Bloomberg A sharp slump in the kwacha that’s placing upward pressure on inflation may prompt monetary policymakers to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a year when they meet in early 2023. Consumer prices rose an annual 9.9% this month, compared with 9.8% in November, interim Statistician-General Mulenga Musepa told reporters in the capital, Lusaka. …

  Bloomberg US equity-index futures gained on Thursday as technology shares rallied on the penultimate trading day of what’s been a brutal year for financial markets. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose more than 0.6% following gains for Asian technology stocks earlier amid signs China is easing a regulatory crackdown. Contracts on the S&P 500 were up about 0.3%. …

  Bloomberg Beset by war, soaring costs and higher interest rates, 2022 was a year many European companies — and stock market investors — would prefer to forget. Carefully crafted investment strategies were thrown into disarray, first by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis, then by surging borrowing costs that lifted Germany’s 10-year bond yield, Europe’s benchmark, …