Crypto News: The R word

Hiring at US companies slowed in February to the lowest pace since July, led by job cuts in the service sector and in regions of the US hit by severe weather. Wednesday's figures add to other recent data pointing to a slowdown in the labor market. Applications for unemployment benefits in the most recent period reached the highest level this year amid a growing number of job cuts at companies including federal contractors. The latter may be related in part to President Donald Trump's ongoing effort to fire tens of thousands of federal workers and break government contracts.

"Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month," Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a statement. "Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead."

Meanwhile on Wall Street, some are beginning to throw around the dreaded R word. More on that below on Bloomberg's Trumponomics. —David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

Although Trump appeared to blink Tuesday amid the tariff-induced rubble in equities markets (stocks looked better today), Canada doesn't appear to be in a forgiving mood. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apparently isn't open to lifting Canada's full package of retaliatory tariffs if Trump leaves any tariffs on Canada in place. Trudeau's government, a Canadian official said, is cool to the idea of a "middle ground" settlement in Trump's trade war, like the one floated by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. In particular, the Canadian government's position is that any scenario where it has to fully rescind its retaliatory tariffs in return for a partial rollback of American tariffs will be rejected. Trump also backpedaled on another part of his Tuesday tariff volleys, exempting automakers from newly imposed levies on Mexico and Canada for one month.

Trade War Puts US Crops Under Threat

Agriculture traders are watching for potential cancellations on contracts that would put roughly 12 million tons of American crop sales at risk.

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The Trump administration isn't the only one looking to bring Russia in from the cold. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are among banks that have been acting as brokers to facilitate growing investor demand for ways to trade Russian-related assets. Both are said to have reached out to investors in recent weeks offering ruble-linked derivative contracts—a trade that's allowed under Western sanctions because there's no physical Russian asset and it doesn't involve any Russian nationals. The contract essentially gives traders a legal workaround to profit if the currency continues to surge in value.

It's all part of a broader resurgence in interest in Russian assets after the White House floated the idea of easing sanctions on Moscow as part of a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. In order to force Kyiv to accept terms it currently rejects, Trump cut off some of Ukraine's access to US intelligence, an additional blow to its war effort following America's suspension of military aid. Overnight Tuesday, Russia attacked the Ukrainian city of Odesa, reportedly cutting power and heat while killing a 77-year-old woman. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed by Russian forces in the three years since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion began.

Germany Urges EU to Ease Fiscal Rules to Boost Defense Funds

Berlin called for the European Union to allow countries to make bigger defense expenditures, a massive shift for the country.

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President Emmanuel Macron said he'll enter into talks on using France's nuclear capabilities to defend European allies. "Our nuclear deterrent protects us," Macron said in a televised address Wednesday. "I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection, through our deterrent, of our allies on the European continent." The French president's remarks came ahead of an emergency meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday for talks on Ukraine and the continent's wider security, given America's cooling to NATO under Trump.

The Pew Research Center said in September that some 61% of veterans supported Trump in the presidential election, despite years of reporting on Trump's alleged criticism of veterans (which he has denied) and prisoners of war, and how he avoided service in Vietnam due to bone spurs. But now Trump is targeting the very federal agency tasked with caring for those veterans. A memo sent to staffers at the Department of Veterans Affairs said the agency plans to return to pre-2019 staffing levels, according to a copy seen by Bloomberg News, meaning tens of thousands of employees could lose their jobs. More than a quarter of the agency's staff are veterans themselves.

Veterans Agency to Cut Roughly 80,000

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A divided US Supreme Court sought to rein in Trump's bid to freeze foreign aid, reinstating a lower court order that requires quick disbursement of as much as $2 billion owed to contractors for already completed work. Five justices—Republican-appointees John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett and the court's three Democratic appointees—rejected Trump's request to toss out the order. However, a number of plaintiffs (and judges) involved in similar legal challenges have made the grave allegation that Trump is failing to follow orders from the judiciary, so it's unclear what the administration will do in light of the high court's decision.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has realized that in a global trade war, the economy with the most powerful consumer base wins. Boosting domestic consumption is the government's top economic priority this year, Shuli Ren writes in Bloomberg Opinion. In 2024, consumer spending contributed to only about 30% of economic growth, versus 68% at the onset of 2018. Most of the current 5% expansion came from exports, which makes the nation vulnerable to new tariffs imposed by Washington and the likes of Mexico, where Chinese companies are relocating for easier access to American end users. So, Ren writes, how is China to address this state of affairs? Why, with John Wick of course. Let us explain.