Donald Trump has added former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his transition team as the former president faces a revised federal indictment alleging he tried to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss.

Kennedy made crypto and Bitcoin (BTC) a central campaign issue during his first bid for the United States presidency as a Democratic candidate. He then switched to run as an independent before suspending his campaign on Friday, Aug. 23, and endorsing Trump.

Tulsi Gabbard — an ex-Democratic Representative and 2020 presidential candidate who is a one-time crypto holder — was also added to Trump’s team.

“As President Trump’s broad coalition of supporters and endorsers expands across partisan lines, we are proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team,” Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes told Reuters on Aug. 27.

Kennedy would “help pick the people who will be running the government” if Trump wins the November elections, he explained to ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview on Aug. 26, where he revealed he was asked to join Trump’s team.

Trump, the Republican nominee, is lagging behind Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by 3.4 percentage points in national polls, according to Aug. 27 FiveThirtyEight data.

Kennedy was polling at 4.6% before he suspended his campaign.

New indictment for Trump

Meanwhile, Trump is facing a fresh federal indictment from a grand jury in Washington, DC, alleging he illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The superseding indictment filed on Aug. 27 lays out four charges federal prosecutors first pinned on Trump last August: Conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of — and attempt to obstruct — an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Related: US Democrats are ‘increasingly gravitating towards crypto’ — Poll

The revised indictment focuses on Trump as a candidate and citizen rather than being the incumbent president at the time after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump had “at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts” as president.

Trump posted to his Truth Social platform to claim US Special Counsel Jack Smith “rewrote the exact same case in an effort to circumvent the Supreme Court Decision.”

He had pleaded not guilty to the original indictment and added in his post that “the whole case should be thrown out and dismissed on Presidential Immunity grounds.”

Source: COINTELEGRAPH

Woolworths, Australia’s largest supermarket chain, reported an annual profit in line with estimates on Aug 28 and declared a special dividend, but said it expects customers to remain cautious amid heightened cost-of-living pressures.

Woolworths grapples with declining performance in key divisions amid inflation-induced margin pressures and escalating operational costs, while intense competition has made it hard for the grocer to adapt to evolving consumer trends.

The grocer slashed prices and passed on lower costs to customers to address the rise in competition and tackle cross-shopping trends.

Consequently, inflation in its food businesses and BIG W segment moderated significantly in the second half and item growth slowed, leading to cooling sales momentum.

The grocer logged total group sales of A$67.92 billion (S$60 billion) for the year, compared with A$64.29 billion in fiscal 2023.

Sales momentum in fiscal 2025 has continued to improve across the group, Woolworths said, with sales in its biggest earner, Australian Food, up about 3 per cent in the first eight weeks.

“Looking ahead, improving customer scores, item growth, and lower inflation provide reason for optimism,” outgoing CEO Brad Banducci said in a statement.

“However, we also know that our customers remain under significant mortgage and rent-related financial stress and anticipate them to remain cautious with the trading environment expected to be challenging for the rest of the financial year.”

The company posted a net profit after tax before significant items of A$1.71 billion for the year ended June, flat compared to the prior year and largely in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$1.72 billion.

The Sydney-based company also declared a final dividend of 57 Australian cents per shares, compared with 58 cents a year earlier.

It also declared special dividend of 40 Australian cents per share. 

Source: Straits times

The government plans to supply a record amount of 170,000 tons of high-demand foodstuffs and provide a discount worth 70 billion won ($52.69 million) for the upcoming Chuseok holiday, the finance ministry said Wednesday.

They are part of a set of measures meant to better support the livelihoods of the people and to curb inflation ahead of the major traditional holiday, which also call for providing financial support to small and midsized companies and micro business owners.

According to the plan, the government will supply 170,000 tons of key holiday-related foodstuffs, a record amount, including cabbages, apples and pears, to help stabilize their prices.

Demand for vegetables, eggs and other foodstuffs usually rises in South Korea ahead of the holiday as people prepare holiday meals for family gatherings.

It will extend the tariff-rate quota scheme for 10 kinds of imported fruits, including bananas, mangos and pineapples, through the end of the year to lower tariffs and stabilize their prices.

The move will come under the country's flexible tariff system, where the government temporarily adjusts basic tariff rates on imported goods to stabilize prices and protect domestic producers.

A record amount of 70 billion won will be earmarked to support a discount of major agricultural and fisheries products for Chuseok.

A governmentwide task force will be set up to check prices of key items on a daily basis.

The plan also called for extending 43 trillion won of loans and other financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The government will provide a discount on electricity bills for self-employed people with small businesses.

In July, consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.6 percent on-year, picking up pace from a 2.4 percent increase a month earlier, on high prices of fruits and petroleum products.

The government has said that the country is projected to reach the target rate of 2 percent by around the end of 2024, though prices are forecast to ease at a slower pace than earlier expected. (Yonhap)

Source: Koreatimes

The Gold price (XAU/USD) gains traction above $2,500 per troy ounce on Wednesday, bolstered by the escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Additionally, US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium last week, signalling “time has come” to begin lowering interest rates, supports the precious metal as it reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-paying assets.

Investors will take more cues from the Fed's Christopher Waller and Raphael Bostic speeches on Wednesday for some hints about the US interest rate path. The attention will shift to the preliminary US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Annualized for the second quarter (Q2) and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) - Price Index data, which will be published on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The better-than-estimated outcomes could lift the US Dollar (USD) and cap the upside for the USD-denominated Gold price. 

Digest Market Movers: Gold price remains strong near the record-high

Thousands of troops from special units mobilized for a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank, which is anticipated to take several weeks. The report said the army has conducted the largest military operation in the West Bank since 2002, and the operation will continue for several days.

“The prospect of falling interest rates is also attracting investors. According to Bloomberg, Gold ETF holdings rose by 15 tonnes last week to the highest level in six months. Speculative interest is particularly strong. The net long position of speculative investors rose to around 193,000 contracts in the week to August 20th, at the same time as Gold hit an all-time high, its highest level in almost four and a half years,” noted Commerzbank’s commodity strategist Carsten Fritsch.

The Conference Board's US Consumer Confidence Index improved to a six-month high, rising to 103.3 in August from an upwardly revised 101.9 in July. 

The US Housing Price Index declined by 0.1% MoM in June, below the market consensus of a 0.2% increase, the Federal Housing Federal Agency showed Tuesday. 

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the rate futures markets have fully priced in a 25 basis points (bps) rate cut in September, while the possibility of a deeper rate cut stands at 34.5%. Traders see 100 bps Fed easing this year. 

Source: FXSTREET