By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices surged to fresh seven-year highs on Friday, headed for a seventh straight weekly increase, built on ongoing worries about supply disruptions fueled by frigid U.S. weather and ongoing political turmoil among major world producers. Brent crude rose $2.25, or 2.5%, to $93.36 a barrel by 10:32…
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy created far more jobs than expected in January despite the disruption to consumer-facing businesses from a surge in COVID-19 cases, pointing to underlying strength that should sustain the expansion as the Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates. The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on…
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar rose from two-week lows on Friday, after data showed the world’s largest economy created far more jobs than expected, raising the chances of a larger Federal Reserve interest rate hike in March. The dollar index, a gauge of its value against six major currencies, rose…
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating critical habitat for a Nevada wildflower it plans to list as endangered amid a conflict over a mine to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles critical to the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change. The agency on Wednesday proposed designating critical…
LONDON (AP) — A judge in Belfast on Friday suspended an order by Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister to halt border checks on goods from the rest of the U.K. that were imposed under the Brexit agreement struck between the U.K. and the European Union. High Court judge Adrian Colton made the interim order pending a…
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising burst of hiring, America’s employers added a robust 467,000 jobs last month, a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a wave of omicron infections. The government’s report Friday also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000. It…
LONDON (AP) — This was the week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hoped to get a grip on his government after weeks of scandal. By Friday, he was struggling to hang on after a scathing report on lockdown-breaching parties and the departure of several top aides. Johnson was rocked Thursday by the resignation of his…
By Iain Withers LONDON (Reuters) -The euro was on track on Friday for its best week versus the dollar since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, after a hawkish turn by the European Central Bank (ECB) rippled through markets. Rampant inflation across many global economies has forced central banks to tighten monetary policies that had been dramatically…
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has backed Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in his standoff with the West over Ukraine as the two leaders met before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The leaders used a joint statement to call out what they called a “minority on the world…
VIENNA (AP) — Austria is about to become the first country in Europe to require most adults to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but few other nations appear likely to join it as many turn their attention to loosening restrictions. The mandate for people 18 and over takes effect on Saturday, 2 1/2 months after the…
