Economy

The move builds on May’s budget, which attacked cost of living pressures in Australia and gave debt relief for students, as well as more investment to make medicines cheaper, and a boost to a rent assistance programme.

UK markets were spared painful blows from the new Labour government’s first budget on Wednesday, which announced 40 billion pounds of tax hikes to plug shortfalls but soothed jitters about public spending blowouts and debt market disorder.

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday the European Union would have to “pay a big price” for not buying enough American exports if he won the Nov. 5 election.

 Germany needs both structural reforms and more investment in public infrastructure to overcome recession, the European head of the International Monetary Fund said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

China renewed warnings to the European Union that if the bloc conducts separate negotiations with electric vehicle companies while in talks with China, that would “shake mutual trust” and interfere with the overall negotiations, Chinese commerce ministry said on Monday.

The European Union and China have agreed to hold further technical negotiations soon on possible alternatives to tariffs on China-built electric vehicles, although significant gaps remain, the European Commission said on Friday.

China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction without the basis of international law and the authorization of the UN Security Council,” ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a press briefing.

US stock futures wavered around the flatline on Wednesday as investors digested the first busy day of the third-quarter earnings season and looked ahead to more corporate results this week.

While wage growth has eased since its 2022 peak, it remains higher than any point in the decade before the pandemic. However, despite this strength in labor data, business and consumer surveys have reflected weaker sentiment.

Brazil’s central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto on Monday highlighted a “huge” de-anchoring of inflation expectations in the country, adding that it is “very important” to bring inflation back to the 3% target, and policymakers are committed to doing so.