ECONOMY & MARKETS

Asian stocks were set to start the final week of the quarter on the slide on Monday, while the dollar stood ascendant, as the prospect of high interest rates and poor growth shakes markets.

Britain's Labour Party will unveil on Monday its plans to set up a national wealth fund to invest in green projects which will benefit the public, part of the opposition party's answer to the Conservative government's tax-cutting approach.

Grace Melt made her first visit to the Nourishing Hope food pantry on Chicago's North Side in August.

Britain's new economic agenda represents the biggest gamble for growth in a major Western democracy in at least 40 years, for which the chance of success fell instantly as investors ditched sterling assets.

A week of heavy selling has brought U.S. stocks and bonds to fresh bear market lows, with many investors bracing for more pain ahead.

Mario Draghi's outgoing Italian government is preparing to cut its growth estimate for 2023 to just above 0.5% as the energy crisis weighs on the euro zone's third largest economy, sources said ahead of official publication of the new economic forecasts next week.

Oil prices plunged about 5% to an eight-month low on Friday as the U.S.

U.S. high-yield corporate debt markets may be underpricing for the risk of a recession even as Treasuries and macroeconomic indicators reflect rising growth fears, but that may be tested soon with corporate earnings projected to worsen.

As central banks hike interest rates at a pace not seen in decades to control inflation, the alarm among bond investors over looming recession risks is spreading fast.

The National Bank of Hungary is likely to raise its base rate by another 100 basis points to 12.75% next Tuesday, a Reuters poll showed, with further hikes seen by the end of the year despite the bank flagging a possible halt to its increases.

A downturn in business activity across the euro zone deepened in September, according to a survey which showed the economy was likely entering a recession as consumers rein in spending amid a cost of living crisis.

Capital controls and currency intervention are among tools emerging Asian policymakers can use if rapid U.S.

Southeast Asian startups are enjoying a boom in fundraising exercises by venture and buyout funds that are chasing bigger returns and turning away from regulatory turmoil in Chinese markets, even at the risk of slower growth.

As the Bank of Japan steps into currency markets for the first time in decades to defend a battered yen, it is running into numerous obstacles, chiefly its own stubborn commitment to ultra-easy monetary settings.

The Reserve Bank of India is set to raise interest rates again next week with a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll expecting a half-point hike and some others expecting a smaller 35 basis point rise.

A temporary brake on gas and electricity derivatives when prices spike could improve the overall functioning of the energy market, the European Union's securities watchdog proposed on Thursday.

The Bank of Japan's intervention to prop up a freefalling yen has currency investors speculating about which central bank could move next in the face of a soaring dollar.

Oil rose on Thursday on supply concerns and as a Bank of England interest rate hike defied some expectations of a larger increase.

The Russian rouble soared past 59 to a one-month high against the dollar on Thursday and gas giant Gazprom's shares dragged resurgent stocks higher, as Russian markets recovered ground lost after the Kremlin ordered a partial military mobilisation.

Norway's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a widely-anticipated 50 basis points to 2.25% on Thursday, but said future hikes would be more "gradual", weakening the country's crown currency.

Turkey's central bank delivered another surprise interest rate cut on Thursday, by 100 points to 12%, sending the lira to an all-time low, even as inflation rose above 80% and as central banks globally race in the other direction to tighten policy.

Wall Street futures were muted on Thursday as investors assessed the impact on U.S.

Indonesia's central bank increased interest rates by more than expected on Thursday as it sought to rein in inflation after the government raised subsidised fuel prices earlier this month, while also supporting the rupiah currency.

Europe's decade-long experiment with negative interest rates, which ended on Thursday with the Swiss National Bank's return to positive territory, showed one thing: they can exist beyond the realms of economic science fiction.

European shares fell on Thursday, with tech stocks sliding after the U.S.

The Philippine central bank hiked its benchmark interest rates by half a percentage point on Thursday, and said it was ready to take further action as it raised its inflation forecasts for this year and next, and as the peso sank to a record low.

The Indian government is not averse to a weaker rupee in line with global market fundamentals, a senior official told Reuters, at a time when the central bank's intervention has tried to moderate the depreciation in the Indian currency.

A Federal Reserve dead-set on fighting inflation is leaving little hope that this year's rocky markets will end anytime soon, as policymakers signal rates rises faster and higher than many investors were expecting.

The U.S. dollar pushed to a fresh two-decade high versus major peers on Thursday, propelled by the Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook for interest rates and Russian President Vladamir Putin's mobilisation of more troops for the war in Ukraine.