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Marcos’ Partido Federal teams up with Romualdez’s Lakas-CMD ahead of 2025 polls

HONG KONG, China — Equity markets were mixed Wednesday as the latest global rally ran out of steam due to a lack of major catalysts, while investors contemplated the outlook for monetary policy.

While Europe enjoyed a firm session Tuesday, Wall Street was a little more tepid after surging in reaction to Friday’s below-forecast US jobs data, which ramped up bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

With the next major economic release on inflation not until next week, and many big-ticket earnings releases out of the way, investors are keeping tabs on comments from central bankers, hoping for an idea about their plans.

“There was limited data on corporate earnings to worry the markets, with no unexpected surprises and a lack of major US economic data in the days ahead,” said Kyle Rodda at Capital.com.

“Debate continues within markets and among policymakers about the appropriate level for interest rates.”

Many have spent the year pushing back against market expectations for how many cuts will be enacted this year as inflation comes down, and with recent data suggesting that battle still has a long way to go, they are sticking to their guns.

The latest, Minneapolis Fed boss Neel Kashkari, said he thought borrowing costs would likely stay higher for some time so that o fficials could be sure prices were being brought under control and get inflation back to the two percent target.

“The most likely scenario is we sit here for an extended period of time,” he said, according to Bloomberg News.

“If inflation starts to tick back down or we see some marked weakening in the labour market then that might cause us to cut back on interest rates.”

But he added: “Or if we get convinced eventually that inflation is embedded or entrenched now at three percent and that we need to go higher, we would do that if we needed to.”

However, he said, that bar was quite high.

The Dow and S&P 500 eked out small gains in New York, though the Nasd aq struggled.

Asian markets wobbled with Hong Kong falling for a second straight day after a 10-day winning streak, while Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Wellington, Bangkok and Jakarta also retreated.

Sydney, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai and Manila edged up, as did London, Paris and Frankfurt.

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 38,202.37 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 18,313.86 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,128.48 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,348.97

Dollar/yen: UP at 155.34 yen from 154.68 yen on Tuesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0735 from $1.0758

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2470 from $1.2509

Euro/pound: UP at 86.09 pence from 85.98 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.3 percent at $77.35 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $82.14 per barrel

New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 38,884.26 (close)

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s political party on Wednesday inked a formal alliance with the country’s dominant party, laying the groundwork for the launch of his administration’s senatorial slate ahead of the 2025 midterm elections. 

During the alliance signing of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and Lakas – Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), the largest House power bloc which Speaker Romualdez is president of, Marcos also expressed plans to rebuild the “UniTeam” coalition that swept him to power in the 2022 presidential elections. 

Lakas-CMD, the dominant political party in Congress, has 100 House lawmakers as members, constituting a third of the whole lower chamber. 

The PFP counts among its ranks the most number of local executives, estimated at 45%, according to PFP president and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr.

“Kagaya ng ating ginawa sa nakaraang halalan ay bubuoin uli natin… We have to formalize it because may political cycle, so bubuoin na uli natin at maifo-formalize uli natin ang UniTeam,” the president said. 

(As we did in the last election, we will form it again… We have to formalize it because there is a political cycle, so we will form it again and we will formalize UniTeam again.)

Marcos and his allies have yet to announce the candidates they will field for the 2025 midterm elections. 

The president earlier told the PFP to form more alliances with political parties ahead of the midterm polls, including Lakas-CMD, NPC (Nationalist People’s Coalition, NP (Nacionalista Party) and the NUP (National Union Party).

During the alliance signing event at Manila Polo Club, Sen. Ramon Revilla told reporters that Lakas-CMD remains open to tying up with other political parties, including Vice President Sara Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago, saying: “Malapit pa rin naman si Pangulong Bongbong kay Vice President Inday Duterte (President Bongbong is still close to Vice President Inday Duterte).” 

Lakas-CMD and PFP form part of the UniTeam alliance that launched the Marcos-Duterte ticket in the 2022 elections. — Cristina Chi

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