beijing.

This is threatening to erode the city’s main selling point as a global financial hub, reports Bloomberg, explaining:

When Trump slapped a 10% levy on China this week, that action for the first time also applied to Hong Kong goods, after the president in 2020 signed an executive order to remove the city’s special privileges.

One day later, the US Postal Service put a ban on incoming Chinese parcels that also swept up the commerce center, before reversing course hours later.

“Early indicators of housing demand point to another month or two of decent performance for the housing market ahead of the Stamp Duty changes.

But over 2025 as a whole, we think that the housing market will show only a modest improvement, given the Bank of England’s gradual and cautious approach will see interest rates fall slowly against a backdrop of stretched housing affordability.”