China is set to announce a further easing of some of the world's toughest COVID curbs as early as Wednesday, sources said, as investors cheered the prospect of a policy shift that follows widespread protests and mounting economic damage.

Three years into the pandemic, China's zero-tolerance measures, from shut borders to frequent lockdowns, contrast sharply with the rest of the world, which has largely decided to live with the virus.

Foreign exchange markets have endured a rocky ride in 2022, but in some countries, a combination of geopolitical pressures and central bank missteps has pushed currencies into a “death spiral.”

A stronger dollar over the course of the year, as investors flocked toward the traditional “safe haven” amid the deluge of geopolitical and macroeconomic shocks, has weighed heavily on many emerging market currencies.

Major oil producers and countries with central banks that have hiked interest rates decisively are generally faring better.

The U.S. dollar is back on the upswing again and headed toward the year-to-date highs seen in mid-July following a period of relative dormancy for the last month as investors pulled back on expectations for an imminent U.S. recession.

Global markets closed out their most bruising first half of a year in decades, leaving investors bracing for the prospect of further losses.

Accelerating inflation and rising interest rates fueled a monthslong rout that left few markets unscathed. The S&P 500 fell 21% through Thursday, suffering its worst first half of a year since 1970, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Investment-grade bonds, as measured by the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond exchange-traded fund, lost 11%—posting their worst start to a year in history.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister says its debt-laden economy has “collapsed” after months of shortages of food, fuel and electricity.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament on Wednesday that the South Asian country is “facing a far more serious situation beyond the mere shortages of fuel, gas, electricity and food. Our economy has completely collapsed.”

Wickremesinghe is also the finance minister tasked with stabilizing the economy.

China and the U.S. are back in the headlines — but are investors paying sufficient attention to the risks of a geopolitical clash?

Indeed, caustic rhetoric between the No. 1 and 2 economies in the world is intensifying — again.

It may feel as if the animus between the global superpowers couldn’t come at a more inopportune time: in the middle of a pandemic, which notably was first identified in Wuhan, China in December, and has infected more than 5 million people around the world, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

A new report by a British think tank shows that the U.S. is strategically dependent on China for 414 categories of imports, of which 114 service its critical national infrastructure -- and in some cases, these could pose a national security risk.

China has steadily increased its share of many markets over the years under the increasingly authoritarian leadership of President Xi Jinping, who has made clear his ambitions for global dominance

China was the United States’ third-ranked source of imports in February, its lowest ranking since February 2004, or 180 months.

Until February, China had not even slipped into the No. 2 ranking in almost 12 years except on two occasions, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today.

The data released today is but the first chapter in the developing story on the impact of the fast-moving coronavirus outbreak on U.S. trade and, more specifically, U.S.-China trade.

President Trump joined 19 other world leaders in touting $5 trillion of government aid in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which threatens most advanced economies with a recession.

“We are injecting over $5 trillion into the global economy, as part of targeted fiscal policy, economic measures, and guarantee schemes to counteract the social, economic, and financial impacts of the pandemic,” the G-20 Leaders said in a joint statement following a video teleconference about the coronavirus pandemic.

"The covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact around the world,” warned Fred Smith, boss of FedEx, at his firm’s earnings conference on March 17th. That is putting it mildly. The express-delivery giant announced that it was slashing its delivery capacity and, for the first time ever, refused to give earnings guidance. While economists debate whether this recession will be short-lived or sustained (see Briefing), bosses the world over already see mayhem. The virus has destroyed $23trn in global market value since mid-February.