Economy

America's worker shortage has puzzled employers, consumers and economists since the pandemic began to ease. When Axios asked U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh last fall, he admitted to being stumped.Driving the news: Fed chair Jay Powell yesterday provided some answers, in a speech that garnered bigger headlines for signaling that the pace of…

Bitcoin briefly crosses $17,000 to highest levels since mid-NovemberThe price of bitcoin briefly surpassed $17,000 in Asia's morning session for the first time since mid-November.Bitcoin rose 2.2% from the 24 hours previous, according to Coin Metrics and last traded at $16,863.07 per coin.Ether also rose, and was up 4.74% in the past 24 hours,…

Mandy Liu, a 21-year-old university student in Beijing, believes that anyone who has lived in China during the pandemic can see that the country’s future is looking increasingly uncertain.Covid restrictions were stifling, and employment opportunities were grim. She is set to graduate next year with a degree in tourism management and has…

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has resigned as president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, a business group he founded in his home province.The Chinese billionaire, who has kept out of the public eye in recent years following the Chinese government’s crackdown on tech companies, reportedly transitioned to an advisory role in the…

People line up outside a fever clinic in Beijing on Dec. 14, 2022, just days after the country relaxed its Covid controls amid below-freezing weather in the capital city.Yuxuan Zhang | Afp | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Mainland China's swift rollback of many Covid-related restrictions has been unexpectedly sudden, revealing a new set of economic…

Bankruptcy filings show the fair value of crypto held by FTX is $659,000.That compares to Sam Bankman-Fried claim FTX held about $5.5 billion in "less liquid" crypto tokens."Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls," new FTX CEO John Ray III said.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved.The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved…

A screen displays an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping next to exhibits depicting medical workers' fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China November 11, 2021.Carlos Garcia Rawlins | ReutersChina's zero-Covid policy and broader economic circumstances could be…

View of the Hong Kong skyline from Hong Kong Island.Ingo Schulz | imageBROKER | Getty ImagesPrices of Hong Kong's residential properties plunged to a near five-year low as rising interest rates and a mass exodus of expat workers drove down prices in one of the world's most expensive cities to work in.And industry insiders warn that the worst is…

LONDON — U.K. inflation came in slightly below expectations at 10.7% in November, as cooling fuel prices helped ease price pressures, though high food and energy prices continued to squeeze households and businesses.Economists polled by Reuters had projected an annual increase in the consumer price index of 10.9% in November, after October saw…