NEW YORK (AP) — Americans trimmed their spending unexpectedly in May compared with a month before, underscoring how surging inflation on daily necessities like gas is causing them to be more cautious about buying discretionary items. U.S. retail sales slipped 0.3% last month, down from a revised 0.7% increase in April, the Commerce Department said…
DETROIT (AP) — Automakers reported nearly 400 crashes over a 10-month period involving vehicles with partially automated driver-assist systems, including 273 with Teslas, according to statistics released Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cautioned against using the numbers to compare automakers, saying it didn’t weight them by the number of…
By Rowena Edwards LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices were stable on Wednesday as the market juggled fears of tight supply with concerns over fuel demand and global economic growth, ahead of an expected big hike in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Brent crude futures for August were down 28 cents, or 0.2%, at $120.89…
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – IKEA said on Wednesday it would sell factories, close offices and reduce its nearly 15,000-strong workforce in Russia, the latest move by the world’s biggest furniture brand to cut its operations there following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “Unfortunately, the circumstances have not improved, and the devastating war continues. Businesses and supply chains…
By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) – European markets rallied on Wednesday as the European Central Bank held an emergency meeting on the recent bond market sell-off, ahead of what is expected to be the most aggressive rise in U.S. interest rates since 1994. Hopes of a quiet run in to what is forecast to be…
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers attending a two-day meeting starting Wednesday will discuss beefing up weapons supplies to Ukraine, and Sweden and Finland’s applications to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. The meeting, less two weeks before a summit of NATO leaders in Madrid, comes with Kyiv imploring the West to…
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Furniture giant IKEA said on Wednesday it would further scale its operations in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Unfortunately, the circumstances have not improved, and the devastating war continues. Businesses and supply chains across the world have been heavily impacted and we do not see that it is possible to…
(Reuters) – Global equity funds have shed over 7% this month due to a slump in stock prices as higher inflation levels fuel worries about more aggressive policy tightening by major central banks. Global bond funds have declined 3.5% on average, while money market funds fell 1.4%, data from Refinitiv Lipper showed. With the sharp…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian military said it used long-range missiles Wednesday to destroy a depot in the western Lviv region of Ukraine where ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons was stored, and the governor of a key eastern city acknowledged that Russian forces are advancing in heavy fighting. The battle for Sievierodonetsk in Ukraine’s eastern…
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone’s trade deficit almost doubled in April from the previous month after an already record expansion in March, and industrial production increased over the same period on the month, official data showed on Wednesday. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said the 19 countries sharing the euro recorded a trade…
