Source: CNBCTV18
German industrial production and exports sank in April, dashing hopes of a cyclical recovery of the country’s critical sector amid looming US trade tariff threats.
Output fell 1.4% from the previous month and shipments of goods abroad declined 1.7%, the statistics office said on Friday. Both downturns were more severe than predicted by economists in Bloomberg surveys.
Data on Thursday showed that German factory orders surprisingly increased in April, defying expectations of a significant decline, due to substantial growth in demand for computer, electronic, and optical products.
Temasek Holdings Pte Chairman Lim Boon Heng is stepping down and will be succeeded by Teo Chee Hean, marking a significant shift in leadership after he served in the role for 12 years.
Teo will replace Lim on October 9, the state-run investment firm said in a statement on Friday. As part of the change, Deputy Chairman Cheng Wai Keung and director Stephen Lee will leave the board on June 30. Director Bobby Chin will also retire on July 31.
Incoming Chairman Teo is former political figure who has helped Singapore develop in critical areas like geopolitics, cybersecurity and technology, as well as defense and security, Temasek said. He has spent 53 years in public service.
Oil was steady after advancing Thursday on optimism around easing trade tensions between the US and China following a call between the leaders of the two countries.
Brent traded around $65 a barrel and was on track for its first weekly gain since mid-May, while West Texas Intermediate was near $63. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to further trade talks aimed at resolving disputes over tariffs and supplies of rare earth minerals.
Oil has been buffeted in Trump’s second term, losing almost a fifth since his inauguration in January, on concerns that US-led tariffs wars will sap demand. Price swings have lessened since mid-May as traders weigh the progress of trade talks, a seasonal uptick in consumption during the summer driving season, geopolitical risks in Iran and Russia and the prospect of OPEC+ returning more barrels to the market.
Silver extended gains to trade just below a 13-year high while platinum hit highest level in more than two years, signaling growing investor appetite for precious metals used by the industrial sector.
Spot silver rose on Friday, following a 4.5% move in the previous session that saw it edge above $36 an ounce for the first time since February 2012. Platinum’s rally continued, gaining as much as 1.2% to a high of $1,154.73 an ounce.
The commodities were aided by technical momentum across the metals complex as well as improving fundamentals, with strong appetite for physical silver in India and resurgent Chinese platinum demand reinforcing the rallies, according to a note from Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at Geneva-based MKS PAMP SA.
Japan and the US have begun the latest round of trade negotiations, with media reports suggesting Tokyo’s delegation is trying to win a reprieve from the tariffs by pledging to make more cars in the US and enhancing cooperation on rare earths.
Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday in Washington, exchanging specifics on non-tariff barriers, expanding trade and cooperating on economic security, Japan’s cabinet secretariat said in a release. Akazawa is expected to return to Japan Sunday after finishing what could be the last round of cabinet level discussions before Group of Seven leaders convene for a summit in Canada later this month.
Expectations are mounting that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump, who held two phone meetings recently, may announce a deal when they meet on the sidelines of the summit.
Russia’s central bank is on the cusp of the first interest-rate cut in three years, as easing inflation opens the door to relief for an economy struggling under the weight of high borrowing costs.
The Bank of Russia will reduce the key rate by at least a full percentage point on Friday, according to five economists surveyed by Bloomberg. One of them forecasts a cut of 200 hundred basis points, while four others expect no change from the record-high level of 21%.
Governor Elvira Nabiullina and her team have held the rate since October as they battle inflation that’s running at more than double the 4% target. But with signs emerging that price growth is slowing, ministers and business have become increasingly vocal in their calls for easing to support the war-time economy.
Elon Musk signaled he would move to cool tensions with US President Donald Trump, after differences between the two exploded Thursday into an all-out public feud.
Earlier in the day, Musk called for Trump’s impeachment and insinuated he was withholding the release of files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein because of his own presence in them.
Trump, in turn, proposed cutting off the billionaire’s government contracts, following his onetime adviser’s repeated exhortations for Republicans to vote against the president’s signature tax legislation because it would increase the deficit.
However, hours after saying he would end use of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Dragon spacecraft, Musk reversed course and signaled there could be a cooling-off period between Trump and the world’s richest man.
Elon Musk seemingly backed down from a threat to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft that ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US, made during an escalation of a spat between the billionaire and President Donald Trump.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is the company’s primary vehicle for sending astronauts and cargo to orbit. The company has billions of dollars in contracts with NASA to send the agency’s astronauts on periodic trips to and from the ISS, which helps the space agency to maintain an uninterrupted presence at the space station until its retirement by the end of 2030.
Musk initially pledged to decommission the spacecraft after Trump’s threat to pull Musk’s governmental contracts, which was prompted by Musk’s near-incessant bashing of the president’s tax bill on X, his social media service.
Not a single tweet in defense of Trump from @JDVance after Elon called for Trump to be impeached and for Vance to take over. Pretty telling…
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 5, 2025
Elon Musk said he was going to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft that ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US, escalating a days long spat between the billionaire and President Donald Trump.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is the company’s primary vehicle for sending astronauts and cargo to orbit. The company has billions of dollars in contracts with NASA to send the agency’s astronauts on periodic trips to and from the ISS, which helps the space agency to maintain an uninterrupted presence at the space station until its retirement by the end of 2030.
Musk’s pledge followed Trump’s threat to pull Musk’s governmental contracts, which was prompted by Musk’s near-incessant bashing of the president’s tax bill on X, his social media service.
For months, Tesla shareholders were tormented by Elon Musk’s role in the administration of President Donald Trump. But any relief brought by his formal government exit last week quickly turned to fear as the electric-vehicle maker’s chief executive traded barbs with his former boss.
Tesla Inc.’s stock plummeted 14% on Thursday after a rift over Trump’s proposed tax legislation exploded into an all-out public feud with the president threatening to end government contracts and subsidies for Tesla and Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The rout shed $153 billion from Tesla’s market value, the biggest one-day drop on record, while yielding short sellers $4 billion in gains, according to data from S3 Partners.
While Tesla shareholders are no strangers to stomach-churning swings, Thursday’s slump showcased just how pronounced Musk’s influence over his company’s stock is. And while the rout may eventually present a buying opportunity, some market watchers say it’s too risky to try to catch a falling knife.
Japan’s exports fell in the first 20 days of May as the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs continued to disrupt trade.
Exports measured by value dropped 3% from the same period a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported Friday. That compared with a 2.3% gain in the first 20 days of April, and a 2.0% rise for all of that month. Growth in exports has averaged 6.2% over the year through April.
Japan’s trade balance was in the red, with a deficit of ¥1.1 trillion ($7.7 billion). The 20-day data don’t provide details such as a breakdown of exports to specific countries or regions. The figures for the full month of May are set to be released on June 18.
Tesla Inc.’s shares sank as Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s simmering feud devolved into a public war of words between two of the world’s most powerful people.
The stock lost 14% on Thursday, leading to an erosion of $152 billion in he company’s market capitalisation and wiped out $34 billion out of Elon Musk’s personal fortune as well.
The president later floated terminating federal contracts and subsidies extended to Musk’s companies and said that he had asked the Tesla and SpaceX leader to leave his administration, which Musk said was a “lie.” Musk went a step further late in the day, saying he would decommission a SpaceX craft used by the US.
Asia-Pacific markets opened higher as investors assessed the phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump and Xi spoke on Thursday and agreed that officials from the U.S. and China will meet soon to continue negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing trade war.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.14% at the open, and the Topix gained 0.24%. South Korea’s Kospi extended gains to jump 1.49%, and the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.8%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index stood at 23,822, pointing to a lower open. The Hang Seng Index had closed at 23,906.97 in the previous session.
The phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping left the street disappointed as it sought some bigger announcements instead of just another round of trade talks between the two sparring nations.
That, along with an ugly public spat between the President and Tesla chief Elon Musk over the former’s One Big Beautiful Bill weighed on sentiment as Tesla shares sank 14%, taking $152 billion in market capitalisation along with them.
Futures on Wall Street are trading with some green after a disappointing session on Thursday.
Currently, the Dow futures are up 60 points, while the S&P 500 futures are at the flat line. Nasdaq futures are down 50 points.
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