Oil prices were little changed on Friday as the market balanced a weaker US dollar and mixed US jobs reports, but both crude benchmarks ended the first week of the year lower due to global recession concerns.

The eurozone’s annual inflation rate fell for a second month in a row, to 9.2 percent in December, driven by easing energy prices, official data showed Friday, bringing some relief to Europe in the new year.

Euro zone economic sentiment improved in December for the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, European Commission data showed on Friday, with more optimism across all sectors of the economy and a sharp drop in inflation expectations.

German industrial orders fell sharply in November to hit their lowest level in more than two years, official data showed on Friday, as the war in Ukraine took a toll.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday in volatile trade as weak demand data from China and a gloomy economic outlook weighed.

Oil prices pared losses after falling by over $2 earlier in the session, as a weaker dollar partially offset demand fears resulting from surging Covid-19 cases in China.

The dollar touched a one-week high against the yen on Wednesday, boosted by a jump in Treasury yields and investor expectations for a rebound in Chinese growth as Covid-19 curbs loosen.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as concerns about an upsurge in Covid-19 cases in China, the world’s top oil importer, outweighed expectations easing pandemic restrictions would lead to economic recovery and growth in demand for fuel.

German companies expect only a mild recession next year despite headwinds from the energy crisis, raw material shortages and a tepid global economy, a survey of major associations published by Reuters on Tuesday showed.

Major central banks ramped up interest rates at the fastest pace and biggest scale in at least two decades in 2022 as policy makers went all out in the battle to contain surging inflation.

US and European stocks wobbled on Friday despite a key gauge showing inflation to be slowing, as investors remain concerned about recession risks.

Inflation is likely to remain high for another two years as companies pass on higher input costs and in some cases exaggerate them, the head of the council of economists that advises the German government was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Two years after Britain’s departure from the European Union, bosses of UK businesses are reeling from the cost of Brexit, including some who voted to cut ties with Brussels.

The Canadian economy grew by 0.1 per cent in October and is expected to expand at the same pace in November, data showed on Friday, a sign that the full impact of seven consecutive interest rates hikes this year has yet to play out.

Britain’s economy contracted slightly more than thought in the third quarter, revised official data showed on Thursday.

The post-pandemic slump in Australian housing is set to deepen next year as hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage debt fixed at record low rates in 2020 and 2021 mature, forcing borrowers to refinance at punishingly high interest rates.

Oil prices rose on Monday after tumbling by more than $2 a barrel in the previous session as optimism over the Chinese economy outweighed concern over a global recession.

Coal has made a comeback in Germany this year, as Europe’s largest economy turns to the dirty fuel to power it through an energy crisis.

Germany on Saturday inaugurated its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, built in record time, as the country scrambles to adapt to life without Russian energy.

The Bank of England on Thursday hiked its interest rate by half a point to 3.5 percent, the highest level in 14 years, in a bid to cool sky-high inflation.