China stood pat on its benchmark lending rates for corporate and household loans, as expected, on Monday, with global central banks’ rate increases making it tough for Beijing to stimulate a weak domestic economy by lowering rates.

A series of surprise actions by some of the world’s largest central banks fretting about runaway inflation has left bond investors battered. Now, a growing chorus of investors is calling on policymakers to move fast to end the uncertainty.

The cryptocurrency industry was on edge on Monday as bitcoin held just above $20,000 and investors feared that problems at major crypto players could unleash a wider market shakeout.

A recession in the United States is not  “inevitable” but the economy is likely to slow, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday, days after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, raising fears of a contraction.

China’s imports of oil from Russia in May rose 55 per cent year on year, customs data showed on Monday, with the West sanctioning fuel imports from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Germany announced emergency measures on Sunday to ensure its energy needs after a drop in Russian gas supplies, including reverting to coal in what it called a  “bitter but indispensable” step.

With France becoming the latest country to be cut off from Russian natural gas, and supplies sharply reduced in Italy and Germany, Europe’s summer stockpiling plans are looking shaky.

Desperate to put the coronavirus pandemic behind them, airlines will hold talks on Sunday ahead of a potential summer of chaos with shortages and strikes that could threaten their recovery.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host a virtual summit with top leaders from Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa next week, marking the first such meeting since the Ukraine crisis unfolded.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Saturday threw his support behind another large interest rate increase next month.

Russia’s economic authorities have clashed over inflation and growth forecasts in rare public displays of discord at a flagship forum in Saint Petersburg.

Central banks have ramped up their battle against runaway inflation, a necessary remedy that could have the adverse side effect of tipping countries into recession, analysts say.

Germany will take emergency measures to ensure it meets its energy needs after the drop in supply of Russian gas, including increased use of coal, the government said Sunday.

Fiona Shi lost her job twice during the pandemic -- first, in 2020 when Covid ravaged the travel industry, and then this year as China’s strict virus controls hammered businesses in the world’s number two economy.

Russia is putting the world at risk of famine through its blockade of Ukraine’s shipments of grains and restrictions on its own exports, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday.

Bitcoin dropped below $20,000 on Saturday to its lowest level in 18 months, extending its slide as investors pull back from riskier assets amid rising interest rates.

The Federal Reserve, fresh from its biggest interest rate hike in more than a quarter of a century, signaled on Friday that the rising risk of recession will not stop its battle to bring down searing inflation that’s punishing American households.

Mexico has made commitments with 17 US companies on clean energy generation, its president announced Friday.

The Bank of Japan on Friday stuck to its monetary easing policy even as other central banks raise interest rates to tame inflation, but said it would  “pay due attention” to forex markets after the yen hit a 24-year low.

A 650,000-barrel-cargo of Venezuela’s oil chartered by Italy’s Eni is about to set sail carrying the first export of crude from the US-sanctioned country to Europe in two years, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Friday.