French nationwide strike to extend as pension reform fight intensifies
Protests against plans to raise pension age to 64Majority of voters reject reformGovernment, unions determined to stand their groundPARIS, March 7 (Reuters) – France’s nationwide strike against a planned pension reform, which disrupted train services, shut schools and halted fuel deliveries, will spill into Wednesday as unions seek to force a government retreat on the […]
Wall Street wobbles to mixed close, Treasury yields inch higher as Powell concludes testimony
NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended an indecisive session with a nominal increase and Treasury yields edged up on Wednesday as a spate of economic data appeared to support Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s reassertion, in his second day of congressional testimony, that the central bank would continue to ratchet up […]
Fed’s Powell sees long-term damage if US debt ceiling not raised
NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – The United States risks long-term damage if Congress does not raise the national debt ceiling, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday.”Congress really needs to raise the debt ceiling … if we fail to do so, I think that the consequences are hard to estimate, but they could […]
China says must advance relations with Russia as world becomes more turbulent
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – China must advance its relations with Russia as the world becomes more turbulent, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.Speaking to reporters at an annual parliamentary session in Beijing, Qin said the close interactions between both leaders – President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin – provided the anchor for […]
Weak euro zone data point to cracks in recovery as inflation lingers
Bloc’s retail sales rebounded only feebly in JanuaryConstruction still contracted, sector’s PMI showedSurprise fall in morale in March’s Sentix indexExpect more ECB rate hikes after March, says LaneBig nations’ inflation rose in Feb, data showed last weekFRANKFURT, March 6 (Reuters) – The euro zone’s economic recovery is tentative and fragile, several indicators suggested on Monday, […]
Fed’s Daly: tighter policy, for a longer time, ‘likely’ needed
March 4 (Reuters) – San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Saturday sounded a clear warning on the inflationary threat, and signaled that the U.S. central bank may raise interest rates further, and keep them there longer, than has been expected.Though inflation by the Fed’s preferred measure has fallen from its mid-2022 highs […]
Fed “acutely aware” of trouble inflation is causing – report
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is “acutely aware” of the challenges high inflation poses to the economy and is “strongly committed” to its 2% target for price increases, the central bank said on Friday in its latest semiannual report to Congress on monetary policy and the economy.While largely a backward-looking summary […]
Ex-BOJ gov Shirakawa urges re-examination of monetary framework, inflation targets
TOKYO, March 2 (Reuters) – Former Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa called on policymakers to reconsider central banks’ monetary framework based on inflation targets, given their limits that became apparent from the recent spike in prices seen in many countries.Before the recent spike in inflation, many central banks in advanced economies were “overwhelmingly” […]
US companies rush to issue corporate debt, busiest February ever
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) – U.S. companies with the highest credit ratings sold a record $144 billion of debt securities so far in February to get ahead of further potential interest rate hikes, meeting strong demand from investors looking to capitalize on a spike in yields.Investment-grade rated corporate bond issuance in February has been the […]
Dollar slips after recent gains, recent uptrend intact
U.S. durable goods orders drop in January, weighs on dollarU.S. pending home sales rise; dollar sell-off persistsSterling, euro up sharplyNEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) – The dollar fell from a seven-week high on Monday, tracking a slide in U.S. Treasury yields, as investors consolidated gains after the greenback’s recent rise and looked ahead for the […]