ECONOMY & MARKETS

The coronavirus pandemic touched off a scramble among U.S.

U.S. consumer spending barely rose in July as a drop in gasoline prices weighed on receipts at service stations, but monthly inflation slowed down considerably, which could give the Federal Reserve room to scale back its aggressive interest rate hikes.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were subdued on Friday in early trading as investors were nervous about hawkish signals from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole symposium amid fears of slowing economic growth.

Hungary's central bank is expected to raise its base interest rate by 100 basis points to 11.75% next Tuesday, with more hikes to come this year as inflation keeps rising due to surging energy prices and a weak forint.

Consumer morale in the euro zone's two biggest economies diverged starkly in August as French consumers benefited from fresh government measures while concerns over rising energy bills hit their German counterparts, surveys showed on Friday.

India's economy is forecast to have expanded by an annual 15.2% in the April-June quarter, thanks to a weak base last year and a rebound in consumption as pandemic restrictions eased, a Reuters poll found.

Longfor Group said its 1.5 billion yuan ($219 million) bonds had been priced at a coupon rate of 3.3%, marking the first sale by a private Chinese homebuilder of notes fully guaranteed by the state to boost market sentiment amid a sector-wide cash crunch.

If "raise and hold" sounds like a poker strategy, that may in fact sum up the all-in approach to fighting inflation that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to lay out in a highly anticipated speech to the Jackson Hole central banking conference on Friday.

Japanese wages are unlikely to grow as much as nationwide consumer prices over the coming year, almost 80% of economists said in a Reuters poll, which would be bad news for an economy that has hardly seen any real wage growth for more than two decades.

Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday on signs of improving fuel demand, though gains were capped as the market awaited clues from the U.S.

Wall Street's main regulator on Thursday voted to adopt a measure requiring that U.S.-listed companies disclose how the pay of their top executives squares with overall company performance.

The U.S. dollar surged this year to its highest in two decades and there are still plenty of bulls betting the greenback has legs to keep climbing thanks to a hawkish Fed and economic news that should keep America ahead of other major economies.

U.S. consumers are responding to surging prices for new cars and trucks by going deeper into debt, pushing the average new vehicle loan to a record-high $40,290 during the second quarter, credit monitoring company Experian said Thursday.

Australia will have to invest in renewable energy and carbon capture and storage at unprecedented speed and scale in order for the economy to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, modelling released on Thursday showed.

Some of China's state-backed financial institutions are pushing back on Beijing's calls to support the embattled property sector due to concerns about the impact of such exposure on their balance sheets, seven people with knowledge of the matter said.

Australia's companies are split, with big miners and airlines expecting higher profits on soaring commodities prices and a rebound from COVID-19, while supermarkets, banks and manufacturers are hurt by inflation and stagnant wages.

Asian share markets were broadly positive while the dollar was slightly weaker on Thursday, with investors nervously awaiting the U.S.

On paper, T.J. Semanchin's Wonderstate Coffee business seems more productive than ever, with fewer workers generating higher sales at the company's three cafes and wholesale roastery in Wisconsin.

The U.S. dollar edged back from near a two-decade peak against a basket of major currencies on Thursday as investors looked to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell the following day for fresh clues on the path for monetary policy.

Argentina is considering asking for an International Monetary Fund loan under its new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), designed to help countries ensure sustainable growth, a source with direct knowledge told Reuters on Wednesday.

Investors yanked a net $7.8 billion out of hedge funds in the second quarter, industry data published on Wednesday showed, as volatile markets sent many looking for safer places to keep their cash.

Brazilian consumer prices fell in the month to mid-August thanks to lower fuel prices on the back of tax cuts, the country's IBGE statistics agency said on Wednesday.

The dollar is soaring against the world's major currencies, heading for its biggest calendar year rise in almost 40 years and third biggest since President Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard over half a century ago.

German exporters are in an "extreme price squeeze" and incurred extra costs of 70 billion euros ($69 billion) this year due to soaring producer and import prices, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) said on Wednesday.

New orders for U.S.-made capital goods increased in July, but the pace slowed from the prior month, suggesting that business spending on equipment could struggle to rebound after contracting in the second quarter.

Turkey's economy expanded 7.5% annually in the second quarter of the year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday, while the full-year growth forecast stood at 4%, pointing a drop in economic activity in the second half of the year reflecting weaker demand conditions.

China has raised the bar for issuances in the world's second-biggest green bond market, taking a major step towards adopting global standards and eliminating 'greenwashing'.

Another dramatic spike in natural gas prices appears to have ended any hopes that Europe's inflation battle is set to ease, with financial markets now bracing for higher prices, a faster pace of interest rate hikes and a deeper economic downturn.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, taking a breather from a nearly 4% surge the previous day on receding fears of an imminent output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+.