With elevated inflation preventing Federal Reserve officials from feeling confident enough to cut interest rates, some policymakers at their meeting last month called for careful attention to signs the labor market might weaken faster than anticipated.

"A number of participants remarked that monetary policy should stand ready to respond to unexpected economic weakness," said the minutes of the Fed's June 11-12 meeting, which were released Wednesday with a customary three-week delay.


Canada Enacts Digital-Services Tax Amid Risks of U.S. Trade Retaliation

OTTAWA-Canada authorized the implementation of a digital-services tax, a move that threatens to trigger trade retaliation from Congress and the Biden administration.

A notice published late Wednesday indicated that the cabinet, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, ordered the digital-services tax to be implemented June 28, or last Friday.


Biden Moves to Shore Up Support as Democratic Unity Cracks

WASHINGTON-President Biden polled allies about what he can do to recapture the support of his party as he scrambled to keep his place at the top of the ticket amid deepening fissures in Democratic unity.

Over the last 48 hours, Biden has called Democratic congressional leaders as well as his biggest allies in Congress, part of an all-hands effort by the president and his senior advisers to reassure lawmakers, boost party morale and convince skeptics that he is capable of serving another four years in office


U.K.'s Labour Party Set to Score Sweeping Election Win

LONDON-Britain is set for a seismic shift in its political landscape Thursday as voters look set to elect the opposition Labour Party with a huge majority, putting a center-left government into Downing Street for the first time in 14 years.

Some polls show Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, a former public prosecutor turned politician, could be handed the biggest parliamentary majority in modern British history, as voters look for fresh leadership after a tumultuous period of Conservative Party rule that included Britain's departure from the European Union, political infighting and scandal that saw four prime ministers in five years, the pandemic, war in Ukraine and a cost-of-living crisis.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-04-24 0600ET