ECONOMY & MARKETS

The dollar hit a 24-year peak against the yen and reached new highs versus the Australian and New Zealand dollars on Wednesday after U.S.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as COVID-19 curbs in top crude importer China and expectations of further interest rate hikes fanned concerns of a global economic recession and lower fuel demand growth.

U.S. consumers and businesses are still in good financial shape despite high inflation and concerns about a looming recession, some of the nation's top bankers told a conference in New York on Tuesday.

The U.S. Treasury is seeking to design a simple compliance regime for enforcing a price cap on Russian oil exports and hopes that China and India join the coalition or at least take advantage of it, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it has denied a request by leading U.S.

The Netherlands has warned other European Union countries that an EU plan to use a carbon market reserve to finance their exit from Russian gas would undermine the bloc's climate change policy, and put forward alternative plans.

The European Union and United States have ramped up buying key industrial metals from Russia, data showed, despite logistical problems spurred by the war in Ukraine and tough talk about starving Moscow of foreign exchange revenue.

Bond markets greeted the arrival of Liz Truss as Britain's new prime minister with the sharpest sell-off of long-dated British government debt since the COVID-19 pandemic caused turmoil in global financial markets in March 2020.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remotely rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday as his nation appealed for billions in private investment to rebuild factories and industries destroyed by Russia.

The head of Israel's stock exchange on Tuesday called for increased investment from Israeli and Emirati investors in each other's exchanges to boost liquidity.

Lloyds Banking Group has been hit by more than 300 million pounds ($348 million) of suspected fraud linked to COVID-19 pandemic-era recovery loans for small businesses, the highest among big bank peers, according to government data.

South Africa's economy contracted back to pre-pandemic size in the second quarter, weakened by floods that disrupted operations at a key export hub and the country's worst-ever power cuts, data from the statistics agency showed.

The European Central Bank is expected to make a jumbo 75 basis point refinancing rate increase on Thursday, according to a slim majority of economists polled by Reuters, as it battles to contain inflation running at more than four times its target.

Qatar's central bank has told banks in the Gulf state not to exchange its currency with entities outside the country without prior permission, five sources told Reuters, in a move bankers say aims at ending the riyal's divergence against the dollar.

British construction companies suffered a second straight month of contraction in the face of deep uncertainty about the outlook for the inflation-hit economy, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Emerging Asian equities ex-China saw massive foreign purchases in August due to a rise in risk appetite based on tempered inflation expectations.

The hit to the euro zone economy and its currency from a deepening energy crisis is so severe that more aggressive monetary tightening from the European Central Bank will do little to stop the euro's slide.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Tuesday reiterated that sharp yen moves were "undesirable" and that he was watching rising volatility in the exchange market with a "great sense of urgency" as the currency hit a fresh 24-year low.

The dollar took a breather on Tuesday after a sweeping rally, easing slightly from milestone highs on the euro, yen and sterling, but not too far as recession stalk Europe and U.S.

Malaysia's central bank will deliver a third consecutive 25 basis point interest rate hike on Thursday and a fourth in November to quell growing inflationary pressures but will opt to move slowly despite a hawkish U.S.

A runaway surge in global house prices is drawing to a close as interest rates rise along with the cost of living, according to Reuters polls of housing analysts, who said prices needed to fall in double digits in several key markets to turn affordable.

Japan's household spending extended growth in July for a second straight month despite a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, but inflationary pressures from the yen's slump to a 24-year-low have cast doubt over the pace of consumption.

British shoppers are cutting back on purchases of clothes and other non-essential items as they try to cover their sky-rocketing utility bills and higher food prices, surveys showed on Tuesday.

Argentina's central bank is set to hike the country's interest rate as early as this week, a source said, after the economy ministry rolled out a preferential exchange rate for soybean farmers dubbed the "soy dollar" in a bid to promote exports.

Although inflation has disrupted the economy and caused prices to rise, there are several ways to save money.

UK's FTSE 100 was unchanged after opening lower on Monday as the Conservative Party announced Liz Truss as Britain's new prime minister as expected, while the British pound remained lower against the dollar.

The euro zone is almost certainly entering a recession, with surveys on Monday showing a deepening cost of living crisis and a gloomy outlook that is keeping consumers wary of spending.

European gas prices surged, share prices slid and the euro sank on Monday after Russia stopped pumping gas to Europe via a major supply route, sending a new tsunami through the European Union economy that has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major investment houses have cut their yuan forecasts as its fall against the dollar accelerates, with some expecting a breach of the 7-per-dollar milestone before next month's politically sensitive Party Congress despite authorities' efforts to slow the slide.