ECONOMY & MARKETS

The second half of the year started with more declines in global stock indexes on Friday as recession concerns that have built in recent weeks also dragged down Treasury yields and metals.

The second half of the year started with more volatility for global stocks on Friday, as recession concerns that have built in recent weeks also pulled metals, bond yields and some key currencies sharply lower again.

The second half of the year started with another first class drubbing for global stock markets on Friday, as the recession concerns that have built in recent weeks also shoved oil and metals lower again.

Bonds slipped, the dollar edged higher and Asia's stockmarkets made a shaky start to the second half on Friday, as investors grow increasingly nervous about the global economic outlook.

Indonesia's central bank is in no rush to hike interest rates, its governor said on Friday, even as June consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in five years, topping forecasts and breaching its target range amid a surge in food prices.

Indonesia's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in five years in June, topping forecasts and breaching the central bank's target range amid a surge in food prices, official data showed on Friday.

Australian home prices slipped for a second month in June as once red-hot markets in Sydney and Melbourne felt the chill from rising interest rates and a cost-of-living crunch.

Australia's central bank will deliver another half percentage-point interest rate hike on Tuesday as it fights to tame surging inflation, marking the first time it has ever raised the cash rate by that magnitude at consecutive meetings, a Reuters poll found.

South Korea's June exports grew at their slowest pace in over 1-1/2 years as soaring inflation saps offshore demand for Korean goods, widening the trade gap and fuelling concerns about a global recession.

The mood among Japan's big manufacturers' soured for a second straight quarter in the three months to June, a central bank survey showed on Friday, hit by rising input costs and supply disruptions caused by China's strict COVID-19 lockdowns.

Japanese big manufacturers' business confidence soured for a second straight quarter in the three months to June, a central bank survey showed on Friday, hit by rising input costs and supply disruptions caused by China's strict COVID-19 lockdowns.

Aerojet Rocketdyne shareholders on Thursday elected the eight-person board slate headed by Chief Executive Officer Eileen Drake, the company said in a statement, ending one of the most bitterly fought proxy contests of the year.

NBCUniversal said on Thursday it completed the highest-grossing upfront advertising sales period since its acquisition by Comcast Corp with commitments exceeding $7 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

People have been walking into Paul Centenari's cardboard box factory outside Baltimore asking for jobs, something he has not seen in over a year.

New U.S. data for May showed little immediate relief from the record pace of inflation pushing the Federal Reserve toward another oversized interest rate increase next month, but it did add to a developing sense that the worst may be over.

The U.S. dollar's share of currency reserves reported to the International Monetary Fund was 58.8% in the first quarter, unchanged from that of the last three months of 2021, IMF data showed on Thursday.

Lebanon's untamed financial crisis is gathering new menace as it heads into a fourth year, with political paralysis dampening hope of reforms that could unlock foreign support and stave off social turmoil, according to analysts, lawmakers and former officials.

Warehouses for IKEA stores in Europe are as full as they were before the pandemic after an easing of transport bottlenecks in the region, the retail manager of Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA stores world-wide, said on Thursday.

EU states and lawmakers on Thursday agreed to rules to put a brake on state-backed foreign firms acquiring EU companies with annual turnover of 500 million euros ($520 million), underlining a more protectionist approach against a possible Chinese buying spree.

It may just boil down to semantics, and in good times when inflation is low it's not an issue at all. But the Fed has a communication problem.

U.S. consumer spending rose less than expected in May as motor vehicles remained scarce while higher prices forced cutbacks on purchases of other goods, another sign that the rebound in economic growth early in the second quarter was losing steam.

The European Central Bank will buy bonds from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece with some of the proceeds it receives from maturing German, French and Dutch debt in a bid to cap spreads between their borrowing costs, sources told Reuters.

Wall Street ended the session lower on Thursday, crossing the finish line of a grim month and quarter, a dismal coda to the S&P 500's worst first half in more than half a century.

U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday, setting the Dow up for its worst first six months since 1962, on concerns that a dogged pursuit by central banks to tame inflation would hamper global economic growth.

Wall Street slid into the finish line of a dismal month and quarter on Thursday as a continued sell-off put a grim punctuation mark at the close of the S&P 500's worst first-half in more than half a century.

U.S. stock index futures slid on Thursday on the last day of a dismal first-half of the year on worries that central banks determined to tame inflation will hamper global economic growth.

Seventy-four Norwegian offshore oil workers at Equinor's Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East platforms will go on strike from July 5, the Lederne trade union said on Thursday, likely shutting about 4% of Norway's oil production.

Some 74 Norwegian offshore oil workers at Equinor's Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East offshore platforms will go on strike from July 5, the Lederne trade union said on Thursday, likely shutting about 4% of Norway's oil production.

Asian currencies will wallow in the near-term, analysts forecast this week, with any respite from their first-half losses only likely to come in the form of proactive policy normalization by regional central banks combined with a Chinese recovery.