Worried about a recession? Let industrial distributor Fastenal Co offer some perspective. The Winona, Minnesota-based company specialises in supplying factory-floor odds and ends to manufacturers and construction companies, and its earnings can often be a harbinger of the results its customers will report later this month. Fastenal said that demand was generally healthy but that there were certain signs ...

  Vladimir Putin is sabotaging Europe’s energy supply, and the economic outlook looks grim. Isn’t that enough to get governments into emergency mode? And yet, the European finance ministers who bothered to show up in Brussels spouted their usual, calm one-liners: Europe is working on contingencies, an economic recession can still be avoided and it is impossible to predict whether ...

  Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc fell short of profit expectations in the second quarter and said high operating costs will persist through the rest of the year, weighing on a possible rebound as carriers try to capitalise on continued strong travel demand. So-called unit costs will climb as Delta extends constraints on its flying capacity for the remainder of ...