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The Trump administration is unsettling the multilateral economic system, harming the U.S. economy in the process and to a lesser extent Europe as well, the head of France's central bank said on Wednesday. "Through his decisions and reversals, Mr. Trump destabilizes the multilateral system," Francois Villeroy de Galhau told lawmakers on the finance commission of the lower house of the French parliament. The U.S. Federal Reserve's recent downgrade of its forecast was evidence that the Trump administration's policies were already harming the U.S. economy, he added.

ATHENS -Chevron has expressed an interest in hydrocarbon exploration off the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, the second such expression for Greek energy by the U.S. oil producer this year, the Greek energy ministry said on Wednesday. Greece has accepted Chevron's interest for two blocks south of Crete and will soon decide on the coordinates and on launching an international tender for the areas, which border two licensed blocks where an ExxonMobil-led consortium has been evaluating seismic data, the energy ministry said. Chevron's new interest doubles the size of offshore blocks that will be made available for energy exploration to an area stretching 47,000 square kilometres, increasing the possibility of finding "commercially exploitable" reserves in Greek waters.

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(Bloomberg) -- Household consumption drove Spain’s economic expansion at the end of last year, helping it outpace its euro-zone peers.Most Read from BloombergThey Built a Secret Apartment in a Mall. Now the Mall Is Dying.Why Did the Government Declare War on My Adorable Tiny Truck?Trump Slashed International Aid. Geneva Is Feeling the Impact.How SUVs Are Making Traffic WorseParis Votes to Make 500 More Streets Car-FreeConsumer spending increased 1% in the fourth quarter while government outlays

Goolsbee, a voting member of Fed's rate-setting committee this year, told the FT that if markets start factoring higher inflation then he would view that as "a major red flag area of concern" for policymaking decisions. Fed policymakers left the central bank's benchmark interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range earlier in March and signaled they still expect to lower it at some point later this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell later said that President Donald Trump's tariff increases would delay progress in bringing down inflation this year, but the Fed's base case is that tariff-related price impacts will be transitory, working through the economy quickly.

Bitcoin investors are closely watching the upcoming U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation report set for release on March 28.

HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Wednesday, buoyed by government data showing U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories fell last week and by mounting concerns about tighter global supply following the U.S. threat of tariffs on nations buying Venezuelan crude. U.S. crude stocks, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels to 433.6 million barrels in the week ended March 21, the EIA said, a deeper draw than the 956,000 barrels that analysts had expected in a Reuters poll.