Firms grappling with high inflation and soaring operating costs are seeking fresh short-term liquidity lines in an echo of the worst days of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. European high-grade companies are taking out facilities maturing in two years or less, significantly shorter than the average five-year term of conventional loans. They’ve sealed €76 billion ($75 billion) of short-term financing this year -- the second-highest on record after the €153 billion extended in 2020, according Bloomberg-compiled data.

UK consumers and businesses cut back on borrowing after a jump in interest rates, adding to headwinds for the economy, Bloomberg News reported. New mortgage approvals fell 10%, the sharpest pace since February 2021, and credit card borrowing along with loans taken out by businesses also declined, according to Bank of England figures Monday. The data indicate that the central bank’s interest-rate increases to quell inflation are starting to rein in activity in the economy. Analysts say the UK may already be in a recession that could last until the middle of 2024.

The German government has agreed in principle to apply a cap on gas prices for some 25,000 large industrial companies from Jan. 1, 2023, the economy ministry said on Monday, after an expert commission presented its proposals in Berlin, Reuters reported. The ministry said that the government will make some technical adjustments to the commission's original proposal, but a cap of 7 euros cents per kilowatt hours for 70% of companies consumption will apply as per the commission's suggestions. Read more.

The Bank of England looks set to raise borrowing costs by the most since 1989 next week even as it prepares for a recession that could be deepened by spending cuts under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Reuters reported. As well as raising interest rates on Thursday for an eighth meeting in a row to tame inflation above 10% - this time by three-quarters of a percentage point according to most analysts - the BoE is also due to become the world's first big central bank to start selling bonds from its stimulus stockpile on Tuesday.

Hopes that the euro zone can stave off a recession got a boost as Germany defied expectations by reporting another quarter of economic growth, though momentum slowed dramatically in France and Spain, Bloomberg News reported. Surging energy prices, record inflation and rising interest rates are weighing on output across the continent in the third quarter as a post-lockdown splurge on leisure and tourism fades. But data Friday showed Germany managed to grow by 0.3% between July and September. Consumer-price growth from the region was mixed.

Both corporate and personal insolvencies in Scotland have risen compared to last year as inflation and the cost-of-living crisis affect businesses and individuals, according to new analysis, the Independent reported. There were 270 corporate insolvencies in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022/23, a 28% increase on the same period the previous year when there were 211, official Scottish Government statistics show. Personal insolvency numbers rose to 2,069 in Q2 of 2022/23, a 7.7% increase on Q2 last year when there were 1,921.

The European Central Bank doubled its key interest rate to the highest level in more than a decade and signaled it’s making progress in its battle with record inflation, just as the likelihood of a recession mounts, Bloomberg News reported.

The European Central Bank on Thursday got rid of a subsidy on over 2 trillion euros of loans to banks to encourage them to repay early, a move designed to mop up excess cash but which was criticised by the banking industry, Reuters reported. The ECB has come under pressure to change the terms of its Targeted Longer-term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO) because the generous rate offered at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic now allowed banks to make a guaranteed profit at the ECB's expense.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has taken on the unenviable task of restoring Britain’s credibility in international markets, said on Wednesday that he would delay the announcement of a major economic plan by two and a half weeks as he seeks more time to make the “right decisions,” the New York Times reported. Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the Exchequer, will deliver the fiscal statement on Nov. 17, instead of Monday. The statement is set to lay out spending and tax policies in line with lowering Britain’s debt burden.

The UK government is close to a deal that will see Octopus Energy Ltd. acquire Bulb Energy Ltd., which went bust last November, as soon this week, Bloomberg News reported. Octopus, which already has more than 2 million customers, will become the UK’s third largest energy supplier after adding Bulb’s roughly 1.5 million households. The combined numbers could see it rival the market share of Centrica Plc’s British Gas and EON SE. Bulb collapsed when wholesale prices spiked above the regulator’s price cap, forcing it to sell energy at a loss. The government stepped in and appointed Teneo Inc.