World equity markets got off to a solid start on Monday and the euro pulled away from parity as market participants scaled back bets on the Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week and on optimism spurred by central bank pledges to support China’s economy.

H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, said on Monday it had decided to wind down its business in Russia, joining a growing list of companies fully exiting the country and sending its shares down 1 per cent.

The European Central Bank will raise its interest rates on Thursday for the first time in over a decade, but the bank is already under pressure to do more amid record inflation.

Oil prices extended gains on Monday, propped up by a weaker dollar and tight supplies that offset concerns about recession and the prospect of widespread Covid-19 lockdowns in China again reducing fuel demand.

Boeing expects to see a pick-up in new orders for its 787 Dreamliner model once it restarts deliveries of the plane, Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said on Sunday.

The United States will look for every opportunity to move ahead and enact a global minimum corporate tax agreement despite the opposition of a key Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, to raising corporate taxes, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

The euro’s plunge against the dollar, triggered by the Ukraine war and mounting risks to the EU economy, has driven the two currencies to parity for the first time in two decades.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Saturday more investment was needed in fossil fuel and clean energy technologies to meet global demand, and that unrealistic emission policies would lead to unprecedented levels of inflation.

India’s economy has remained resilient in the face of global headwinds and with inflation coming off its recent peak is expected to stay on course to become the world’s fastest-growing economy, the Reserve Bank of India said on Saturday.

China’s monetary policy has ample room and sufficient tools, including further cutting banks’ reserve requirements, to cope with new challenges amid a shaky economic recovery, a commentary in the state-owned Securities Times said on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer millions of public sector workers pay rises averaging 5 per cent next week, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed government ministers.

The British government launched an “Aviation Passenger Charter” on Sunday to help passengers know their rights if they are faced with problems at airports after the widespread disruption seen this year.

The  Bank of Canada expects inflation to go “a little over” 8 per cent, as soon as next week when June’s data is released, and stay in that range for a few more months, Governor Tiff Macklem told a business group in a webcast transcript released late Friday.

A delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted to know how prepared Bangladesh is for the country’s graduation to a developing nation in 2026.

The price of a resale home in Canada fell 1.8 per cent in June from last year, the first annual decline since May 2020, as the market continued to cool sharply from February’s peak amid tighter borrowing conditions, data from Canada’s realtors showed Friday.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, more than doubled the amount of Russian fuel oil it imported in the second quarter to feed power stations to meet summer cooling demand and free up the kingdom’s own crude for export, data showed and traders said.

China’s refinery throughput for the six months to June marked the first annual decline for the period since at least 2011, data showed on Friday, as strict Covid-19 restrictions and fuel export curbs dampened production.

US President Joe Biden is set to discuss volatile oil prices during a summit with Arab leaders on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the final stop of his Middle East tour.

The United States and Saudi Arabia signed 18 partnership agreements in fields including energy, communications, space and healthcare during a visit by US President Joe Biden, Saudi state TV al-Ekhbariya reported.

British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline on Monday demerges its newly-named consumer healthcare unit Haleon, resulting in what is set to be London’s largest new stock market listing in more than a decade.