"China's economy grew slightly more slowly than expected in the second quarter, weighed down by higher raw material costs and new COVID-19 outbreaks, as expectations build that policymakers may have to do more to support the recovery.
Due to the stubbornly high prices of energy and food, household spending has drastically slowed, and the Eurozone economy fell into a recession at the beginning of this year.
China's economic revival hits a rough patch as export numbers in May fell sharply, raising concerns about the fragility of the nation's recovery amid a worldwide faltering demand. The falling demand, particularly from advanced economies, poses a significant hurdle to the world's second-largest economy that had shown stronger than expected growth in the initial quarter.
The World Bank stated in its latest Economic Outlook report on Tuesday that the sunshine we saw in the global economy earlier this year is fading, and gray days may be ahead. China is a clear exception to the global economic slowdown trend.
The IMF's second-in-command recently warned that generative artificial intelligence (AI) poses a risk of "severe disruption" to human employment and called on governments worldwide to quickly draft regulations to control this emerging technology.
As the U.S. economy slows, inflation remains difficult to tame. The closely watched inflation indicators are revised upward across the board, with Q1 Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index rising above forecast to an annualized 5%. Is stagflation on the horizon?
While overall inflation in the Eurozone accelerated in April, core inflation unexpectedly slowed, raising expectations for a more modest 25 basis point interest rate hike by the European Central Bank (ECB) this week.
Eurozone's Q1 GDP growth, seasonally adjusted, fell to a record low of 1.3%, marking its fourth consecutive quarterly decline, lower than the expected 1.4% and previous value of 1.8%. The quarter-on-quarter growth rate stood at a meager 0.1%, weighed down by the lingering effects of the energy crisis, high inflation, and banking crisis.
The US economy maintained steady growth in the first quarter of the year, primarily driven by robust consumer spending. However, the momentum seems to have slowed down recently as the impact of higher interest rates takes hold. The Commerce Department's forthcoming GDP report is expected to reveal that the economy is not near a recession, but the landscape has transformed significantly.