ECONOMY & MARKETS

Japan's solo battle against an overvalued U.S. dollar may feel a little lonelier after it met G7 finance chiefs in Washington this week - and possible yearend market ructions may see its allies regret that.

The European Central Bank is considering entering the maelstrom of volatile world markets to start winding down its massive bond holdings - just as governments scale up spending to respond to an energy crisis likely to induce a recession.

Indian consumers are lapping up everything from cars, houses and television sets to travel and jewellery in the festive season that began last month

Oil prices reversed earlier losses and inched up in Asian trade on Friday, supported by a weaker U.S.

American businessman Brody Shores' furniture business in China grew on a model that leaned heavily on the promise of an enduring property boom and homebuyers desperate for fully furnished new apartments.

Chad's creditors on Thursday said they had agreed that the African country did not need debt relief at the moment given a surge in oil prices, but committed to reconvene if a financing gap was identified.

Japan's currency intervention last month to stop a sharp slide in the yen was likely a "signaling action" to smooth volatility, though the impact of such moves tend to be short-lived, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Thursday.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday rebuked Britain over its planned tax cuts, telling its finance minister and central bank chief that their policies should not be contradictory.

Inflation in the U.S. has persisted, as the latest CPI data Thursday showed bleak numbers.

A Bank of England fix to ease pension schemes' cash crunch by getting banks to assume the role of rescue lender is being shunned by some of the biggest banks, who say the returns on offer do not reward the risks involved, sources said.

British government bond prices rose strongly on Thursday after reports that Prime Minister Liz Truss's government was considering a U-turn on some of the measures in its late-September "mini-budget" that triggered a historic gilts slump.

Neither side is backing down in a battle of wills over oil between Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and U.S.

U.S. consumer prices increased more than expected in September as rents surged by the most since 1990 and the cost of food also rose, reinforcing expectations the Federal Reserve will deliver a fourth 75-basis-point interest rate hike next month.

European stocks reversed gains on Thursday after another hot inflation reading from the United States spurred expectations that the Federal Reserve was likely to stay aggressive in its fight against inflation.

Wall Street futures ticked higher on Thursday, ahead of a closely watched U.S.

Federal Reserve officials are pushing back on investors' mounting concerns that the U.S.

John Ehresmann loves that the cost of shipping an ocean container from Asia to a U.S. port or buying a load of lumber has fallen back to earth.

India's central bank has been consistently missing its inflation projections over the last two and half years mainly due to extreme weather conditions that drove up food prices, economists said on Thursday.

Euro zone borrowing costs edged lower on Thursday as investors paused for breath ahead of key U.S. economic data after driving government bond yields to fresh multi-year highs.

Israelis are as fed-up with soaring prices as they are with the country's seemingly never ending elections.

The Reserve Bank of India, seeking to arrest the rupee's slide, is asking local banks to not build additional positions in the non-deliverable forward market, a move that could lead to offshore volatility spilling into local markets, bankers and traders said.

Oil prices struggled to find their footing in Asian trade on Thursday after easing in the previous session on the back of a weakening global demand outlook.

Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower and bond yields remained depressed on Thursday as investors weighed the risks of global recession amid hawkish Federal Reserve rhetoric and uncertainty about the Bank of England's commitment to stabilising markets.

The yen floundered near a fresh 24-year low on Thursday, while sterling held onto overnight gains as investors skittishly await an impending deadline for the end of the Bank of England's emergency bond-buying programme.

Larry Fink, chief executive of the world's biggest asset manager BlackRock Inc, on Wednesday defended his firm's energy investments after facing a backlash from lawmakers critical of its stance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Finance leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies said on Wednesday they will closely monitor "recent volatility" in markets, and reaffirmed their commitment that excessive exchange-rate moves were undesirable.

Japanese firms overwhelmingly support increasing defence spending amid heightened sabre-rattling in Asia, according to a Reuters monthly poll on Thursday, which also showed half of companies expect the yen's decline to hurt profits.

British house prices rose last month at their slowest pace since early in the coronavirus crisis and they look on course to fall as a surge in mortgage costs adds to uncertainty about the economy for home-buyers, a survey showed on Thursday.

European Central Bank policymakers are closing in on a deal to change rules governing trillions of euros worth of loans to banks in a move that will shave tens of billions of euros off in potential banking profits, sources close to the discussion said.