WASHINGTON—Howard Lutnick’s journey from Wall Street veteran to one of President Trump’s most hawkish trade advisers began with a speech at an October campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. Lutnick extolled the virtues of tariffs and argued that the duties could at least in part replace the U.

Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department, offered a detailed defense of tariffs in his confirmation hearing, the clearest signal yet from a cabinet pick that the new administration is prepared to impose the levies on allies and adversaries alike.

Outside of a U.S. President bending norms, the Fed also faces challenges in achieving its economic objectives. Inflation remains above its 2% target: Its preferred measure is at 2.4%, though core prices — considered a better gauge of where inflation is headed — rose 2.8% in November from a year ago.

The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged as officials grappled with uncertainty caused by inflation and President Trump's plans.

Advances in artificial intelligence by Chinese start-up DeepSeek caused a frantic sell-off of energy and infrastructure shares, and Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary is pushing for new universal tariffs to start at 2.5 per cent. A study finds that ETFs make the market more efficient, and Boeing reports its second-biggest annual loss.

China is President Donald Trump's prime target for a trade war — again. But China already put its boxing gloves on. In his first term, Trump slapped high tariffs on a range of Chinese goods. This time,

Howard Lutnick, the financier President Trump has picked to lead the Commerce Department, said he favored “across-the-board” tariffs and was grilled about his financial ties in a nomination hearing Wednesday.