Business

By Echo Wang

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as disappointing earnings from Snap spooked investors and shares in social media and ad tech firms dropped, offsetting gains from card issuer American Express following an upbeat forecast.

Still, all three major indexes posted weekly gains despite Friday’s losses with the tech heavy Nasdaq closing out the week 3.3% higher. The S&P 500 advanced 2.4%, and the Dow gained 2%.

Snapchat owner posted its weakest-ever quarterly sales growth as a public company, sending Snap Inc’s shares down nearly 40%, while Twitter Inc reversed earlier losses to add 0.8% following a surprise fall in revenue.

Other online companies that depend heavily on ads, such as tech giants Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc tumbled 7.6% and 5.6%, respectively, weighing on the Nasdaq.

Meta and Alphabet are set to post their earnings next week, along with mega-cap peers, including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc.

The S&P 500 communication services and information technology tumbled 4.3% and 1.4%, respectively, leading declines among the index’s 11 sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 137.61 points, or 0.43%, to 31,899.29, the S&P 500 lost 37.32 points, or 0.93%, to 3,961.63 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 225.50 points, or 1.87%, to 11,834.11.

“Earnings are coming in less bad than feared, but they’re deteriorating from what we got used to and accustomed to over the last several quarters,” said Bob Doll, CIO at Crossmark Global Investments.

With 106 of the S&P 500 companies having reported earnings through Friday morning, 75.5% have topped analyst expectations, below the 81% beat rate over the past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data.[L1N2Z31SC]

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve’s meeting and second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product data next week. While the U.S. central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points to curb runaway inflation, the GDP data is likely to be negative again.

Meanwhile, a survey on Friday showed that U.S. business activity contracted for the first time in nearly two years in July, deepening concerns about an economy stunted by high inflation, rising interest rates and dwindling consumer confidence.

“Economic data is coming in weaker.. kind of confirming the fact that a recession is highly likely over the next 12 months. And the markets is trying to figure out what that looks like with economic growth slowing significantly [and] the Fed in the midst of pretty aggressive tightening fiscal,” said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdence Capital Advisors in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Verizon Communications Inc tumbled 6.8% after announcing it cut its annual adjusted profit forecast as inflation weighs. American Express Co rose 1.9% on strong earnings and an increased revenue forecast.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.38 billion shares, compared with the 11.53 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.49-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 31 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 32 new highs and 74 new lows.

(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal, Aniruddha Ghosh and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Sriraj Kalluvila, Shounak Dasgupta and Aurora Ellis)

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -Uber Technologies Inc on Friday accepted responsibility for covering up a 2016 data breach that affected 57 million passengers and drivers, as part of a settlement with U.S. prosecutors to avoid criminal charges.

In entering a non-prosecution agreement, Uber admitted that its personnel failed to report the November 2016 hacking to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, even though the agency had been investigating the ride-sharing company’s data security.

U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds in San Francisco said Uber waited about a year to report the breach, after installing new executive leadership who “established a strong tone from the top” regarding ethics and compliance.

Hinds said the decision not to criminally charge Uber reflected new management’s prompt investigation and disclosures, and Uber’s 2018 agreement with the FTC to maintain a comprehensive privacy program for 20 years.

The San Francisco-based company is also cooperating with the prosecution of a former security chief, Joseph Sullivan, over his alleged role in concealing the hacking.

Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sullivan was originally indicted in September 2020. Prosecutors said Sullivan arranged to pay the hackers $100,000 in bitcoin and have them sign nondisclosure agreements that falsely stated they had not stolen data.

Uber had a bounty program designed to reward security researchers who report flaws, but not to cover up data thefts.

In September 2018, Uber paid $148 million to settle claims by all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., that it was too slow to disclose the hacking.

Uber shares closed down 93 cents at $23.30 on Friday. The non-prosecution agreement was disclosed after U.S. markets closed.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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(Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc has entered a non-prosecution agreement to resolve a criminal investigation into its cover-up of a significant data breach, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds in San Francisco said on Friday.

Hinds said Uber admitted that its personnel failed to report the November 2016 breach to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission even though the agency was investigating data security at the ride-sharing company.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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FRANKFURT/HELSINKI (Reuters) -Uniper on Friday received 15 billion euros ($15.2 billion) in guarantees and equity as the German government stepped in to save the gas importer that is the biggest casualty of Europe’s energy crisis so far.

The state bail-out caps weeks of intense negotiations between Germany and Finland, which controls Uniper’s majority shareholder Fortum. It provides a lifeline after falling Russian gas supplies drained the company’s finances.

Uniper shares initially rose 5% after the announcement, but by 1035 GMT were down 14%.

As part of the deal, the German government will take a 30% stake in Uniper. Fortum will end up holding 56% in Uniper, down from around 80% currently.

“We are living through an unprecedented energy crisis that requires robust measures,” Fortum CEO Markus Rauramo said, adding the deal reflected the interests of all parties. “We were driven by urgency and the need to protect Europe’s security of supply in a time of war.”

Following the immediate rescue, Uniper, Fortum and the German government will work on a long-term solution to reform the company’s wholesale gas contract architecture, which has exposed the group to billions in losses.

The parties intend to agree on the longer-term solution by the end of 2023, they said.

A drop in Russian gas supplies meant that, rather than being able to rely on long-term price agreements, Uniper had to buy expensive gas on the spot market to make up for the shortfall.

Friday’s agreement will allow Uniper to pass on higher gas prices, which have risen eight-fold as a result of Moscow cutting supplies, to customers, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the government was looking at relief measures.

($1 = 0.9847 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Essi Lehto, Matthias Inverard, Holger Hansen, Andreas Rinke, Markus Wacket; Editing by Maria Sheahan, Kirsti Knolle and Barbara Lewis)

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By Julia Payne

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices fell on Friday on a weakening global demand outlook and the resumption of some Libyan crude oil output.

Brent crude futures fell $1.02 to $102.84 a barrel by 1023 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.08 cents to $95.27 a barrel.

The global economy looks increasingly likely to be heading into a serious slowdown, just as central banks aggressively reverse ultra-loose monetary policy adopted during the pandemic to support growth, data showed on Friday.

“Things are still negative on the economic front, but we are still in a structural shortfall for prompt oil and that means physical buyers will be there to support dips knowing the uncertainty of what lies ahead on the geopolitical front,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Innes said investors had next week’s U.S. Federal Reserve decision on interest rates firmly on their minds. Fed officials have indicated that the central bank would likely raise rates by 75 basis points at its July 26-27 meeting.

“While 75 is in the cards, guidance will be important and any softening in the rate hike outlook would be great for global growth,” Innes added.

While signs of softening U.S. demand weighed on oil prices and sent benchmark contracts sliding around 3% in the previous session, tight global supplies continued to keep the market buoyed.

Supply fears were easing slightly though after Libya resumed production at several oil fields earlier this week.

“Libyan production is recovering, but with clashes in the capital no one knows how long the production recovery will hold,” Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS, said, referring to clashes between rival factions in Libya amid growing concern that a political standoff could prompt renewed conflict.

Staunovo also the market will look to preliminary OPEC production estimates for guidance next week.

WTI has been pummelled over the past two sessions after data showed that U.S. gasoline demand had dropped nearly 8% from a year earlier in the midst of the peak summer driving season, hit by record prices at the pump.

In contrast, signs of strong demand in Asia propped up the Brent benchmark, putting it on course for its first weekly gain in six weeks.

Demand in India for gasoline and distillate fuels rose to record highs in June, despite higher prices, with total refined product consumption running at 18% more than a year ago and Indian refineries operating near their busiest levels ever, RBC analysts said.

“This signals much more than a strong recovery from COVID-plagued years,” RBC analyst Michael Tran said in a note.

(Reporting by Julia Payne in London, Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Susan Fenton)

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(Reuters) – Global equity funds recorded their biggest weekly outflow in five weeks in the week to July 20, on investor caution ahead of crucial central bank meetings in which rate hikes are expected to be announced.

According to Refinitiv Lipper, investors offloaded a net $13.79 billion worth of global equity funds, marking the biggest weekly outflow since June 15.

(GRAPHIC: Fund flows- Global equities bonds and money market – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zgvomxlryvd/Fund%20flows-%20Global%20equities%20bonds%20and%20money%20market.jpg)

The European Central Bank raised its benchmark deposit rate by 50 basis points, above its own guidance of a 25-basis-point hike, to rein in soaring inflation levels in the region.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to raise policy rates by another 75 basis points at its meeting next week as it seeks to balance the risks of a stubbornly high inflation and the likelihood of a recession.

U.S. and European equities funds booked withdrawals of $8.45 billion and $5.6 billion, respectively, although investors poured about $740 million in Asian equity funds.

Sectoral data showed financial, consumer discretionary and metals and mining funds witnessed outflows of $995 million, $445 million and $416 million, respectively, but healthcare gained $511 million in inflows.

(GRAPHIC: Fund flows: Global equity sectors – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/mypmnlyaovr/Fund%20flows-%20Global%20equity%20sectors.jpg)

Selling continued for a second week in global bonds funds as investors unwind $6.9 billion worth of holdings.

Government funds saw outflows of $2.49 billion after 15 weeks of inflows, while net selling in short- and medium-term bond funds eased to a 15-week low of $1.88 billion.

(GRAPHIC: Global bond fund flows in the week ended July 20 – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/gkplgyklxvb/Global%20bond%20fund%20flows%20in%20the%20week%20ended%20July%2020.jpg)

Meanwhile, investors sold money market funds worth $1.34 billion after two weeks of purchases.

In the commodities space, net selling in gold and precious metal funds stood at $1.1 billion, a 63% bigger outflow than the previous week, while energy funds posted a fourth weekly outflow, valued at $180 million.

An analysis of 24,388 emerging market funds showed investors jettisoned equity fund worth 2.04 billion, the biggest outflow in 10 weeks, while bond funds suffered a sixth weekly outflow of $2.13 billion.

(GRAPHIC: Fund flows: EM equities and bonds – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/mopanaoqlva/Fund%20flows-%20EM%20equities%20and%20bonds.jpg)

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Limiting the size of new swimming pools in and around Las Vegas might save a drop in the proverbial bucket amid historic drought and climate change in the West.

Officials are taking the plunge anyway, capping the size of new swimming pools at single-family residential homes to about the size of a three-car garage.

Citing worries about dwindling drinking water allocations from the drying-up Lake Mead reservoir on the depleted Colorado River, officials in Clark County voted this week to limit the size of new swimming pools to 600 square feet (56 square meters) of surface area.

“Having a pool in Las Vegas is like having a second car. It’s that common,” said Kevin Kraft, owner of a family custom pool design company that has been in business since 1942.

Clark County figures show there are about 200,000 residential swimming pools in the area of 2.4 million people. Another 1,300 are added annually.

“When you’re in the desert and it’s 100 degrees outside on a regular basis, it’s part of life to have a pool,” said Kraft, who derided the new regulations as more about “optics” than saving water.

But Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson lamented before voting in favor of the cap Tuesday: “If the trends continue and the lake continues to decline, then this may be one of the least of the tough decisions that we’ll be making over the course of time.”

On Thursday, the Southern Nevada Water Authority voted unanimously to send the restriction to a vote by city councils in neighboring North Las Vegas and Henderson. Authority officials and an industry trade group, the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, said they think the Las Vegas-area restriction is a first in the U.S.

The estimated 3,000 glimmering “commercial” pools familiar to the 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas resort hotels, motels and water parks annually, or live in apartments, will not be affected by the limit.

Water use, abuse and scarcity have been hot topics during the scorching summer of 2022. Temperatures are projected to top 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) this week in Las Vegas, which averages a little more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rainfall per year.

Television ads urging water conservation are as common as theories about the history behind sunken boats and bodies that have surfaced in the mud as the crucial Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam recedes.

The lake providing about 90% of the Las Vegas water supply bears a telltale white mineral bathtub ring on steep lakeside cliffs showing the water line has dropped more than 170 feet (52 meters) since the reservoir was last full in 1983. It’s now below 30% capacity, raising the possibility it could fall so low that Hoover Dam could be unable to generate hydropower or release water downstream.

The Colorado River provides water for millions of acres of irrigation and more than 40 million people in tribes and cities in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Utah and Mexico.

In the face of that, the penalty for building a pool bigger than allowed after Sept. 1 will be severe: Denial of water service.

Builders of big swimming pools and spas for custom homes in far-flung neighborhoods complained the cap could cripple their companies, and that lap pools and diving boards may become a thing of the past.

“It’s easy to show pictures of lavish swimming pools and say, ‘That’s the problem why we have less water,’ ” Dustin Watters, whose family business, Watters Aquatech, started installing pools in 1985, told lawmakers Tuesday.

The water authority general manager, John Entsminger, said 23,000 gallons (87,000 liters) evaporate annually from the average 470 square foot (43.7 square meter) Southern Nevada home swimming pool. About 75% of recently constructed pools were already under the proposed size limit, he said.

The authority projects the pool size restriction will save 3.2 million gallons (12 million liters) of water the first year, increasing to 32 million gallons (121 million liters) by 2032, still just a fraction of the nearly 91 billion gallons (344 billion liters) the region draws from the lake per year.

Kraft and others in the pool industry told lawmakers the estimated savings under the pool size cap of one-tenth of a gallon (0.4 liter) per person per day was insignificant. The water authority could impose fees on owners of large pools, he suggested, and use the money to hire more water restriction enforcement agents.

The authority estimates that “enhanced watering compliance” could save 5.7 gallons (21.6 liters) per person per day. But water authority board member Cedric Creer, a Las Vegas City Council member, said “the philosophy that you can pay your way out of it is not a sound strategy.”

The vote to limit home pool sizes is the latest step by the authority to promote robust water reuse and conservation. It already encourages the removal of front lawns, and in recent months expanded patrols to identify and fine violators of landscape watering restrictions.

A new Nevada law that takes effect in 2027 bans “non-functional” or ornamental greenery at office parks, in street medians and entrances to housing developments. It excludes single-family homes, parks and golf courses.

Those measures put Southern Nevada years ahead of places like Los Angeles, where the regional water supplier declared a water emergency in April and imposed a one-day-per-week outdoor watering schedule for 6 million customers.

In Arizona, irrigation districts, water agencies, state entities and cities including Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale and Tempe have said they’ll find ways to use less water.

Kraft, the owner of the pool design company, said Las Vegas-area officials didn’t fully consider a study commissioned by the pool industry or other business recommendations. He predicted that multimillion-dollar home projects will be delayed or scrapped because of the new rule.

“The tone we got was that rich people shouldn’t be able to have big pools,” Kraft told The Associated Press. “All this work that people do on these big custom homes is usually around the pool. The pool is a big part of the design of the project.”

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The owner of a large industrial site on the Georgia coast said Thursday that it has ended a longstanding agreement to sell the property to a county government whose officials worked for years on a plan to build a launch pad for commercial rockets there.

Opponents who fear the proposed Spaceport Camden would pose serious safety and environmental risks hailed the development as a potential deal breaker for the project, which Camden County officials have spent a decade and more than $10 million pursuing.

Union Carbide Corporation owns 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) in the county where commissioners have pursued the spaceport for launching satellites into orbit. The county government in 2015 entered into an option agreement with the company to buy the land once the county obtained a spaceport operator license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA awarded the license in December. But before county commissioners could close on the land, opponents forced a referendum on the project by gathering more than 3,500 petition signatures. The project was put to a vote in March, and 72% cast ballots to block the deal.

In a statement Thursday, Union Carbide noted that Camden County voters had “repudiated” the land purchase.

“As a result, there is no longer an Option Agreement in existence between the County and UCC, and UCC does not intend to convey the property to the County pursuant to the prior Option Agreement,” said the statement, emailed to The Associated Press by Union Carbide spokesman Tomm Sprick.

Steve Howard, Camden County’s government administrator, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. Howard has led the spaceport project, saying it would bring economic growth not just from rocket launches, but also by attracting related industries and tourists to the community of 55,000 people on the Georgia-Florida line.

Opponents say building the spaceport on an industrial plot formerly used to manufacture pesticides and munitions would pose potential hazards that outweigh any economic benefits.

Critics, including the National Park Service, have said rockets exploding soon after launch could rain fiery debris onto Little Cumberland Island, which has about 40 private homes, and neighboring Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness visited by about 60,000 tourists each year.

Megan Desrosiers, president of the coastal Georgia conservation group One Hundred Miles, called the end of the land purchase agreement “a huge deal.”

“If Union Carbide doesn’t sell the property to Camden County, then there’s no site for a spaceport,” said Desrosiers, whose group helped organize the petition drive that forced the referendum.

The big loss at the polls in March didn’t stop county officials from pursuing the project. Commissioners in April voted unanimously to notify Union Carbide that they planned to move forward with the land purchase. The company said at the time it was evaluating the agreement.

Meanwhile, county officials are trying to have the referendum declared invalid by the Georgia Supreme Court. Their legal appeal argues that Georgia’s constitution doesn’t allow voters to veto government projects such as the spaceport. The court is scheduled to hear the case Aug. 23.

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By Lisa Baertlein and Tom Polansek

(Reuters) -Truckers protesting California’s new “gig worker” law blockaded the state’s third-busiest seaport for a second day on Thursday, stalling agricultural exports and threatening to worsen U.S. supply chain backups.

The operator of the largest marine terminal at the Port of Oakland closed it for business on Thursday, while the three other marine terminals on the property had some on-ship labor underway, port spokesman Robert Bernardo said.

Independent truck drivers have been picketing terminal gates and choking truck traffic on the port since Monday in protest of California’s new labor law formally known as AB5.

Backers say AB5 aims to clamp down on labor abuses and push companies to hire drivers as employees – which would enable them to join unions and collectively bargain with employers.

The law was a win for unions but is broadly opposed by big rig drivers who say it would make it more expensive for them to remain independent and push them to become company employees.

Protesters and the trucking industry want California Governor Gavin Newsom to delay enforcement of the law. Some organizers say the protesters – whose rally call is “The cargo won’t flow ’til AB5 goes” – won’t stop until they get a sit-down with Newsom.

In a rebuff on Thursday, the governor’s office said: “No one should be caught by surprise by the law’s requirements. The industry should focus on supporting this transition.”

The eighth-busiest U.S. container seaport – a key hub for agricultural trade – was already working to clear a pandemic-fueled cargo backup before the trucker protests began. The knock-on effects of the occasionally confrontational protests are already rippling beyond trucking.

“It’s not just this as a one-off,” Shawna Morris, senior vice president for U.S. Dairy Export Council and National Milk Producers Federation, said of the blockade.

ADDING TORNADO TO HURRICANE

Dairy farmers and other food producers have struggled to get products on the water because container shipping lines prioritized more lucrative, pandemic-fueled imports from Asia to the United States.

“We’ve added a tornado to the hurricane that the industry has been trying to endure for the last almost two years now,” Morris said.

It also complicates matters for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which is in-high stakes U.S. West Coast port labor contract negotiations with terminal operators. The ILWU supports AB5 and said its dock worker members didn’t cross the blockade line for safety reasons.

“We’re not going to put our members in harm’s way to pass through the line of truckers,” said Farless Dailey, ILWU Local 10 president.

“We have dispatched 450 workers in the past three days who haven’t been able to get in to move cargo for the day, and they don’t get paid when they don’t get in,” Dailey said.

When trucks and dock workers don’t move cargo, the port clogs and ships don’t move – exacerbating backups and amplifying risks for shippers who rely on the port.

Oakland handles about $1.86 billion in exports per month at this time of year. Two thirds of the value of those are agricultural products, and perishables will take the biggest hit from the shutdown, said Jock O’Connell, international trade advisor at consultancy Beacon Economics.

That puts at risk California’s $20 billion-plus agriculture export industry and shipments of everything from almonds and rice to milk powder and wine.

The clock is also ticking for the $18 billion U.S. pork and beef export market, said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Fresh U.S. beef and pork producers transport products hundreds of miles to the Oakland port because it is the preferred launch point for cargo ships bound for Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, Schuele said.

If port delays drag on more than a few days, the refrigerated meat may need to be frozen to prevent it from spoiling, which lowers its value while adding frozen storage costs, he said.

“You don’t have a lot of time to spare,” Schuele said.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Mark Porter and Diane Craft)

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(Corrects comparison with forecast in paragraph 4.)

By Daniel Leussink

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan ran a trade deficit for the 11th straight month in June as high energy and other commodity costs pushed up imports, highlighting growing economic pressures from a sharply declining yen and global inflation.

Imports surged 46.1% in the year to June, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday, slightly above a median market forecast for a 45.7% gain in a Reuters poll.

That outpaced a 19.4% year-on-year rise in exports in the same month, resulting in a 1.3838 trillion yen ($9.99 billion) trade deficit, the 11th straight month of shortfalls.

June’s deficit was smaller than the 1.510 trillion yen gap expected in a Reuters poll.

Imports swelled due to a surge in shipments of oil from Saudi Arabia and coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia. Imports of LNG from Malaysia and coal from Indonesia posted triple-digit surges, the data showed.

“Import volumes outpaced export volumes across Q2 so net trade should have been a small drag on Q2 GDP (gross domestic product) growth,” said Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist at Capital Economics.

“Car exports remain the Achilles heel of Japan’s manufacturing sector as they were only up 0.4% year-on-year, but that marked at least a pick-up from the 7.9% year-on-year fall in May,” he added.

By region, exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, rose 8.3% in the 12 months to June, recovering from two months of declines on stronger shipments of chip parts. China-bound exports of cars posted a sharp 23.2% year-on-year decline, the data showed.

Shipments bound for the United States, the world’s largest economy, gained 15.7% in June, thanks to stronger exports of medical products.

The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy later on Thursday, a commitment that could lead to further falls in the yen.

While the yen’s slide against the U.S. dollar and other currencies this year has pushed up import costs, Japan’s economy is still projected to have returned to growth in the second quarter following a decline in January-March.

However, the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic faces headwinds from slowing global growth, lower exports and persistent supply chain snags.

That has forced policymakers to maintain sufficient stimulus in the economy, going against a global tide of rate increases to rein in rampant inflation.

($1 = 138.4600 yen)

(The story corrects comparison with forecast in paragraph 4.)

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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