Energy shortages in China, the United Kingdom and Europe are causing significant disruptions.
!['Sorry out of use' signs have become ubiquitous at petrol stations in many parts of the United Kingdom as energy firms fold and panic buyers make a run on dwindling fuel supplies [File: Jason Alden/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/379112680.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Energy shortages in China, the United Kingdom and Europe are causing significant disruptions.
!['Sorry out of use' signs have become ubiquitous at petrol stations in many parts of the United Kingdom as energy firms fold and panic buyers make a run on dwindling fuel supplies [File: Jason Alden/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/379112680.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before senators Tuesday.
![United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (left) and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (right) testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about the progress that has been made in bringing the US back from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s [File: Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21271536757366.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
The annual Women in the Workplace report finds American women are more burned out than they were a year ago.
![McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org's seventh annual report examined data from 423 major companies, surveyed more than 65,000 employees and conducted interviews with people from diverse backgrounds to take stock of how American women are faring more than a year and a half into the coronavirus pandemic [File: Jason Alden/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/376680560.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Investors are worried an Evergrande debt default could send shock waves through the Chinese and global economies.
![A custodian stands near a map of Evergrande's China development projects, in Beijing. Global investors are watching nervously as Evergrande struggles to avoid defaulting on tens of billions of dollars of debt, fuelling fears of possible wider shock waves for the Chinese financial system [Andy Wong/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP21264298103429.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
The latest data from the United States Department of Commerce and the Labor Department paint a nuanced picture.
![United States Commerce Department data shows retail sales climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in August even as many economists predicted a decline, but initial weekly claims for aid from jobless Americans ticked upward after hitting a pandemic low [File: Kriston Jae Bethel/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/377285640.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Will Chinese authorities allow Evergrande’s creditors to suffer major losses, or intervene in some way?
![Chinese authorities have told China Evergrande Group's major lenders not to expect interest payments due next week on bank loans, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, taking the cash-strapped developer a step closer to one of the nation's biggest debt restructurings [File: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/378205029.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress your friends.
![Elizabeth Holmes is facing criminal charges after allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and patients, according to an indictment filed against her, and her trial is set to begin in San Jose, California, the United States [File: Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/holmes.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Powell said that a decision to taper off asset purchases doesn’t mean the Fed will simultaneously raise interest rates.
![United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered his remarks virtually Friday after a surge in COVID-19 cases near the planned symposium site in Jackson Hole, Wyoming forced organisers to scrap in-person plans [File: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/377762596.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
US Department of Labor data showed initial claims for jobless aid fell to their lowest level since March 14, 2020.
![Seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment assistance hit a pandemic low of 348,000 for the week ending August 14, down 29,000 from the previous week, the United States Department of Labor said Thursday, a sign the US labour market is picking up steam even as cases of the coronavirus surge in some states [File: Nam Y Huh/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AP21231203604785.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
What you need to know about Afghanistan’s economy and the push to keep its overseas assets out of Taliban hands.
![Despite controlling the government, the Taliban has little access to Afghanistan's central bank reserves that are held abroad [File: Rahmat Gul/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AP21227479643169-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)