BLOOMBERG Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to develop more strategic autonomy as a way to avoid the risk of turning the European Union (EU) countries into “vassals” in the event of a global crisis such as a US-China confrontation. “Strategic autonomy must be the battle of Europe,” the French president told the business daily Les Echos during his visit to China. …

BLOOMBERG North Korea appears to be purposefully cutting a communication link with South Korea as it ratchets up tensions by testing new weapons and denouncing its neighbour as a “puppet traitor” for holding military drills with the US. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said that North Korea failed to respond for a fourth straight day to regularly held calls on an …

BLOOMBERG US equity futures were little changed while Asian stocks rose in holiday-thinned trading as investors assessed the Federal Reserve’s policy path following US jobs data. S&P 500 contracts rose less than 0.1% and MSCI Inc’s Asia-Pacific equity index added 0.2%. Trading volumes were light with markets across Europe, Hong Kong and Australia closed for Easter holidays. In the US …