US factory activity fell for an eighth straight month, hitting three-year lows, according to manufacturing data on Monday that reignited talk of recession in the world's largest economy amid aggressive interest rate hikes to curb the worst inflation in four decades

Sales of new homes in the United States increased 20% year-on-year in May and a measure on consumer confidence spiked too, data showed on Tuesday ahead of the release later this week of a key inflation reading watched by the Federal Reserve

) Nearly all policy-makers at the Federal Reserve think there should be more rate hikes to curb inflation, Chairman Jerome Powell said in a speech prepared for delivery before Congress on Wednesday, following this month's pause in the central bank's year-long campaign of monetary tightening