Page 78 - Eco News Today

Indexes rose by midday as investors cheered passage of a bill by lawmakers to suspend the nation's debt ceiling.

U.S. central bankers should not raise interest rates at their next meeting, Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said on Thursday, even though high inflation is coming down at a "disappointingly slow" pace.

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan

U.S. oil and gas production continued to rise strongly in March - the delayed impact of very high prices that prevailed until the third quarter of 2022.

The bipartisan debt-ceiling deal that could clear Congress as soon as Thursday would stave off an imminent U.S. default, but might deliver less budget savings than Republicans have hoped for, according to nonpartisan budget analysts.

Ghanaian labour unions have asked the government for time to assess a proposal presented on Thursday to restructure pension funds worth around 30 billion Ghanaian cedis ($2.7 billion).

Sentiment among British businesses fell for the first time in three months in May as firms were less optimistic about the economy and their trading prospects despite some signs of resilience in the economy, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Asia's stockmarkets slid toward a second month of losses in a row on Wednesday, and even the glittering Nikkei paused, as weak Chinese factory activity fed growing doubts about the post-pandemic recovery in the world's second biggest economy.

News of a debt ceiling agreement still leaves uncertainties on the U.S. credit outlook, analysts said, in addition to the immediate risk that Congress may not pass the proposed deal before the country runs out of cash.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday its budget deficit projections would be reduced by about $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years if the debt ceiling bill now up for a vote in Congress were enacted in its present form.