ECONOMY

Worldwide economic prospects have dimmed this year as countries have faced higher living costs, tighter financial conditions and increased uncertainty following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Commerce Department's advance third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday is expected to show underlying demand in the economy flat last quarter amid a slowdown in consumer spending and moderate growth in business investment.

Speaking to Reuters in Berlin a day before the European Central Bank is widely expected to raise rates by 75 basis points, the fund's managing director said it would take until 2024 for the positive effect of central banks raising rates globally to be felt.

Following a meeting of his new-look cabinet, Sunak was set to engage in his first parliamentary joust against opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, who is demanding a snap general election.

At the top of Sunak's agenda will be preparation for a fiscal statement, keenly anticipated by financial markets, which is scheduled for Oct. 31 but which the Times newspaper reported could be pushed back by a few days.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8% in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6%.

A poll by the Athens-based Eteron think tank this year showed that for 83% of 1,007 respondents aged 18-44, affordable housing was their top concern.

If investors are warming to Wall Street, however fleeting that rapprochement may turn out to be, they could not be giving Chinese markets a colder shoulder.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were down 48 cents, or 0.6%, to $84.84, reversing the previous session's gain.

One bright spot is that most major economies already in a recession or heading into one are starting with relatively low unemployment compared with previous downturns.

The country's finance secretary said on Monday the government would not allow the peso, which has already hit multi-year lows, to breach 60.

While some opportunists thrive in adversity, experts say that for many investors it takes a toll on mental health.

China reported on Monday a faster-than-expected 3.9% expansion in its economy in the third quarter, but data for September showed weak imports of goods and retail sales, reflecting its still subdued domestic demand.

The brisk U.S. sales highlight the far-reaching effect of the war in Ukraine on global food and energy supplies.

The Asian benchmark is nursing losses of nearly 32% so far this year, weighed by big falls in Hong Kong shares while emerging markets such as India and Indonesia have gained on improving growth prospects.

The data was originally scheduled for release on Oct. 18 but was delayed amid a key Communist Party Congress last week, which ended with Xi Jinping securing a precedent-breaking third term as its leader.

Money markets are betting on another 75-basis point move at the Bank of Canada's Oct. 26 meeting, taking its policy rate to a 14-year high at 4.0%. This will be on top of 300-bp worth of increases since March.

Speaking to parliament, Scholz also said Germany had freed itself from dependence on Russian gas and was working to bring energy prices down, but warned that the EU imposing a gas price cap risked back-firing.

The embattled Swiss lender wants to draw a line under a string of scandals and legal actions in a shake-up that would likely see it pare back a volatile investment bank in London and New York to focus on banking for the rich in Switzerland.

The currency has plunged from February levels of around 115 as the Bank of Japan sticks to its longstanding ultra-loose policies, designed to encourage sustainable growth in the world's third-largest economy.

Inflation in the eurozone reached 10% last month, as the region grapples with soaring energy prices that have raised the risks of a recession this winter.

Europe's energy crisis has cooled efforts to lower the carbon intensity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments, as buyers worried about a winter supply crunch prioritize securing shipments of any kind over burnishing their green credentials.

Brent crude futures rose 73 cents, or 0.8%, to $90.76 a barrel by 0100 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $83.95 a barrel, up $1.13, or 1.4%. WTI's front-month contract expires on Thursday.

The dollar pushed as high as 149.395 yen overnight for the first time since August 1990, before last trading at 149.18 early in Wednesday's Asian session.

Narita Airport chief executive Akihiko Tamura said a jump in overseas arrivals in Japan's biggest international travel hub was an indication of this broader trend.

Truss has been silent for three days as crisis consumes her leadership, and declined to answer requests from the Labour Party to tell parliament about her decision to sack Kwarteng, instead sending out minister Penny Mordaunt.

The sale would market the remaining 14 million barrels from Biden's previously announced, and largest ever, release from the reserve of 180 million barrels that started in May.

Annual inflation ran at 7.2% in the third quarter, sitting just below a three-decade high, Statistics New Zealand said in a statement on Tuesday.

Nearly 10% of American workers surveyed in 2020 were covered by a training repayment agreement, said the Cornell Survey Research Institute.