ECONOMY & MARKETS

An expected slowing of Colombia's economic growth and more gradual rise in inflation suggest a lesser need for interest rate hikes as rates get closer to peaking, central bank board member Roberto Steiner said on Thursday.

Argentina's latest economy minister, Sergio Massa, stressed the need to boost hard currency reserves in a speech on Thursday, pointing to new debt repurchase operations that could help, as well as advances in talks with the country's key farm sector.

Turkey's central bank shocked markets on Thursday by cutting its main interest rate by 100 basis points to 13%, saying it needed to keep driving economic growth despite inflation hitting nearly 80% and a monetary tightening trend among its peers worldwide.

Canadian banks are expected to post declines in profits on average in the third quarter as a murky economic outlook drives up provisions for credit losses (PCL) while market turmoil pressures capital markets and wealth management results, analysts and investors said.

Brazilian central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto on Thursday said Brazil hiked interest rates earlier and faster than the rest of the world

Wall Street's main indexes were set to open slightly higher on Thursday, with investors seeking fresh signals for future rate hikes after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting suggested a less aggressive monetary policy tightening path.

Sri Lanka will ask Japan to invite the Indian Ocean island's main creditor nations, including China and India, to talks on bilateral debt restructuring, as it seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades, its president said on Thursday.

Angolan voters will choose next Wednesday between a party that's been in power for nearly five decades and its main opponent for even longer, in what looks like the closest ever election in Africa's second-biggest oil producer.

Since 2011, Peruvians have lived under seven presidents and seen four ex-leaders detained or wanted on corruption allegations.

It's a weekday, but 50-year-old Lebanese finance ministry employee Walid Chaar is not at work and hasn't been since June.

Britain's next prime minister will not have room to make large, permanent tax cuts, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said on Thursday, challenging the plans of the two Conservative candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.

China's banking regulator is scrutinising property sector loan portfolios of some local and foreign lenders to assess systemic risks, sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the real estate sector's debt crisis worsens.

Indonesia's president on Thursday said his government was calculating how much longer it can sustain a policy of keeping fuel prices unchanged, while the central bank governor hinted at keeping rates steady at an upcoming policy review.

Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as investors grappled with falling stockpiles in the United States, rising output from Russia and worries about a potential global recession.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) kept its key rates steady on Thursday, as widely expected, as it awaits the impact of past hikes to trickle through the economy while a fall in global commodity prices is also expected to soothe domestic inflation.

Australia's jobless rate dropped to a fresh 48-year low in July even as employment broke a super-strong run with the first fall this year, a mixed report that might hint at some cooling in the red-hot labour market.

The dollar was on the front foot on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting pointed to U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer to bring down inflation.

More large Japanese companies are now raising wages to attract workers and cope with chronic staff shortages, a monthly Reuters poll showed on Thursday, a tentative sign Japan Inc may be slowly addressing pay that has been flat for decades.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has directed the head of the Internal Revenue Service to produce a detailed plan for deploying $80 billion in newly enacted enforcement funding within six months, an internal Treasury memo showed on Wednesday.

Thousands of frustrated Argentines clogged downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday in raucous street protests, demanding government action to boost salaries and unemployment benefits battered by surging consumer prices and a weakening peso currency.

Ghana's central bank on Wednesday delivered its biggest rate hike ever, a 300 basis point increase to 22%, at an emergency meeting to address the economy's rapid deterioration amid crippling inflation.

The busiest U.S. seaport expects August imports to begin easing from record highs as retailers cancel orders in the wake of shoppers' pulling back from freewheeling pandemic spending, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles said on Wednesday.

Bank of America said on Wednesday overdraft fee revenue for June and July was down 90% from last year, as a result of lowering the fees charged to customers whose account balances go negative.

U.S. retail sales were unexpectedly unchanged in July as falling gasoline prices weighed on receipts at service stations, but consumer spending appeared to pick up at the start of the third quarter, further assuaging fears the economy was in a recession.

A global group of investors and pension funds have said they will push top corporate water users to address financial risks and protect resources, citing widespread droughts and severe weather.

Teachers face a harsh lesson as inflation drives up the cost of everything from paper to pencils before the school year begins, leading some to cut back on supplies - or substitute with cheaper items.

Top U.S. and European banks are facing tougher times in the riskiest parts of the loan market.

Some Black farmers say they are disappointed by a new U.S.

Federal Reserve officials are adamant they will keep raising interest rates until high inflation is under control, and the release on Wednesday of the minutes from their July 26-27 policy meeting may shed light on just how aggressive they expect to be.