The Russian economy is in an increasingly precarious state as a result of a shift to a war mode and of Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a report by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The report, prepared for talks of European Union finance ministers, said that while still relatively stable, the Russian economy was only superficially resilient and that underlying imbalances and structural weaknesses were growing.

German inflation eased further to 2.2% in April, the federal statistics office said on Wednesday, confirming preliminary data, Reuters reported. German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, had risen by 2.3% year-on-year in March. Read more.

A top Swiss court has ruled that the Swiss government's reductions and cancellations of bonus payments to former executives of Credit Suisse after the bank failed in 2023 were unlawful, according to the ruling published late on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The bonus measures affected around 1,000 people, some of whom challenged the decision with Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court, which upheld their appeal. "The variable remunerations reduced by the (Swiss finance ministry) were binding, employer-guaranteed claims deriving from a contractual employment relationship," the court said.

Affimed N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, today announced its decision to file an application for opening of insolvency proceedings with the local court of Mannheim in Germany, according to a company press release. As previously reported, Affimed has been engaged in discussions with potential investors and partners with respect to potential strategic transactions to raise additional capital.

Creditors in U.S. chipmaker Wolfspeed offered roughly $600M to refinance a large convertible bond coming due in 2026, to pre-empt a potential bankruptcy filing, The Financial Times reported. The offer comes after Wolfspeed announced last week that it was considering a bankruptcy filing after negotiations to restructure the bond reached an impasse.

UK wage growth slowed down in the three months to March 2025, as businesses braced for national insurance increases which came into effect at the beginning of April, EuroNews.com reported. Regular pay excluding bonuses in the UK grew by 5.6% on an annual basis to £671 (€798.3) a week in the three months to March 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was below the 5.9% seen in the previous period, while being less than analyst estimates of 5.7% as well.

The European Central Bank will stand by its aggressive stimulus policy of the last decade in a strategy review, side-stepping calls for self-criticism after a bout of high inflation and sizeable losses, several ECB policymakers told Reuters. The review, which began in March, will address some big questions about the way the ECB works, including whether massive bond purchases, negative interest rates and giving guidance on the future path for rates remain good policy tools.

President Trump has defended his decision to introduce tariffs on goods from other countries by arguing that it will lead companies to shift production to the United States, bringing back jobs, the New York Times reported. For German companies, which have been producing their goods in the United States since the late 1800s, such arguments ring hollow. Thousands of German companies already have factories in the United States, accounting for 12 percent of the country’s foreign investments. Automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz have long had plants in the United States.