US inflation surged to a new four-decade high in May, defying hopes that price pressures had peaked and deepening President Joe Biden’s political troubles as Americans struggle to meet the cost of essentials like food and gas.

US President Joe Biden on Friday accused the US oil industry, and Exxon Mobil Corp in particular, of capitalizing on a supply shortage to fatten profits after a report showed inflation surging to a new 40-year record.

In an effort to win back billions of dollars in tourism revenue lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, the US government on Monday launched a plan to attract 90 million international travelers a year.

The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast by 1.2 percentage points to 2.9 per cent for 2022, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has compounded the damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, with many countries likely to face recession.

More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, American businesses are still struggling to manage their inventories in a feast-or-famine cycle caused by fickle consumer demand.

The dominant services sector saw growth slow in May, while price gains pulled back from the blistering pace in the prior month but remained high, according to an industry survey released Friday.

US employers hired more workers than expected in May and maintained a fairly strong pace of wage increases, signs of labour market strength that will keep the Federal Reserve on an aggressive monetary policy tightening path to cool demand.

Solid growth continued across the United States, even as firms faced an ongoing struggle with a worker shortage and rising prices, although there were some tentative signs the tide may be turning, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The United States is extending for another six months exemptions from punitive tariffs for some medical products from China, the US Trade Representative announced Friday.

American wages continued to rise in April, supporting an ongoing increase in consumption in the face of an inflation wave that nonetheless shows signs of waning, according to government data released Friday.

The US government deficit will fall dramatically this year to $1 trillion, down from levels not seen since World War II hit during the pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.

The United States will end an exemption allowing Moscow to pay foreign debt held by American investors with funds held in Russia, the US Treasury said Tuesday, a move that could push Vladimir Putin’s country closer to default.

A recession in the United States is not inevitable, President Joe Biden said Monday, while acknowledging the economic pain experienced by Americans as inflation soars.

Hyundai Motor Group said on Sunday it would invest an additional $5 billion in the United States by 2025 to strengthen collaboration with US firms in advanced technology.

The United States and South Korea have agreed to work more closely on crucial trade and supply-chain issues, the US Commerce Department announced Saturday.

European and Asian markets took a beating Thursday, while the dollar tumbled a day after Wall Street suffered one of its worst batterings in two years over recession fears amid decades-high inflation.

The Biden administration has scotched plans to hold three offshore oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, a government spokeswoman said Thursday.

US consumer sentiment slumped to its lowest level in nearly 11 years in early May as worries about inflation persisted, but consumer spending remains underpinned by a strong labor market and massive savings, which should keep the economy expanding.

The United States is preparing a scaled-back version of a trade pact as Southeast Asian nations gather in Washington, where President Joe Biden is seeking to show solid commitment in the face of a rising China.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledged the pain felt by Americans from the highest inflation in four decades but said it is his  “top domestic priority” and being addressed by the Federal Reserve.