TOKYO (AP) — President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations Monday aimed at strengthening their economies as he warned Americans worried about high inflation that it is "going to be a haul” before they feel relief.
Shares are mixed in Asia in cautious trading after Wall Street rumbled to the edge of a bear market on Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With prices across the economy — from food, gas and rent to cars, airfares and hotel rooms — soaring at their fastest pace in decades, you might think Americans would tap the brakes on spending.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday it found nearly 220,000 more people with feverish symptoms, even as leader Kim Jong Un claimed progress in slowing a largely undiagnosed spread of COVID-19 across his unvaccinated populace and hinted at easing virus restrictions to nurse a decaying economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rumbled to the edge of a bear market Friday after another drop for stocks briefly sent the S&P 500 more than 20% below its peak set early this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — The bear came close to Wall Street but then backed off.
The stock market’s slump this year briefly pulled the S&P 500 into what's known as a bear market Friday, before a late rally put the index in the green.
KOENIGSWINTER, Germany (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen celebrated a “historic day” last summer when more than 100 nations agreed to a global minimum tax deal, aimed at putting the world's countries on a more equal footing in attracting and keeping multinational companies.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California employers added 41,400 new jobs in April, dropping the state's unemployment rate to the lowest its been since the start of the pandemic following 14 consecutive months of growth.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating dipped to the lowest point of his presidency in May, a new poll shows, with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party.
LONDON (AP) — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing criticism from the leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party after saying Congress won’t approve a trade deal with the U.K. if Britain scraps the agreement governing post-Brexit trade on the Irish island.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians will go to the polls on Saturday following a six-week campaign that has focused on pandemic-fueled inflation, climate change and fears of a Chinese military outpost being established less than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) off Australia’s shore.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky posted its lowest-ever unemployment rate in April, offering more proof of the state's unprecedented economic momentum, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.
The state's seasonally adjusted, preliminary jobless rate fell to 3.9% in April, the Democratic governor said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for jobless aid last week, but the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits is at a 53-year low.
Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 to 218,000 for the week ending May 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday reported 262,270 more suspected COVID-19 cases as its pandemic caseload neared 2 million — a week after the country acknowledged the outbreak and scrambled to slow infections in its unvaccinated population.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government said Thursday it will hand out an extra few hundred dollars to more than 2 million lower-income adults to help them navigate what it describes as “the peak of the global inflation storm.”
TOKYO (AP) — Shares dropped sharply in Asia on Thursday after a broad retreat on Wall Street triggered by dismal results from major retailer Target that renewed worries over the impact of high inflation.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan recorded a trade deficit in April as its imports ballooned 28% due to soaring energy costs and the yen's weakness against the dollar.
Japan’s trade deficit totaled 839 billion yen ($7 billion) in April, for the ninth straight monthly deficit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden embarks for Asia on Thursday, he's facing a new risk at home for the economy and his Democratic Party: a global slowdown caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic shutting down Chinese cities and factories.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have badly impacted the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation in the Persian Gulf nation, a United Nations special envoy said Wednesday.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Qatar committed Wednesday to investing 4.7 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in Spain as the European country launches an economic overhaul with its share of European Union pandemic recovery funding.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy shrank at a worse than expected annual rate of 1% in the first quarter, as rising prices and COVID-19 restrictions sapped spending and investment, according to data released Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% in April, a solid increase that underscores Americans' ability to keep ramping up spending even as inflation persists at nearly a 40-year high.
The increase was driven by greater sales of cars, electronics, and at restaurants, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Shares advanced in Asia on Tuesday after another wobbly day on Wall Street extended a losing streak for markets.
Hong Kong advanced nearly 2.5% and other regional benchmarks were moderately higher.
LONDON (AP) — Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey on Monday rejected criticism that the institution didn’t move quickly enough to quash inflationary pressures, telling a parliamentary committee that monetary policymakers weren’t able to predict wars.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has slashed its forecasts for economic growth in the 27-nation bloc amid the prospect of a drawn-out Russian war in Ukraine and disruptions to energy supplies.
BEIJING (AP) — China's factory and consumer activity fell even more than expected in April under anti-virus controls, official data showed Monday, but a Cabinet official said the economy is reviving as anti-virus curbs ease and its commercial capital of Shanghai reopens.
BEIJING (AP) — Most of Shanghai has stopped the spread of the coronavirus in the community and fewer than 1 million people remain under strict lockdown, authorities said Monday, as the city moves toward reopening and economic data showed the gloomy impact of China's “zero-COVID" policy.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s embattled prime minister on Sunday officially launched his conservative party’s campaign less than a week before elections, highlighting the nation’s early success in containing the pandemic and its strong economic recovery.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California's governor on Friday proposed a temporary tax cut for the state's struggling legal marijuana industry, but businesses said it falls far short of what’s needed to revive a foundering pot economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed out another volatile week of trading with a broad rally Friday, though it wasn't nearly enough to keep the market from its sixth straight weekly drop, the longest such streak since 2011.
NEW DELHI (AP) — With one brother president, another prime minister and three more family members cabinet ministers, it appeared that the Rajapaksa clan had consolidated its grip on power in Sri Lanka after decades in and out of government.
Asian shares bounced back Friday from losses earlier in the week, shrugging off data showing U.S. wholesale prices soared 11% in April from a year earlier.
The regional rally followed a mixed and muted close on Wall Street.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed Jerome Powell for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair, giving bipartisan backing to Powell's high-stakes efforts to curb the highest inflation in four decades.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, fresh off winning Senate confirmation for a second term earlier in the day, acknowledged for the first time Thursday that high inflation and economic weakness overseas could thwart his efforts to avoid causing a recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for jobless aid ticked up slightly last week but the total number of Americans collecting benefits remained at its lowest level in more than five decades.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s leaders are struggling to reverse an economic slump without giving up anti-virus tactics that shut down Shanghai and other cities, adding to challenges for President Xi Jinping as he tries to extend his time in power.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — New homes built in California starting in 2026 need to be powered by all-electric furnaces, stoves and other appliances if California is to meet its ambitious climate change goals over the next two decades, according to a state pollution-reduction plan released Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned voters unhappy with soaring inflation and his stalled domestic agenda against turning power over to “ultra-MAGA” Republicans in the midterm elections as he increasingly tries to cast former President Donald Trump and his adherents as a political foil.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's appearance before a Senate committee took an unexpected and tense detour into the abortion debate Tuesday when senators questioned her about the potential impact of an abortion ban on the American economy.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government set out its agenda for the next year on Tuesday with sweeping promises to cut crime, improve health care and revive the U.K.’s pandemic-scarred economy — but no new help for millions of Britons struggling to pay their bills as the cost of living soars.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative political neophyte, took office Tuesday as South Korea’s new president with a vow to pursue a negotiated settlement of North Korea’s threatening nuclear program and an offer of “an audacious plan” to improve its economy if it abandons its nuclear weapons.