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(Reuters) – Oil prices were little changed early on Friday after rising more than 3% in the previous session, as trade tension between top oil consumers U.S. and China showed signs of easing and Britain announced a “breakthrough” trade deal with the United States. Brent crude rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $62.91 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 7 cents, or 0.1%, at $59.98 a barrel as at 0121 GMT. On Thursday, Brent settled up 2.8% at $1.72 and WTI rose 3.2% to $1.84. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet China’s top economic official…

By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve needs more time to see how the economy responds to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff and other policies before figuring out the right response, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack said on Friday, noting that much of the administration’s sweeping agenda remains unclear. “I stand ready to move whenever we have clear and convincing evidence, but … given the overall breadth of the policies that have been discussed and put in place, I think there’s a real question about what those impacts are going to look like,…

By Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider Palo Alto, California (Reuters) – Kevin Warsh, an apparent frontrunner to be U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, on Friday suggested a possible pathway to the lower policy rates that Trump has repeatedly pressed the current Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver, and delivered a fresh dig at the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy. A large and often growing Fed balance sheet can work at cross-purposes with the Fed’s main policy lever of setting short-term borrowing rates, Warsh told a monetary policy panel at Stanford University’s…

By Howard Schneider PALO ALTO (Reuters) – The Fed should not commit to further interest rate cuts until it is clear whether the Trump administration’s tariff policies lead to persistent inflation or a less serious, one-time adjustment in prices, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said on Friday. Musalem said he currently puts even odds on either of the two paths for inflation. In theory, tariffs should prompt a one-time price jump similar to the imposition of a tax; but coming off the heels of recent high inflation the effect could be longer-lasting, and may also be more persistent since…

By Howard Schneider PALO ALTO (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s unfolding trade policy may curb U.S. productivity and possibly require higher interest rates to contain inflation in a less efficient economy, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook said on Friday. “I expect to see a drag on productivity in the near term stemming from the recent changes to trade policy and the related uncertainty,” Cook said in remarks prepared for a delivery at an economics conference at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Uncertainty around Trump’s plans could discourage investment, Cook said, while the rising cost of imported intermediate goods and equipment could also…

By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. federal human resources agency at the heart of billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce on Friday canceled a contract it had awarded to Workday and which had excluded other bidders. The contract for a new cloud-based HR platform, signed on May 2 and awarded without seeking bids from rivals, had raised eyebrows among current and former employees of the Office of Personnel Management. They had described the sole-source contract as irregular, given the competition in an industry that includes ADP and SAP, and expressed surprise to see OPM’s…

By Michael S. Derby and Ann Saphir (Reuters) -Top U.S. bank lending officers reported weaker demand from businesses and consumers for many types of credit during the first three months of the year, according to a Federal Reserve report released on Monday, reversing a short-lived surge in loan demand the previous quarter. The number of banks reporting weaker demand for commercial and industrial loans outnumbered those reporting stronger demand by the biggest margin in a year for small firms, the central bank’s April Senior Loan Officer Survey detailing activity during the first quarter showed. For large firms, demand for loans…

(Bloomberg) — Oil dropped as the global trade war hurt the outlook for demand, with data indicating signs of strain in the US economy. Most Read from Bloomberg West Texas Intermediate slipped 2.6% to settle around $60 a barrel, the lowest close in more than two weeks. The widely referenced US consumer confidence gauge weakened significantly in data released Tuesday, another sign of the pessimism stemming from President Donald Trump’s levies. Additional reports due this week, including manufacturing data out of China, will shed further light on the economic strength of the world’s biggest importer of crude. A handful of…

Consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in 13 years, according to the Conference Board’s most recent survey released Tuesday. Survey respondents were most concerned about President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and how they would impact prices. Consumer confidence fell for the fifth straight month on the heels of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, driving up prices and spooking Americans. The Conference Board’s most recent survey for its Consumer Confidence Index, published Tuesday, shows confidence dropped nearly eight points in April to 86. Consumers’ expectations for the future are now at a 13-year low, according to the Conference Board.…

April was one of the wildest months in recent memory for markets, capped off by a key data release that showed the economy shrank last quarter for the first time in years. After tumbling Wednesday morning, the S&P 500 and the Dow gradually clawed back losses and pushed into the green to close out the day. The Dow gained 142 points, or 0.35%. The S&P 500 rose 0.15%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.09%. The S&P 500 and Dow notched a seven-day winning streak, their best continuous rally this year. However, the indexes closed out April in the red as…