Economic & Market Watch

In the News

Economy

• President Trump listed rare earths, fentanyl and soybeans as the top trade issues with China as the two sides resume tariff negotiations later this week.
• The ongoing federal government shutdown continues to delay key economic reports, with economists estimating the drag on U.S. gross domestic product at between 0.1%–0.2% per week.

Markets

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures traded near $57/barrel, slipping from last week on concerns over a supply glut in 2026 and renewed U.S.-China trade tensions.
• U.S. stock markets rallied to start the week as investors shifted focus from trade tensions and credit woes to corporate earnings.

Current Events

• The U.S. stepped up pressure on India to cut purchases of Russian oil as part of broader efforts to tighten sanctions and reduce Russia’s fiscal levers amid the war in Ukraine.
• A major Amazon Web Services outage this morning disrupted millions of users globally, exposing risks in cloud-service concentration and raising questions about resilience in critical digital infrastructure.

Meet the Team

CFC's economic research team—John Suter, Sam Kem and Antony Davies—share their expert, yet easily digestible, perspective on what you need to know.

Have feedback about the podcast? A topic you'd like the EMW team to cover? Get in touch at economicresearch@nrucfc.coop.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Trading Economics