The numbers: The amount of credit U.S. consumers used in August recorded the biggest decline since the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, likely because people began to pay back college loans. Consumer credit shrank by $15.6 billion in August, Federal Reserve data showed. It was the biggest decline since…

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Florida sued the Biden administration on Wednesday, accusing it of threatening to withhold more than $800 million of funding for transportation infrastructure because of a new state law that some public sector unions have viewed as anti-labor. Signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on May…

Saudi Arabia has told the White House it would be willing to boost oil production early next year if crude prices are high, a move aimed at winning goodwill in Congress for a deal in which the kingdom would recognize Israel and in return get a defense pact with Washington,…

By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. should demand that China support debt restructuring for struggling poor and middle-income countries as a condition of changes to the International Monetary Fund’s shareholding formula, a former senior U.S. Treasury development expert said on Wednesday. Nancy Lee, a former…

Barclays analysts issued a warning on Thursday about the challenging future facing global bonds, unless there is a significant downturn in equities. They pointed to several factors contributing to this outlook, including the US central bank’s quantitative tightening program and rising deficits. The analysts also noted the shift of Japanese…

“‘At some point maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.’” — Hillary Clinton That’s Hillary Clinton on how supporters of Donald Trump should consider breaking ties with the former president, who’s now the top Republican 2024 contender. Speaking with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Clinton, the former…

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday stressed the need to achieve sustained, broader wage hikes to cushion the blow to households from rising living costs. The remark, made in a speech at an annual meeting of Japan’s largest labour organization Rengo, underscores the…

There are plenty of closures to be aware of this Monday. Oct. 9 marks Columbus Day, which has been a federal holiday since 1937. But while the date has long commemorated when explorer Christopher Columbus landed in North America, some states and cities have renamed the holiday Indigenous Peoples’ Day…

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Swati Bhat COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s central bank resumed interest rate cuts on Thursday to boost growth as the government seeks to lift revenue and repair its balance sheets in a bid to sustain financial support from the International Monetary Fund. The Central Bank of Sri…

The numbers: The U.S. gained 336,000 new jobs in September — much bigger than Wall Street expected — in a sign businesses still have a strong appetite for labor. Hiring in August and July were also revised up. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast 170,000 jobs last…