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CNBC’s Jim Cramer explained why Monday’s rebound gives him pause.

China has officially begun levying port fees on US ships. CCTV with the report.

More:

• April 17 is the starting date of the annual billing cycle for the fees

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China announced on Friday:

• that it’d impose special port fees on US-linked vessels
• issued implementation rules on port fees on US ships
• exempted China-made ships owned by US companies from port fees
• would adjust special port fees on US ships as required

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

The GBP/USD ended Monday’s session with loses of 0.13% as the Greenback staged a recovery, after US President Donald Trump tempered its rhetoric on China, over the weekend. At the time of writing, the pair trades at 1.3333 as the Tuesday’s Asian session begins.

RBNZ intends to ease mortgage loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions from 1 December 2025

• For owner occupiers, the limit on the share of new lending allowed with an LVR above 80% will increase to 25%
• Also reviewed our DTI restrictions and decided to keep settings unchanged

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DTI is Debt-to-income

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• Housing market: The move should support first-home buyers and lift housing demand modestly.

• Banking sector: Slightly greater flexibility for lenders, but the RBNZ’s retention of DTI limits signals a cautious approach to household leverage.

• Policy outlook: The easing underscores the RBNZ’s confidence in financial stability and may complement expectations for gradual monetary easing in 2026 if inflation continues to moderate.

NZD/USD is down a few tics on the announcement.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

UK consumer spending slowed in September as households turned cautious ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget and faced rising energy bills, surveys from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Barclays showed.

The BRC said total retail sales rose 2.3% year-on-year, the weakest since May and down from 3.1% in August, while like-for-like sales eased to 2.0%. “Rising inflation and a potentially taxing budget is weighing on the minds of many households planning their Christmas spending,” said BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson.

Barclays reported a 0.7% annual fall in card spending after a 0.5% rise in August. Essential spending dropped for a fifth month, while non-essential spending growth was the weakest in over a year.

Despite improving wage growth lifting confidence to a four-year high, nearly half of consumers said they were adjusting spending ahead of the budget, with one-third saving more. Retailers, meanwhile, face uncertainty over business rates and subdued demand heading into the “Golden Quarter.”

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The weaker retail and spending data point to cooling domestic demand just weeks before Chancellor Reeves unveils her budget. Softer consumption could ease near-term inflation pressure but raises growth risks heading into the winter, reinforcing expectations for a cautious Bank of England.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

The USD/JPY pair attracts some buyers to around 152.30 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The US Dollar (USD) strengthens against the Japanese Yen (JPY) after a change in rhetoric from US President Donald Trump on China.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vocal Trump ally and prominent America First conservative, has voiced rare criticism of the administration’s trade and immigration policies, warning that some measures could backfire on U.S. businesses and households.

US politics site ‘The Hill’ carries the article. In summary:

Speaking on a podcast, Greene said she is hearing growing concern from manufacturers about the impact of tariffs, which she believes are raising costs and complicating production. “Major manufacturing companies are saying we’re having a problem with these tariffs,” she said, adding that ordinary Americans have yet to see much relief from inflationary pressures. “That should be the focus — not helping crypto donors,” she added, in a pointed reference to priorities within Trump’s policy circle.

Greene also cautioned that an overly aggressive deportation policy could harm the economy by worsening labour shortages. “We have to do something about labour,” she said, “but that needs to be a smarter plan than just rounding up every single person and deporting them.”

Her remarks mark a rare instance of intra-party dissent within the pro-Trump camp, underscoring tension between economic populism and business pragmatism as the administration balances tariffs, immigration enforcement, and domestic growth goals.

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Greene’s comments add a political wrinkle to tariff policy, suggesting fractures within the America First bloc. Any widening dissent among congressional allies could pressure the administration to moderate trade or immigration measures seen as inflationary or disruptive to U.S. industry.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

The Meeting Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest interest rate decision will be published early on Tuesday, at 00:30 GMT. The RBA held its cash rate at 3.6% at its latest rate call, staggering a series of rate cuts that began in February of this year.

With Dreamforce about to kick off in San Francisco, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff inserted himself into a national debate about crime in U.S. cities.

Rabobank says the latest rebound in the U.S. dollar is being driven largely by short-covering, rather than a shift in underlying fundamentals, as much of the bad news and anticipated Federal Reserve rate cuts were already priced in. The bank expects this adjustment phase to extend in the near term, allowing markets to reassess U.S. fundamentals once normal data releases resume.

The absence of official U.S. economic data amid the government shutdown is making it difficult to fine-tune expectations around Fed policy, Rabobank notes. Meanwhile, U.S.–China trade developments could influence both inflation and growth forecasts in the coming months, potentially shaping the dollar’s direction into year-end.

Further ahead, Rabobank warns that questions over Fed independence could return to the spotlight in the spring as Chair Jerome Powell’s term nears its end. Such concerns, it says, would point to scope for a broad-based dip in the U.S. dollar, creating upside potential for the Australian dollar.

Rabobank expects AUD/USD to hold a choppy range near current levels, around the 0.65 area, over the next one to three months, as position-driven dollar strength continues.

• However, the bank still sees scope for another move higher in AUD/USD into the new year, targeting 0.68 on a 12-month view as market attention shifts back toward policy risks and trade developments.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.