Pacific Rim leaders agreed to cut tariffs on Covid-19 vaccines at a virtual summit Saturday, but failed to deliver meaningful movement on climate change and reacted coolly to US efforts to re-engage with the region.

Three multinational giants -- General Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Toshiba -- this week announced plans to split into multiple companies, joining a trend the firms hope will provide more growth opportunities.

The United States said Friday it had opened talks with Japan aimed at reducing US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed under former president Donald Trump, after Washington reached a deal on the same issue with the European Union.

The number of Americans voluntarily quitting their jobs rose to a record high in September while job openings stayed stubbornly above pre-pandemic levels, a sign that businesses may have to continue to raise wages in order to attract workers.

Trade officials gathering later this month must be “bold” in their efforts to reform the WTO and ensure the global trade body can adapt to the changing economy, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday.

President Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that US shoppers were paying too much for everyday goods, vowing to tackle inflation “head on” after government data showed it had reached a 30-year peak last month.

US wholesale prices remained high in October and showed signs of accelerating again, the government reported Tuesday, as the world’s largest economy battles a wave of inflation.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the bipartisan infrastructure package approved by Congress and President Joe Biden’s proposed social and climate spending plan would increase US productivity and the size of its labor force.

US President Joe Biden hits the road Wednesday to show off the huge new infrastructure bill passed last week, hoping to reap its benefits politically even as he watches his approval ratings slump.

US cybersecurity firm McAfee announced on Monday it will be sold to a group of investors for more than $14 billion, just over a year after going public.

The US economy may be ready for the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark borrowing rate by the end of next year, the central bank’s Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Monday.

Stresses in China’s real estate sector including from heavily-indebted Evergrande have the potential to impact the United States if they spread first to the Chinese financial system, the Federal Reserve said Monday.

Rising valuations and hefty year-to-date gains for big technology stocks are pushing some investors to diversify away from the sector that has led markets for years.

After a daylong standoff, Democrats set aside divisions between progressives and centrists to pass a $1 trillion package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvement, sending it on to President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The US economy added 531,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 per cent, the government reported Friday, a better-than-expected result indicating hiring is resurging as Covid-19 infections decline.

A measure of US services industry activity surged to a record high in October likely as declining Covid-19 cases boosted demand, but businesses remained burdened by snarled supply chains and the resulting exorbitant prices.

The Federal Reserve will begin to slow its stimulus bond purchases this month as the US economy makes a solid recovery from the pandemic, but the central bank will be patient before raising interest rates, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

Rivian Automotive, an Amazon-backed electric vehicle startup, said Monday it is targeting a valuation of more than $50 billion.

US President Joe Biden told the COP26 climate summit Monday that the massive response needed to stop the climate crisis should be seen as an opportunity for the world’s economies.

The United States and European Union are expected this weekend to announce a deal to resolve a dispute over US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, easing a major transatlantic trade irritant, six people familiar with the agreement said.