Wall Street pointed toward more losses before U.S. markets opened on Thursday as concerns that Federal Reserve might not ease up on its aggressive interest rate hikes overtook last week's optimism that the central bank was in a position to pull back.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.7% and futures for the S&P 500 slid 0.9%.

The British government increased a tax on the windfall profits of energy companies as part of a 55 billion pound ($65 billion) package of tax increases and spending cuts in an emergency budget designed to restore the nation's economic credibility and patch up its battered finances.

At the same time, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt pledged to spend billions of pounds to help consumers pay soaring energy bills, increase welfare benefits and pensions in line with inflation, and maintain investment in energy and infrastructure projects.

An agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea and aimed at relieving global food insecurity has been extended for 120 days, officials said on Thursday.

Ukraine is a top world exporter of grain, but Russia's invasion in late February stopped shipments. 

Tesla tycoon Elon Musk took the stand on Wednesday as part of a trial over his $50 billion pay package as CEO of the electric car giant.

Donald Trump's company is licensing its name for a golf resort in Oman in the first of what the company hopes will be several overseas deals, raising conflict-of-interest issues as the former president announced a third run for the White House.

The Trump Organization said the licensing deal — the first since Trump left office — is with Saudi developer Dar Al Arakan and will include a golf course, hotel and thousands of residential units in the Oman capital of Muscat.

Japan will lift a more than 2 1/2-year ban on international cruise ships that was imposed following a deadly coronavirus outbreak on the cruise ship Diamond Princess at the beginning of the pandemic, transport officials said Tuesday.

The Transport Ministry said cruise ship operators and port authorities' associations have adopted anti-virus guidelines and that Japan is now ready to resume its international cruise operations while receiving foreign ships at its ports.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he raised with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday his concerns about trade "blockages," but did not walk away from their first face-to-face talks with any promises that the $13 billion barriers to Australian exports would be lifted.

The Australian government described the talks on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia as the first formal bilateral meeting between the two nations' leaders since 2016, when Xi met then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Luxury spending is growing faster than ever, fueled by pent-up pandemic demand and shifting demographics as younger, more diverse consumers buy into tiny handbag and post-streetwear trends, according to a study released Tuesday.

Global sales of personal luxury goods including leather accessories, apparel, footwear, jewelry and watches are expected to grow by 22% this year, to 353 billion euros ($367 billion) from 290 billion euros in 2021, according to the Bain consultancy study commissioned by Italy's Altagamma association of high-end producers.

Prices at the wholesale level rose 8% in October from 12 months earlier, the fourth straight decline and the latest sign that inflation pressures in the United States are easing from painfully high levels.

On a monthly basis, the government said Tuesday that its producer price index, which measures costs before they reach consumers, rose 0.2% from September to October. That was same as in the previous month, which was revised down from an initial reading of 0.4%.

The first phase of Lebanon’s emergency electricity plan, which will provide 8-10 hours of daily power supply in return for a tariff hike, is expected to move forward without obstacles after a recent solution was found, a media report said on Tuesday.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said the solution was found by caretaker PM Najib Mikati “in coordination and cooperation with Speaker Nabih Berri, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil.”