The UK’s audit and accountancy regulator has opened an investigation into an accountant following solar farm investments made by a now bankrupt local authority, Bloomberg News reported. The Financial Reporting Council is looking into the conduct of one of its members in relation to the activities of Thurrock Council, the watchdog said Wednesday. Thurrock Council, in Essex to the east of London, put hundreds of millions of pounds into solar energy only to later seek a government bailout when the investments soured.

Britain's economy ended 2023 on a stronger footing than previously thought, according to a survey of businesses, amid other signs that the Bank of England's high interest rate campaign might not trigger a recession, Reuters reported. With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hoping for better economic news before an election expected later this year, Thursday's data suggested businesses and households are weathering the storm of high inflation and borrowing costs at a 15-year peak.

French consumer prices rose in December in line with expectations, preliminary data from the national statistics body showed on Thursday, due to an increase in energy and services prices over the year, Reuters reported. The preliminary figures from INSEE showed EU-harmonised annual inflation at 4.1%, up from 3.9% in November. The rise in energy and services prices accelerated to 5.6% and 3.1% respectively, after increases of 3.1% and 2.8% respectively the month before.

The contraction in euro zone business activity continued at the end of 2023 due to a persistent downturn in the dominant services industry, a survey showed on Thursday, indicating the bloc's economy was in recession, Reuters reported. HCOB's Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global and seen as a good gauge of overall economic health, was revised up for December to match November's 47.6 after a preliminary estimate of 47.0, but it remained below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction for a seventh month.

A 16th-century building in Munich, a luxury Berlin office development and the headquarters of department store Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof are among assets held by Signa property companies forced into insolvency in the last week, Bloomberg News reported. Torsten Martini, an insolvency administrator at law firm Görg, is in talks with creditor banks of a Berlin site at Schönhauser Allee 9 to see if construction may be able to resume, according to a spokesperson.

The Local Court of Münster has opened regular insolvency proceedings for the assets of Gigaset AG. The communications technology provider published a corresponding announcement on its website on Tuesday evening, MarketScreener.com reported. Markus Wischemeyer was appointed insolvency administrator. Gigaset AG had filed for insolvency in September and is insolvent according to its own statements. The main reason for this was an unexpected and significant decline in revenue in the second half of 2023 and a business performance that was significantly below plan.

The number of unemployed people in Germany rose slightly in December, by much less than analysts had expected, labour office figures showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out ofwork increased by 5,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.703 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the total to rise by 20,000. "The labour market is still holding up well in terms of the extent of the burdens and uncertainties," said Andrea Nahles, chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency.

U.K. long-end bonds are among the hardest hit by the downturn in global debt markets, as investors make room for a slate of gilt sales later this month, Bloomberg News reported. The yield on 30-year U.K. government notes has risen 14 basis points in the first two trading days of the year, more than U.S. and German equivalents. The bonds have also underperformed short-end ones, sending the yield premium over five-year notes to the highest in almost a year and a half. Investors are ditching long-end gilts ahead of the U.K.

Swedish bankruptcies jumped 29% in 2023 to the highest level since the 1990s, when the bursting of a property bubble crippled the Nordic nation’s banking system, Bloomberg News reported. This may just be the tip of the iceberg in the wake of persistently high inflation and interest rates, according to UC, a credit reference agency that compiled the data. In December, bankruptcies increased overall by 23% from a year earlier, it said.

At its height, the empire of luxury retail and real estate tycoon Rene Benko appeared to have no limits. It extended from Europe to the US, boasting a trophy case that included stakes in some of the world’s most recognizable properties, including the Chrysler Building in New York and the UK department store Selfridges, Bloomberg News reported.