China's increasingly urgent efforts to tip its mountain of savings into the economy are running up against depositors shy of all but the safest investments, in the latest sign that weak confidence is holding back post-pandemic spending and growth.

The International Monetary Fund remains concerned about recent turbulence in the banking sector despite actions by the U.S. and Swiss authorities to deal with troubled banks on their watch, its chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said on Monday.

(Reuters) -An April inflation reading on Wednesday that was more benign than expected disrupted the modest momentum that had been building for an 11th straight U.S. interest rate hike in June.

Australia is set to deliver its first budget surplus in 15 years on Tuesday, as its coffers bulge with tax windfalls from higher commodities prices and wages, giving it room to dole out cost-of-living relief amid an inflation squeeze on households.

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Labor government boasted the first budget surplus in 15 years on Tuesday, as strong jobs growth and bumper mining profits swelled its coffers, but it will quickly be swallowed up by spending on everything from health to energy and defence.

U.S. consumers said last month they expected slightly lower inflation in a year's time, the New York Federal Reserve said in a report that also showed the bank stresses that kicked off in March weren't weighing heavily on the moods of Americans.