Bonds & Stocks
US stocks and European shares were steady as a rally in megacap stocks that had propelled the S&P 500 to the edge of a bull market wavered. The potential that central banks will keep interest rates higher for longer- disappointing hopes they will pivot to rate cuts later this year - is weighing on tech shares.
Economy
The biggest shipping gateways on the US West Coast are enduring the longest labor-related disruptions since 2015 as talks between port employers and dockworkers close in on one year without a contract. The two sides are clashing over how to divide carriers' pandemic-era profits in a market that's returned to rock-bottom freight rates. The previous labor contract covering 29 ports from California to Washington State expired July 1, 2022. The International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union, representing 22,000 dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents ocean carriers and terminal operators, have been negotiating since May 2022.
World
The global economy is set for a weak recovery from the shocks of Covid and Russia's war in Ukraine, dogged by persistent inflation and the restrictive policies of major central banks seeking to contain price pressures, the OECD said. The Paris-based organization's latest Economic Outlook forecasts a 2.7% expansion of world output this year and only a modest pickup to 2.9% in 2024, both below the 3.4% average in the seven years before the pandemic.