Japan posted a trade deficit for a second straight month in August, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday, despite signs of sluggish consumer spending that weighed on imports.

Japan's trade deficit totaled 695 billion yen, or $4.9 billion, down 26% from a year earlier, the ministry said.

Having all but tamed inflation, the Federal Reserve is poised to do something Wednesday it hasn't done in more than four years: Cut its benchmark interest rate, a step that should lead to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses just weeks before the presidential election.

And yet an unusual air of uncertainty overhangs this week's meeting: It's unclear just how large the Fed's rate cut will be. Wall Street traders and some economists foresee a growing likelihood that the central bank will announce a larger-than-usual half-point cut. Many analysts foresee a more typical quarter-point rate cut.

China on Wednesday announced sanctions on American companies selling arms to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory and threatens to annex by force.

Chinese state media made the announcement, citing the Foreign Ministry, but gave no details on the companies involved. Taiwan is awaiting deliveries of F-16 fighter jets, Abrams tanks and a range of missiles from the U.S.

The billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates thinks the richest governments should increase their support for African countries that have been overshadowed by development funding increasingly going toward the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine as well as support for refugees around the world in recent years.

"There's less money going to Africa at a time when they need it," whether it's for debt relief, vaccinations or to reduce malnutrition, Gates told The Associated Press in an interview. As a portion of aid money, the funds going to Ukraine are "substantial," he said.

Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world's major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced.

Wall Street inched toward modest gains before the open Friday as markets continue to erase last week's sweeping losses.

Futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.2% before the bell Friday while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.1% higher.

Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point to 19% to combat high inflation as government spending on the military strains the economy's capacity to produce goods and services and drives up workers' wages.

The central bank said in a statement Friday that "growth in domestic demand is still significantly outstripping the capabilities to expand the supply of goods and services." It held out the prospect of more rate increases to return inflation from the current 9.1% to the bank's target of 4% in 2025.

Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job early Friday at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere after union members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike and reject a tentative contract that would have increased wages by 25% over four years.

The strike started at 12:01 a.m. PDT, less than three hours after the local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced 94.6% of voting workers rejected the proposed contract and 96% approved the work stoppage, easily surpassing a two-thirds requirement.

U.S. stocks are holding relatively steady Thursday following a couple reports on the economy that came in close to expectations.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in early trading and remains on track for a fourth winning week in the last five. It's climbed back within 2% of its record set in July following a shaky summer.

The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week.

Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier. It was the fifth straight annual drop and the smallest such increase since February 2021. From July to August, prices rose just 0.2%.