WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order related to AI to “make America the world capital in artificial intelligence,” his aide told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office.

The order sets a 180-day deadline for an Artificial Intelligence Action (WA:ACT) Plan to create a policy “to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

Trump also told his AI adviser and national security assistant to work to remove policies and regulations put in place by former President Joe Biden.

Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security.

Biden’s order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States will leave the World Health Organization on Jan. 22, 2026, the United Nations said on Thursday, after being formally notified of the decision by President Donald Trump, who has accused the agency of mishandling the pandemic and other international health crises.

Trump announced the move on Monday, hours after he was sworn in for a second four-year term. The WHO said on Tuesday that it regretted the move from its top donor country.

Trump must give a one-year notice of U.S. withdrawal from the Geneva-based body and pay Washington’s dues under a 1948 joint resolution of the U.S. Congress.

The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion. It was not immediately clear how much the U.S. owes.

“I can confirm we have now received the U.S. letter on the WHO withdrawal. It is dated 22 January 2025. It would take effect a year from yesterday, on 22 January 2026,” said deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.

The U.S. departure will likely put at risk programs across the organization, according to several experts inside and outside the WHO, notably those tackling tuberculosis, the world’s biggest infectious disease killer, as well as HIV/AIDS and other health emergencies.

The withdrawal order signed by Trump said the administration would cease negotiations on the WHO pandemic treaty while the withdrawal is in progress. U.S. government personnel working with the WHO will be recalled and reassigned, and the government will look for partners to take over necessary WHO activities, according to the order.

Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO was not unexpected. He took steps to quit the body in 2020 during his first term as president. Before the U.S. withdrawal could be completed last time, Joe Biden won the presidential election and put a stop to it on his first day in office on Jan. 20, 2021.

By Jamie McGeever

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. 

Investors divert their focus away from Washington on Friday for the first time since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, towards Tokyo and the Bank of Japan, which is widely expected to raise interest rates to a 17-year high of 0.5%.

Assuming the BOJ does raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point – a 95% certainty, according to market pricing – that focus will narrow in even more on Governor Kazuo Ueda’s press conference and the signals he sends about future policy steps.

The ideal scenario for asset prices in Japan and beyond would probably be a “dovish hike,” with Ueda more inclined to cool rather than fuel investor expectations about the pace of further tightening, even though wage growth is gathering steam.

Japanese money markets are erring on the cautious side, pricing in only another 25 bps of tightening this year after Friday’s expected increase.

Even if one sets aside the BOJ’s historical scars and institutional anxiety when it comes to raising rates, Ueda himself has struck a measured tone in recent public remarks, most notably on Dec. 25 and a week earlier in his press conference after the BOJ kept rates on hold.

Calming the equity and bond market horses, however, is not without risk – it may inject unwanted volatility into the currency markets, pushing the yen back down towards the 160.00 per dollar area and the intervention danger zone.

Ueda’s dovish stance after the BOJ’s December meeting pushed the yen down to 158 per dollar, the lowest since July. A weaker exchange rate may give the Japanese stock market a lift, but the yen is perilously close to all-time lows and finance minister Katsunobu Kato and other officials have recently warned against speculative selling.

Of course, a rapid appreciation of the yen isn’t in anyone’s interest either. That is often associated with – and can trigger – bouts of wider market turbulence. Japan is the world’s largest creditor with some $3.3 trillion of net foreign assets, and the risk of Japanese repatriation flows quickly becoming a torrent is one officials will be well attuned to.

While events in Japan top the agenda on Friday – Japan also releases inflation figures – Trump is still making headlines, insisting on Thursday that global interest rates and oil prices come down. He also said he expected the Fed to listen to him and that he would consider speaking to Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the matter.

His comments took the wind out of the dollar and oil’s sails, and lifted the S&P 500 to a record closing high. They also brought U.S. bond yields off their highs but concern over the fiscal outlook continues to weigh heavily on Treasuries.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:

– Japan interest rate decision

– Australia, India PMIs (January)

– Taiwan GDP (Q4)

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – Emerging markets could be seeing a dreaded “sudden stop” of capital flows as President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policies pump up the U.S. economy and suck money away from poorer countries, investment bank JPMorgan warned on Thursday.

Analysts fear sudden stops in capital flows because they starve economies of the money they need to grow or even just keep going.

JPMorgan’s in-house indications show there were $19 billion worth of “net capital outflows” from developing economies not including China in the last quarter, with another $10 billion expected to flee in Q1.

“Put simply, using the widely accepted academic definition, this would signal that EM ex China is on the verge of a sudden stop,” the bank said in research note, adding that the phenomenon was not something “to be taken lightly”.

There are some caveats for now.

The current slowdown in capital flows is not being driven by an EM-centric event, but rather the tightening of financial conditions globally as Trump’s tariffs and tax cut pledges raise the possibility that U.S. interest rates stay higher for longer.

With this in mind, “this is not a situation where specific EM countries are under pressure and are facing balance of payments or currency pressures as was the case in 1998-2002, 2013, 2015,” JPMorgan added.

Nor was it a case of weak U.S. economy driving a “risk-off” worldwide sell-off. “Rather, it is one of a strong US economy and policy risks pulling flows out of EM,” analysts wrote.

How the situation plays out from here will depend on what Trump does and whether key U.S. data on jobs, inflation and retail sales prove strong enough to affect the Fed’s interest rate moves, JPMorgan said.

Even if a sudden stop does take hold in EM, most economies should be able to absorb that shock. JPMorgan said those most at risk were Romania, Malaysia, South Africa and Hungary.

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve has scrubbed a “Diversity and Inclusion” section from its website, with previous links to a statement of the U.S. central bank’s diversity standards and data on the racial, ethnic and gender makeup of its economists and researchers now defaulting to its home page.

The Fed would not comment on the change or the implications for its hiring and recruitment practices. According to versions of the central bank’s website available on the Wayback Machine internet archive, it occurred in the days just before or after President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Trump, in one of his first actions as president, issued an executive order instructing government agencies to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law,” any jobs involved with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, along with any plans associated with those efforts or performance requirements for contractors.

While Trump’s executive order refers to what it called the Biden administration’s “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” the diversity standards removed from the Fed’s website dated to 2016 and were developed as part of reforms legally required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms passed by Congress.

Finding ways to diversify hiring has been a longstanding issue at the central bank, which draws heavily from an economics profession that has struggled broadly to produce a pipeline of researchers and holders of PhD degrees more reflective of the population.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has framed the issue not just as one of equity, but of institutional strength and performance. He has argued that, from his days as a Wall Street lawyer and private equity investor with the Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG), the firms which cast the broadest net in hiring and recruitment had the best outcomes.

“Throughout my career, in both the public and the private sectors, I have seen that the best and most successful organizations are often the ones that have a strong and persistent commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Powell said at a 2021 conference on the issue that the Fed sponsored with other central banks, a recurring event joined by institutions like the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada.

“We are working to foster an inclusive workplace environment where staff can feel comfortable at work and to promote a similarly inclusive culture within the profession,” he said, noting the Fed’s efforts “to broaden our reach by recruiting at historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions.” 

In 2023 he became the first Fed chief to visit Atlanta’s Spelman College, a historically black and female institution that includes Fed Governor Lisa Cook among its alumnae.

IMPACT ON HIRING UNCLEAR

Beyond the Fed, diversity, equity and inclusion programs were established to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups. Trump and his supporters say those programs unfairly discriminate against other Americans, while civil rights advocates say they are needed to address longstanding inequities and structural racism

It is not clear how the Fed may interact with its peers over diversity issues in the future, though the central bank did withdraw from a central consortium on climate change just prior to Trump’s inauguration.

It is also unclear how Trump’s executive order on diversity and inclusion will actually change hiring and recruitment efforts at the Fed or how it will influence practices at the 12 regional Fed banks, quasi-private institutions that are governed by separate boards of directors but influenced also by the central bank’s Washington-based Board of Governors. 

The combined system employs around 20,000 people, with responsibility for setting monetary policy but also supervising banks and running the nation’s payment systems.

The websites of at least some of the regional Fed banks also have been changed, with prior pages on diversity and inclusion defaulting to the home page or returning a “Page Not Found” message.

By Elisa Martinuzzi and Brad Haynes

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Brazil’s debt market will likely continue to thrive in 2025, with a potential increase in equity activity in the second half, after a three-year drought in the country’s once vibrant IPO market, Flavio Souza, president of Itaú BBA, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum´s annual meeting in Davos.

In 2024, debt issuance reached 709.2 billion reais ($120.1 billion), 77.5% higher than in 2023 and a 55% rise from 2022, hitting a record since the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (Anbima) began tracking in 2012.

“We had a tremendous year (for debt issuances), obviously as you know related to the interest rates market,” Souza said. “Probably we will continue to see less activity in the equity market, but a very decent level of activity in the debt capital market,” he added.

Souza, however, said a strong message from the government regarding fiscal discipline could improve market sentiment and support a gradual pick-up in equity activity in the second half of 2025.

In 2024, fiscal concerns and rising interest rates kept many investors away from the stock market while diverting their attention to the less risky and increasingly profitable debt market.

Brazil´s benchmark rate ended the year at 12.25%, up from 11.25% in November of 2024. The country’s central bank raised the rate by a full percentage point in December, and signaled two more rate hikes of that size to start the year.

Despite concerns about Brazil’s public debt under leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva affecting foreign interest, the head of Itaú BBA noted that Brazil’s primary deficit today is comparable to other major emerging markets.

“The main challenge we have is the nominal deficit, and totally related to the interest rate,” said Souza.

Brazil´s nominal deficit is anticipated to reach nearly 8% of GDP, the highest among major emerging economies and the most heavily impacted by interest costs.

Souza said he also expects a significant number of mergers and acquisitions in Brazil in 2025, but noted that some may take longer to finalize, due to high key rates in the country.

“I think that for the market as a whole, we finished the year with our largest pipeline ever in M&A,” he said, adding that sectors such as energy and education are attracting interest from buyers.

Souza, however, noted that large institutional investors, including sovereign funds, are constantly monitoring the country. “And some of them are saying that, you know, probably we are seeing an entry point in Brazil that we didn’t see in the last few years.”

DAKAR (Reuters) – The U.S. plan to withdraw from the World Health Organization will squeeze Africa’s health initiatives, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, calling on African countries to find alternative sources of financing.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the WHO exit on Monday, shortly after his inauguration to a second term.

The concerns raised by Africa’s leading public health officials are a sign of the potential impact of the U.S. decision on the U.N. agency’s ability to fight diseases and respond to emergencies round the globe without its biggest funder.

Africa CDC senior official Ngashi Ngongo said many countries had been relying on U.S. investment via the WHO to fund public health drives.

“We know the role that the WHO has played on the continent… to really improve the delivery of health programmes,” Ngongo told a media briefing.

“The reduction or the cutting of (U.S.) funding is definitely going to affect the response.

“It is time for some of the African member states to rethink the financing of public health.”

Zimbabwe’s finance minister on Wednesday expressed concern that the U.S. withdrawal could signal cuts in health aid to countries such as his that are most affected by HIV/AIDS.

Ngongo said once Africa CDC takes stock of the situation, it might explore funding opportunities with other non-African countries to compensate for the expected fall in WHO support.

While Ngongo does not expect Trump’s order to have a big impact on Africa CDC, he expressed concern a joint action plan the health body had been developing with the U.S. government over the past year could also now be at risk.

By Brad Haynes

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Nigeria needs to double economic growth within the next year or two from an annualized rate of 3.5% in the third quarter to lift its population out of poverty, its finance minister told Reuters on Thursday at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.

Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Wale Edun said Nigeria was on the path to growth after a year of tough economic reforms that sent inflation soaring, but should open the door for more investment.

Edun said he had been meeting in Davos this week with business leaders in the areas of consumer goods, food and beverages, financial services and infrastructure to promote investments, he said in a Thursday interview.

“It’s a steady trickle now. What we want is a stream and at the end of the day a flood of investment,” he said.

Nigeria has been trying to encourage private investment rather than rely on borrowing to create jobs, as the government searches for a solution to sluggish growth, double-digit inflation and a heavy debt burden.

President Bola Tinubu has vowed to expand the economy by at least 6% a year, create jobs and unify the exchange rate, while also tackling rampant insecurity.

Tinubu scrapped a popular but costly petrol subsidy and lifted foreign exchange trading restrictions. That contributed to consumer inflation, but Edun expressed confidence that Nigerians would soon be past their cost of living crisis.

Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso on Thursday said he expected the economy to expand by 4.17% this year, driven by ongoing reforms and stabilising inflation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate could vote to confirm Republican President Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, this weekend, Majority Leader John Thune said on Thursday.

The Senate Finance Committee approved Bessent by a 16-11 vote on Tuesday, with two Democrats voting in favor.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but Thune has complained that Democrats are using procedural maneuvers to slow the approval of some of Trump’s more controversial picks, including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would demand that interest rates drop immediately, and that other countries should follow suit – marking his first broadside at Federal Reserve monetary policymaking since taking office just three days ago.

“With oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise they should be dropping all over the world,” Trump told the World Economic Forum on Thursday in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump’s remarks come five days before the Fed’s first policy meeting to be held during his administration – on Jan. 28 and 29 – with very broad expectations of no change in rates to be agreed at the gathering.

A number of Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have already expressed a need for caution about lowering rates further from here because of sticky inflation. Several policymakers had made an effort to take potential Trump policies into account in new forecasts issued last month that reflected expectations for higher inflation and slightly stronger growth this year than reflected in previous projections.

The Fed has cut interest rates already by 100 basis points since September.

Trump was broadly critical of the Fed for raising rates during the first two years of his first term in office and lambasted Powell, whom Trump had elevated to lead the U.S. central bank, for leading that effort.