The U.S. House and Senate on Tuesday plan to take sharply divergent paths in a high-stakes spending battle, with just five days remaining until a deadline that could force wide swaths of the government to shut down for the fourth time in a decade. The Democratic-controlled Senate plans to vote on a stopgap funding bill with bipartisan support that would keep the federal government operating after current money runs out at midnight on Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday), giving negotiators more time to agree on full-year spending numbers. Meanwhile Republican House ...

Despite undergoing one of the most aggressive monetary tightening phases in recent history, the US economy is displaying remarkable resilience, raising hopes that the world’s largest economy might achieve a ‘soft landing.’ However, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appears cautious as he acknowledges that such an outcome is merely a possibility which will depend on numerous factors beyond the control of the US Fed. Powell indicated that a “soft landing” for the economy is not the most likely or expected outcome, but it is still considered a possibility. “I’ve ...

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is due to try to advance steep spending cuts this week that stand no chance of becoming law and could force a partial shutdown of the U.S. government by next Sunday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sought to avoid that scenario when he hammered out a spending agreement with Democratic President Joe Biden this spring. But some members of his own party have threatened to depose him if he does not support steeper cuts that are sure to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Hundreds of ...

Sentiment among German exporters worsened further in September, falling to its lowest point since May 2020, according to a survey by the Ifo economic institute released on Tuesday. In its fifth consecutive month of decline, the institute’s export expectations indicator fell to minus 11.3 points in September, from minus 6.5 points in August. “Germany’s export economy is going through a weak phase,” Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at Ifo, said. “It’s likely that export demand won’t pick up again significantly until next year,” he added. Interest rate hikes by central ...

The economy of the United States has been on a strong recovery track since the beginning of the year, and according to Federal Reserve predictions, the US GDP may achieve an annualized year-on-year growth of 5.0 percent in the third quarter, which will be the highest expansion spurt in nearly 20 years. There are many driving forces behind such a strong uptrend to be sure. But the basic logic behind the reacceleration of the US economy, as far as we are concerned, stems from the staggered transformation of US economic ...

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Monday that given the surprising resilience of the U.S. economy, the Fed probably needs to raise borrowing rates further and keep them high for some time to bring inflation back down to 2%. “If the economy is fundamentally much stronger than we realized, on the margin, that would tell me rates probably have to go a little bit higher, and then be held higher for longer to cool things off,” he said at an event at the Wharton School of Business, ...

A U.S. government shutdown would harm the country’s credit, rating agency Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) said on Monday, a stern warning coming one month after Fitch downgraded the U.S. by one notch on the back of a debt ceiling crisis. U.S. government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. A possible shutdown would be further evidence of how political polarization in Washington is weakening fiscal policymaking at a time of rising pressures ...

Economic growth – firming, not stalling In the second quarter, India recorded a growth rate of 7.8% YoY, which was a marked increase over the 6.1% rate of growth recorded for the first quarter. This makes India the fastest-growing major economy in the world and leaves growth on track to achieve 7% for the full year. India’s growth momentum is in stark contrast to the rest of the Asia Pacific region, where economic growth is generally slowing – a response to the slowdown in the West, and more importantly in ...

The highway runs through the forest like a black ribbon, down to the sea and to what must be one of the world’s largest tourism projects. Fifteen years after it began, there is still not much to see of the Dara Sakor Seashore Resort in southern Cambodia. It is a grandiose scheme by a Chinese company to build a self-contained tourist city. A Chinese colony, some have called it a venue for “feasting and revelry”, according to the company, complete with international airport, deep-sea port, power stations, hospitals, casinos and ...

The European Central Bank has reached the point where it needs to be wary of raising interest rates too high and should try to avoid a hard landing of the economy, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday. The ECB raised its main interest rate to a record high 4% this month after 10 successive hikes, but signalled a pause in October. Nonetheless, some policymakers have since indicated a hike is still possible in the face of stubbornly high euro zone inflation, which at 5.2% in August remains ...

Employing his fluent Chinese, Wouters Jeffery was busy introducing his Belgian products to expo visitors, pouring beer for them to taste. Held on the sidelines of 2023 Euro-Asia Economic Forum, the economic and trade expo was held from Friday to Monday in Xi’an, the capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. Stationed in Xi’an, Jeffery, 35, works for a Brussels-based import consulting services company. The total trade value of his company exceeded 4 million yuan (about 557,670 U.S. dollars) in 2019, importing food, software and other products for multiple clients from ...

Retired doctor Chen Ju, who could have afforded a flat in one of Beijing’s exclusive retirement communities, chose to live with her retired accountant daughter. The 79-year-old, who spends her days gardening, going on walks and chatting with the neighbours, said she has hearing problems and some muscle weakness, but is largely healthy. “My old work colleagues tell me being in a retirement community home is better since there is professional medical care, but I prefer being with my daughter and her husband,” she said. Madam Chen is one of ...

S&P Global Ratings on Monday retained India’s growth forecast for current fiscal at 6 per cent citing slowing world economy, rising risk of subnormal monsoons and delayed effect of rate hike. The US-based agency sees the recent spike in vegetable price inflation as being temporary, but revised up the full fiscal retail inflation forecast to 5.5 per cent, from 5 per cent earlier, on higher global oil prices. “Growth this year will be weaker than in 2022, but our outlook remains broadly favourable. Notwithstanding the strong expansion in India in ...

The newly-agreed forum for regulatory cooperation between Britain and the European Union will hold its first meeting on Oct. 19, a senior UK finance ministry official said on Monday. Britain and the EU had agreed to set up a forum for their financial regulators to discuss issues, but its creation was delayed due to a dispute between London and Brussels over trading arrangements for Northern Ireland which is now resolved. Brexit has meant that the UK financial sector is largely cut off from the EU. Britain and the EU finally ...

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said there was “very high uncertainty” over whether companies would continue raising prices and wages, stressing anew the bank’s resolve to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy. He also offered a cautious take on the overseas economic outlook, warning of the fallout from aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes and sluggish growth in the Chinese economy. The key to the outlook for monetary policy is whether strong wage growth and consumption, rather than cost pressures from rising import costs, become the key driver of inflation, Ueda said. ...