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The Canadian economy posted flat growth in August, Statistics Canada said Thursday, but there were signs of a rebound stirring in September.

unemployment benefits fell to a five-month low last week and consumer spending increased more than expected in September, showcasing the economy's strength heading into the final stretch of 2024 and just days before next Tuesday's presidential election. Though prices pushed higher last month, inflation is firmly on a downward trend, with other data on Thursday showing labor costs posting their smallest gain in more than three years in the third quarter. The data likely keeps the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates next week and again in December. «We are not concerned that inflation's progress toward the Fed's target is stalling, let alone reaccelerating,» said Ryan Sweet, chief economist at Oxford Economics.

inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve has dropped to near pre-pandemic levels. The Commerce Department reported that prices rose just 2.1% in September from a year earlier, down from a 2.3% rise in August. That is barely above the Fed's 2% inflation target and in line with readings in 2018, well before prices began surging after the pandemic recession. Yet some signs of inflation pressures remained. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 2.7% in September from a year earlier for the third straight month. On a monthly basis, core prices rose 0.3% from August to September, up from just 0.1% from July to August. The increase in the core rate is higher than the Fed would prefer.

Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remained at historically healthy levels despite elevated interest rates

As a presidential race profoundly shaped by Americans’ frustration with high prices nears its end, the government said Thursday that an inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve has dropped to near pre-pandemic levels

Islamabad: The fundamental assumptions used to finalise the USD 7 billion deal with the IMF have gone awry within a month of its approval, leaving the authorities concerned with an option either to renegotiate the package or keep suffocating the economy through more taxes, according to a media report on Thursday. Official statistics show that out of four key underlying assumptions for achieving the nearly Rs 13 trillion tax target — the economic growth rate, inflation, large-scale manufacturing and imports — three assumptions have already been proven wrong by the end of the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The federal government has also overly committed on behalf of the four provincial governments that, too, are struggling to meet their conditions soon after the deal became effective. The Express Tribune newspaper reported that the official statistics for the first quarter (July-September) revealed that — from the Federal Board of Revenue's tax collection target to provincial cash surpluses — everything has gone off the mark.

Banrion Capital Management CEO Shana Sissel and Bullseye American Ingenuity Fund portfolio manager Adam Johnson on Meta and Alphabet earnings, and how a divided government could impact stocks.

Asian central banks will cut interest rates slower than the U.S. Federal Reserve over the coming year, Reuters polls showed, as solid growth has eased pressure to maintain currency stability against a persistently strong dollar. A jumbo 50 basis points Fed rate cut in September and expectations for two more quarter-percentage point reductions by end-year has provided wriggle room for central banks in Asian economies to consider their next moves. The Fed is expected to cut rates by another 125 basis points next year, much more than Asian central banks. But with the U.S. economy showing continued resilience, the greater risk is for the Fed to move more gradually than speed up.

central banks implement a series of interest rate cuts against the backdrop of a strong U.S. economy, according to a Reuters poll of around 500 economists. Next week's hotly-contested U.S. presidential election could limit the growth picture, however, by re-writing the current rules around trade. Unexpected resilience that led economists to significantly upgrade their 2024 global growth forecasts since the beginning of the year is in large part thanks to the U.S. economy's performance.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DENG XIAOPING was barely five feet tall, but China’s late ruler was a political giant. He was a leading figure in the Communist revolution and a hard-nosed Leninist.

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Sandeep Sharma are likely to be retained by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, according to ESPNcricinfo. With these retentions, the 2008 champions would still hold two Right-to-Match (RTM) card options for the auction. All four players had standout performances in the previous season. Rajasthan skipper Samson led with 531 runs across 16 matches, averaging 48.27 with a strike rate of 153.47, including three half-centuries and a top score of 82*.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Countries in Asia-Pacific will need to spend big to adapt to climate change. But the cost of inaction could be higher, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank.

Despite an oversized interest rate cut from the Bank of Canada last week, experts who spoke to Global News say Canadians shouldn’t be expecting much more discounting on fixed mortgage rates.

British Airways flight earlier this week after a fight broke out over a “Make America Great Again” hat.The fracas went down at London’s Heathrow Airport Monday afternoon as passengers were getting set to board a flight to Austin, Texas, the London Standard reports.The unidentified women — one in her 40s and the other in her 60s — exchanged punches after one of the women demanded that the other take off the red baseball cap that was emblazoned with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s MAGA slogan.When the women boarded the plane, the melee reportedly continued in the aircraft’s premium economy cabin, and they traded more blows.That’s when the captain of the plane called for help and both women were removed from the plane.A Heathrow source described the fight as “extraordinary.” They told The Sun: “Airline crew could not run the risk of a full scale punch-up at 30,000ft.”A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed the incident to the media.“Shortly after 12.45pm on Monday, October 28, police at Heathrow were made aware of an incident involving two women waiting to board a plane in Terminal 5,” the rep told The Standard.“A woman in her 40s and a woman in her 60s made counter allegations of affray. Enquiries are ongoing.”British Airways said in a statement: “We apologized to our customers for the delay and got them on the way as quickly as possible.”Flight BA191 had been due to depart the airport at 12:10 p.m.

A closely watched survey on manufacturing in China has edged into positive territory

Asian shares are mostly declining amid uncertainty ahead of the United States presidential election next week

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The latest quarterly earnings of Indian companies point to an economy that appears to be entering a cyclical downturn. On the other hand, large companies are now more reasonably valued than they were in the past four years, says Saurabh Mukherjea, founder and chief investment officer at Marcellus Investment Managers.

rural distress, a still robust corporate capex outlook, and a cyclical recovery in the festive and wedding seasons,” says Amit Goel, co-founder and chief global strategist at Pace 360. In an interview with ETMarkets, Goel said: “We believe that with the October correction, we are in a better position, as expectations have come down. We have a clear runway of 2-3 months where the Indian economy can perform well, provided the global slowdown does not worsen,” Edited excerpts:

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that its operating profits soared 277 percent on-year to $6.6 billion, but missed expectations as it struggled to leverage demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers. The world's largest memory chip maker posted an operating profit of 9.18 trillion won ($6.6 billion) «largely due to one-off costs». It also warned in a statement that «the strength of the Korean won against the US dollar resulted in a negative impact on company-wide operating profit».

Federal Reserve rate cuts. Shares in Australia and Japan opened lower, and a gauge of US-listed Chinese companies slipped in New York trading on Wednesday. US futures declined, weighed down by post-market losses for Microsoft Corp. shares, which fell around 4% in late trading after disappointing second-quarter forecasts. The S&P 500 lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.8% Wednesday.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Supply chains that underpin the economy are facing ongoing stress from geopolitical tension, labor disruption and natural disasters. Some companies say they’re gaining an edge in their markets with tools aimed at managing the risks, but it doesn’t come cheap or easy.