FED’S POWELL SEES THREATS FROM GLOBAL SLOWDOWN

TON» Federal Reserve WASHI N G Chairman Jerome Powell says the U.S. economy is performing well, but he is eyeing potential risks ahead.

Those include a slowdown in global growth, the fading impact from tax cuts and the cumulative weight of the Fed’s own interest rate hikes.

Speaking Wednesday to an audience at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Powell said the Fed is managing interest rates in an effort to prolong the current economic recover.

He said the increased political attacks on the Fed will not divert the central bank from doing its job.

Energy agency: Global oil supply jumps, sending prices lower.

F RAN K-

URT» The International

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Energy Agency said Wednesday that global oil supplies are growing rapidly as Saudi Arabia, the United States and Russia pump more oil in response to fears of higher prices as a result of renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The IEA said in its monthly report that October output rose by 2.6 million barrels a day to 100.7 million barrels as producers heeded warnings that looming U.S. sanctions could mean a loss of Iranian oil to the market and thus lead to higher prices.

U.S. consumer prices climb 0.3 percent in October.

WASHI N G

TON» Consumer prices climbed 0.3 percent in October, with higher prices for gasoline, used autos and housing contributing to the increase.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that this measure of inflation has jumped 2.5 percent over the past 12 months. Adjusted for rising prices, average weekly wages have improved 0.9 percent this year. That’s an increase of $8.52 in weekly earnings from October 2017.

The Federal Reserve targets inflation at 2 percent, just enough to encourage consumer spending and economic growth without leading to price increases that could destabilize the economy.

Federal Reserve officials are expected at a meeting in December to raise a key short-term interest rate for the fourth time this year. to eliminate the jobs of about 1,100 employees in the U.S. — about 3.6 percent of its workforce.

The insurance and financial services company says about 80 workers in Des Moines and 350 in Columbus, Ohio, were told Tuesday that their jobs would be eliminated by the end of March. The remaining workers affected will be informed in the coming weeks.

Nationwide says the employees will receive severance pay and other support, and they can apply for company jobs elsewhere. Nationwide is based in Columbus.

Greek civil servants walk off job in 24-hour strike.

» Civil servants walked off the job Wednesday in a 24-hour strike to protest austerity measures, demanding wage and pension increases as well as the abolition of all legislation as part of the country’s international bailouts.

The strike shut down local government, while workers at state-run hospitals also participated. More than 1,000 protesters marched through central Athens in two separate demonstrations.

To tackle a crippling financial crisis, successive governments from 2010 imposed big tax hikes and spending cuts, including on pensions and salaries, in return for billions of euros in emergency loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

— Denver Post wire services