Dubai’s state airport operator expects a “surge” in passenger traffic over the coming weeks and months, its chief executive said on Wednesday, after the United Arab Emirates announced an easing of travel restrictions from African and Asian countries.

British private-sector growth slowed sharply last month due to supply-chain bottlenecks and high worker absences prompted by Covid-19 isolation requirements, a closely watched survey indicated on Wednesday. 

China may need more monetary and fiscal easing to halt an economic slowdown in the wake of torrential rains and flooding, and authorities’ tough response to outbreaks of the highly-transmissible coronavirus Delta variant, economists say. 

Sony Corp raised its earnings outlook on Wednesday after a record first-quarter operating profit helped by pandemic stay-at-home demand for PlayStation 5 consoles, TVs, music and movies.

Oil prices  edged higher on Wednesday, supported by a fall in US inventories and  Mideast geopolitical tensions, but the increasing spread of the  coronavirus Delta variant in top consuming countries capped gains.

Fresh outbreaks of the Delta coronavirus variant in South-east Asia have crippled its factory sector, disrupting global supplies of goods such as rubber gloves, semiconductors and sports utility vehicles and threatening the region’s recovery. 

The board of governors of the International Monetary Fund on Monday greenlit increasing the institution’s lending capacity by $650 billion, the last step in approving an initiative to boost aid to the most vulnerable countries. 

Despite complaints from US employers that workers are hard to find, there are almost 10 million people who are unemployed and more sitting on the sidelines of the labor market, said San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly, who expects many or most of them to return to work as the economy recovers. 

Asian markets fell on Tuesday while oil held most of the previous day’s losses as the impact of the fast-spreading Delta Covid variant on the global recovery fuelled concerns the outlook might not be as rosy as initially hoped.

China’s government quietly issued new procurement guidelines in May that require up to 100% local content on hundreds of items including X-ray machines and magnetic resonance imaging equipment, erecting fresh barriers for foreign suppliers, three US-based sources told Reuters. 

Much stronger-than-expected profit reports from US companies in recent weeks have ratcheted up already high Wall Street forecasts on how second-quarter earnings growth will look versus last year.

Financial firms including British insurer Prudential, lenders Citi and HSBC and BlackRock Real Assets are devising plans to speed the closure of Asia’s coal-fired power plants in order to lower the biggest source of carbon emissions, five people with knowledge of the initiative said.

The Delta variant poses new risks for the world’s second-biggest economy as it spreads from the coast to China’s inland cities and presents fresh challenges to authorities who have for months managed to avert any widespread outbreak of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic may have pushed the United States into a volatile era of stronger growth and better productivity, but higher interest rates and faster inflation as well, St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard said, elaborating on why he thinks the U.S. central bank should end its crisis-era policies. 

The boss of London’s Heathrow Airport told Britain on Monday to rebuild confidence in travel by making it easier to go abroad, as speculation grew that the government was poised to slap yet more new rules on arrivals.

Britain’s factories reported a further slowing of growth in July - although it was still one of the fastest paces on record - as they struggled with staff shortages and supply chain problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey showed on Monday. 

New Zealand’s housing crisis is having a “punishing impact” on marginalised communities and leaving many people homeless, the human rights commission said on Monday as it launched an inquiry into the country’s red-hot property market. 

Oil prices fell on Monday as worries over China’s economy resurfaced after a survey showing growth in factory activity slipped sharply in the world’s second-largest oil consumer, with concerns compounded by higher crude output from OPEC producers.

Square Inc, the payments firm of Twitter Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey, will purchase buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, creating a global transactions giant in the biggest buyout of an Australian firm.

Asia’s factories hit a rough patch in July as rising input costs and a new wave of coronavirus infections overshadowed solid global demand, highlighting the fragile nature of the region’s recovery.