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☆ Australia inflation races to 32-year high, sounds rate alarm
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SYDNEY, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Australian inflation raced to a 32-year high last quarter as the cost of home building and gas surged, an alarming result that will stoke pressure for a return to more aggressive rate hikes by the country's central bank. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8% in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6%. The annual rate shot up to 7.3%, from 6.1%, the highest since 1990 and almost three times the pace of wage growth. A closely watched measure of core inflation, the trimmed mean, also climbed 1.8% in the quarter, lifting the annual pace to 6.1% and again far above forecasts of 5.6%. Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ What do Indians think about Rishi Sunak’s rise? Like UK-India relations, it’s complicated
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Now, an Indian-origin man has become the Prime Minister of England,” a Zee News anchor said. Leon Neal/Getty Images Sunak and Boris Johnson watch as a sheep is sheared during a visit to a farm in North Yorkshire, England, in July 2019. Danny Lawson/PA Images/Getty Images Sunak speaks during a general election debate in Cardiff, Wales, in November 2019. Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sunak and Murty are seen with their daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, while campaigning in Grantham, England, in July 2022. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested as much in a tweet welcoming Sunak’s appointment.

Like Truss, Sunak promised a tough approach to illegal immigration and vowed to expand the government’s controversial Rwanda immigration policy. At the time Johnson was running to lead Britain's Conservative Party and Sunak was a member of Parliament. Danny Lawson/PA Images/Getty Images Sunak speaks during a general election debate in Cardiff, Wales, in November 2019. Danny Lawson/PA/Getty Images Sunak delivers a speech during the annual Conservative Party Conference in Manchester in October 2021. Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty Images Sunak and Murty are seen with their daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, while campaigning in Grantham, England, in July 2022.

In 10 years of ruling China, Xi Jinping has expunged political rivals, replacing them with allies. With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Take practical actions to welcome the victory of the Party's 20th National Congress” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Take practical actions to welcome the victory of the Party's 20th National Congress” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Earlier this year, local officials in the southern region of Guangxi printed and distributed small red booklets about Xi Jinping Thought.

☆ European countries are shelling out huge sums to deal with the energy crunch. Economists fear it could spark a new financial crisis.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A new debt crisis could be looming as European countries throw huge sums of money at the energy crisis. Already, the energy crisis is estimated to have cost Europe around 700 billion euros. Combined with a high debt load, that spells trouble, Boskin says, because debt itself is also inflationary. Additional spending and debt from the energy crisis could result in more stress being exerted on the financial system. "I think a debt crisis could very likely ensue given the vast amounts that [are] being spent as a percentage of GDP.

☆ An officer helping enact Putin's mobilization is the latest in a string of unexplained deaths among high-ranking Russians
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian official who oversaw military enlistment was found dead, local officials said. People close to him do not believe that it was a suicide, Meduza reported, without specifying the source of that information. Putin announced the "partial mobilization" of Russians in September, forcing vast numbers of military reservists to join his invasion of Ukraine. Mysterious deathsA number of Russian officials have died in unusual or unexplained ways in the months since the Ukraine invasion began. The former head of a Russian aviation research institute also died, with a source telling Russian media that he fell down the stairs.

☆ Voters are more worried than ever about the economy — and they think Republicans can fix it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new New York Times/Siena College poll finds voters are overwhelmingly concerned about the economy. Voters who are most worried about the economy are also leaning Republican ahead of the midterms. According to the Times, 44% of the likely voters answered that "economic concerns were the most important issues facing America." But the Times poll also shows that dour views on the economy may spell trouble for Democrats and wins for Republicans. The voters they surveyed who were the most worried about the economy also "overwhelmingly" leaned Republican.

WisconsinDemocrats see Republican Sen. Ron Johnson as a vulnerable incumbent. Barnes has espoused progressive views in office, but his Senate campaign has focused more on pocketbook issues such as inflation and taxes. Vance appears locked in a tight Senate race against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, despite running in a red-leaning state that Trump won handily in 2020. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan's approval ratings have fallen, including among unaffiliated voters who make up a major chunk of the state's electorate. FloridaFormer Orlando police chief and Democratic Rep. Val Demings aims to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

☆ JPMorgan profit down 17% as sluggish dealmaking, loan loss reserves weigh
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 14 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) reported a 17% drop in third-quarter profit on Friday, as a worsening economic outlook curbed dealmaking and prompted the largest American bank to boost its reserves for possible defaults. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterDimon, however, cautioned that rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical turmoil pose significant headwinds. The bank set aside $808 million in reserves, as the Fed's interest rate hikes stoke fears of an economic downturn. By comparison, in the same quarter last year, the bank had released $2.1 billion of reserves that it had kept aside for potential COVID losses. The bank reported $32.72 billion in revenue for the quarter, up from $29.65 billion last year.

Their joint communique released by the U.S. Treasury late on Wednesday did give Japan something - but it was thin gruel. read more"Recognizing that many currencies have moved significantly this year with increased volatility, we reaffirm our exchange rate commitments as elaborated in May 2017," the G7 wrote. And, for the record, the 2017 phraseology was that excess volatility and disorderly currency moves have negative impacts on their economies and financial stability. read more"We cannot tolerate excessive volatility in the currency market driven by speculative moves," he opined after. The big question is whether this dollar surge is in fact a "short run" aberration or whether it is a more permanent feature of the global landscape.

☆ IMF cuts Asia's growth forecasts, warns of strong dollar strains
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The downgrade underscores heightening uncertainty over Asia's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as darkening growth prospects for the United States, China and the euro zone economies stoke fear of a global recession. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"A widening debt crisis in (emerging) economies would weigh heavily on global growth and could precipitate a global recession. The world's second-largest economy is expected to see growth rebound to 4.4% in 2023, down 0.2 point from the IMF's forecast in July. The IMF expects Japan's economy to grow 1.7% this year, unchanged from its projection in July, and 1.6% in 2023, down 0.1 point. Japan's downgrade for 2023 reflects an expected weakening of consumption blamed on rising inflation and slow wage growth, the report said.

Oil prices rose around 4% on Monday morning. Crude oil storage tanks at the Juaymah Tank Farm in Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. "A further uptick in trading activity coupled with tightening near-term oil fundamentals could well push oil prices back to $100/bbl," Brennock said in a research note. Storage tanks and oil processing facilities operate beside the Arabian Sea at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and terminal in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. The upcoming OPEC+ meeting in Vienna will result in an oil production cut "of some historic kind", said CIO of Pickering Energy Partners, Dan Pickering.

☆ The Bank of England is snapping up bonds to stabilize debt markets — but that goes against its aim of stemming inflation. Here's what you want to know.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Friday eve means the weekend's just around the corner, but it seems like nobody told the British bond market. The balancing act, at worst, could mean a calamity for the British economy and prolonged volatility in markets. And at best, policymakers thread the needle and stabilize markets, tame inflation, and regain the confidence of traders and everyday folks dealing with a tough economy. A weaker currency means imports get more expensive, and higher bond yields mean government borrowing gets more expensive. What will it take for bond market traders to regain confidence in the UK debt market?

☆ Europe blames sabotage for Russian pipeline explosions
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Rhoda Kwan | Rhoda Kwan Is A Taipei-Based Journalist. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Sabotage was behind underwater explosions that sent gas spewing from two major pipelines connecting Europe and Russia, Western leaders concurred Wednesday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he discussed the “sabotage” of the pipelines at a meeting with Denmark’s defense minister in Brussels. The incident has put the region on edge, months after fears of a Russian military threat to the Baltics dissipated in the wake of its military’s struggles in Ukraine. A new Baltic pipeline allowing gas to be delivered from Norway through Denmark to Poland was inaugurated Tuesday. In recent weeks, Moscow has increasingly framed the war as not just with Ukraine but its Western backers, too.

☆ From DeSantis to Trump, last week defined Republican Party in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Kurt Bardella | Kurt Bardella Is An Adviser To The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee | A Member Of The Korean Americans For Political Action Board Of Advisers. He Is A Former Spokesperson | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Ron DeSantis, using human beings as political props for a craven publicity stunt designed to stoke right-wing outrage toward migrants. Then, the current Republican Party standard-bearer found himself in even more legal hot water after the New York attorney general's lawsuit alleging Trump and his eldest children committed fraud. During climate week, Democratic Govs. The GOP has had other bad weeks in the past — and so has the Democratic Party. I left the ranks of the Republican Party because I was worried it had fundamentally lost its way.

☆ Jesse Watters' rise at Fox, from Bill O'Reilly's ambush man to Tucker Carlson wannabe
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Noah Hurowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

At the time, Watters was best known for pulling off elaborately planned ambush interviews on "The O'Reilly Factor," then Fox News' top-rated show. When Grim picked his phone up and trained it again on Watters, the smile was gone from Watters' face. Watters on the set of his show "Jesse Watters Primetime." In early 2022, "Jesse Watters Primetime" debuted, airing right before "Hannity." Watters, whose entire career has been at Fox News, might be a safer bet, according to Muto, the former O'Reilly producer.

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☆ UK swaps one cost-of-living crisis for another
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But the budget plans of new Prime Minister Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng may cause a world of pain for mortgage borrowers. Surging interest rates will crimp spending and hurt the housing market, further undermining Truss and Kwarteng’s growth plans. Capital Economics reckons at Monday’s implied levels, mortgage costs could reach their highest level relative to borrowers’ income since 1990. Rather than having to bail them out, regulators and politicians may push lenders to offer repayment holidays or cut interest rates. It will find it equally difficult to let mortgage borrowers suffer alone.

☆ Meta shuts down covert influence campaigns it says were run from China and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —Facebook parent company Meta announced Tuesday it had detected and shut down two separate networks of fake accounts engaged in covert influence operations run from China and Russia. Meta publicly detailed the takedown as it remains on high alert for foreign interference in the US midterm elections, a Meta spokesperson told CNN. The company has shared details of the Chinese accounts with the FBI, a Meta spokesperson said. More than 2,000 Facebook accounts and pages were part of the effort to push pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine, Meta said. “This was the first Chinese network we disrupted that focused on US domestic politics ahead of the midterm elections,” Meta said.

☆ Biden's student loan relief plan will cost $400 billion. Republicans call it 'unsustainable' and Democrats say it will give 'Americans more breathing room.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office finds student loan relief will cost $400 billion. Now, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is shedding light on how much relief will cost: $400 billion, plus $20 billion from outstanding loan payments and interest being paused through December. The $400 billion also pales in comparison to major expenditures from the administration, like $796 billion on defense in 2022. The student loan relief will disproportionately impact Black and Latino borrowers, millennials, and public servants such as teachers, police, and non-profit workers. "Today's CBO estimate makes clear that millions of middle class Americans have more breathing room thanks to President Biden's historic decision to cancel student debt," Sens.

The exterior of the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building is seen in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 14, 2022. Asked at a Washington Post event whether he felt U.S. investors had taken an overly optimistic view of Fed policy until a recent sharp sell-off begin, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said that was beside the point. "Until that happens we're going to see I think a lot of volatility in the marketplace in all directions." "At the moment, inflation remains too high," Collins said in her first policy remarks since becoming head of the bank. The Fed maintains a 2% inflation target, as measured by the personal consumptions expenditures price index.

☆ Fed's Bostic says events in UK could raise economic stress in Europe, U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The reaction to the proposed plan is a real concern and a fear that the new actions will add uncertainty to the economy," Bostic said in a webcast interview with the Washington Post. "These are just proposals, and we haven't actually seen what's going to play out," Bostic said. Bostic, the first Fed official to address the events in Britain, gave no indication the Fed might respond in any way. "The more important thing is that we need to get inflation under control," Bostic said. "Until that happens, we're going to see I think a lot of volatility in the marketplace in all directions."

☆ Factbox: A history of UK currency crises and crashes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The currency fell as low $1.0327 at one point. read more It has fallen almost 8% since Thursday and 21% since the start of the year, a pace drawing comparisons with the currency crises that have marked Britain’s post-war history. Britain also used some creative accounting to hide the extent of its foreign exchange reserves losses, such as in a 12.5 billion pound "secret negative forward book". Against a soaring U.S. currency swelled by global trade imbalances, parity with the dollar - once unthinkable - became a real possibility. A briefing to the media in January 1985 from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, intended to reassure financial markets, backfired badly.

☆ Central Banks May Stoke Risks by Raising Interest Rates Together
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Paul Hannon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Central banks around the world are raising their key interest rates in the most widespread tightening of monetary policy on record. Some economists fear they may go too far if they don’t take into account their collective impact on global demand. According to the World Bank, the number of rate increases announced by central banks around the world was the highest in July since records began in the early 1970s. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve delivered its third 0.75 percentage-point increase in as many meetings. This past week its counterparts in Indonesia, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the U.K. also upped rates.

☆ Russia plans to slash 40% of its natural gas flows - with Europe already facing an energy crisis from its cuts
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia plans to cut its natural gas exports by 40% over the next three years, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Moscow will cut gas exports to around 125.2 billion cubic meters in 2023-2025, potentially exacerbating Europe's energy crisis. That's down from an estimated 142 billion cubic meters this year. Senior European Union officials have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "weaponizing" energy flows in a bid to stoke the continent's energy crisis. Read more: This map shows where Europe gets its natural gas - and why economic disaster is looming if Russia cuts off its fuel supply

☆ As Russia raises nuclear specter in Ukraine, China looks the other way
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It was “the most prudent, or most low-key statement in years” issued by Xi on their strategic relationship, Shi said. Under Xi, China has forged ever closer ties with Russia. Six days later, in a desperate escalation of the devastating war, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens in a televised speech, and even raised the specter of using nuclear weapons. Both leaders share a deep suspicion and hostility toward the United States, which they believe is bent on holding China and Russia down. The main factor driving the strategic alignment between Russia and China is the perception of threats from the United States, said Hart with CSIS.

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