AFP
19848 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
19848 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
The US Federal Reserve's united front against inflation could be harder to hold together going into the next hike in September, with strong economic data and falling inflation figures fueling disagreement over the best path forward.
The head of NatWest's private banking arm Coutts resigned on Thursday, the second top executive to quit the group following a row over the closure of the account of arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage. Peter Flavel, chief executive of Coutts since March 2016, quit the upmarket bank "by mutual consent with immediate effect", NatWest's interim CEO Paul Thwaite said in a statement.
The US economy defied expectations to see growth pick up in the second quarter, according to government data released Thursday, supported by business investment and resilient consumer spending. On Thursday, the rise in GDP "reflected increases in consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending" and other areas, said the Commerce Department in a statement.
Turkey's central bank more than doubled its year-end inflation forecast to 58 percent on Thursday as its new Wall Street-trained governor vowed to keep raising interest rates after years of controversial policies. The bank nearly doubled its rate last month from 8.5 percent to 15 percent but its following hike was smaller, raising it 17.5 percent.
Shell and other energy majors posted sliding net profits Thursday after oil and gas prices weakened in the first half. Spain's Repsol also posted drops in profits on Thursday, a day after similar results reported by Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor.
Volkswagen said Thursday its profits slipped in the second quarter as it battles to regain ground in China, the German auto giant's most important market. The auto giant nevertheless struck a positive note about its prospects in the major market, saying it was stepping up the pace of "transformation in China".
On the road linking Niger's capital Niamey with the south of the country, illegal fuel warehouses have closed and intrepid black-market touts waving petrol canisters at passing cars have become an endangered species. The current shortage on the black market is causing a rush to the few filling stations, especially in areas close to Nigeria which used to rely heavily on smuggled petrol.
European Central Bank policymakers looked set to deliver another interest rate increase on Thursday as their fight against eurozone inflation reaches the one-year mark with consumer prices still rising fast. Yet consumer prices have continued to rise at a fast clip.
The Russian president will on Thursday host leaders of African countries for a summit in his native Saint Petersburg, as the continent braces for the consequences of Moscow's withdrawal from the Ukraine grain export deal.
AFP
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