* Biden reaffirms US defense of Taiwan if China attacks
* Pandemic is ‘over’, says Biden
* Markets eye another big rate hike from the Federal Reserve this week
* Rising bond yields change expectations for stocks
* Strong US dollar threatens to exacerbate a global economic slowdown
* Some European factories closing due to surging energy prices
* Hurricane Fiona batters Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
* Millions evacuated in Japan as Typhoon Nanmadol strikes
* US 10yr Treasury yield rises for seventh straight week through Friday’s close:

Rising interest rates take a toll on global economic outlook, based on surveys of economists polled by Bloomberg:

China’s economic outlook remains challenged despite rebound in August data, advise economists. “While some of the current policy support will bear more fruit in Q4, the Covid situation will likely remain challenging into the winter and early 2023, and export growth is set to slow,” writes UBS chief China economist Tao Wang in a research note. Mattie Bekink, China director for the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network, observes: “We’re not seeing the policy-levers being pulled necessary to facilitate a change” to ease the nation’s restrictive zero-Covid policy. “Essentially zero-Covid has stomped on human investor confidence in China.”