Inflation in Britain slowed for a third consecutive month in August, unexpectedly continuing its downward trend despite a jump in fuel prices, the New York Times reported. Consumer prices rose 6.7 percent last month compared with a year earlier, slightly slower than the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had expected inflation to rise following a global surge in energy prices.

The German government and European politicians in Brussels are leaning on Germany’s largest companies to reduce their exposure to China. The companies are instead doubling down, the Wall Street Journal reported. As government pressure intensifies, German companies with sizable Chinese operations in recent months have been scrambling to insulate those businesses from possible Western sanctions.

U.S. authorities are seeking evidence from Credit Suisse to assess whether the bank misled investors about its financial health as it teetered towards a state-backed rescue by UBS six months ago, Reuters reported. Credit Suisse "has received requests for documents and information" from agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Justice Department and Swiss regulator FINMA, UBS said in a financial filing on Aug. 31. In the note, part of UBS's 124-page second-quarter report, UBS also said that three U.S.

Despite a successful investment round in January, and expansion plans, UK electric car subscription service Onto is now facing insolvency, Electrive.com reported. Onto is now in administration, despite raising large investments in January this year. The company raised £100 million (nearly €114 million) from global investment group CDPQ and asset manager Pollen Street to expand its UK fleet. There was even talk of expanding to other regions.

The car manufacturer B-ON, which had taken over Streetscooter, among others, is apparently bankrupt, Electrive.com reported. The group has now filed for insolvency at the Aachen District Court and put the production of the Streetscooter on hold. It is unclear how the imbalance came about. The company had orders, said Jürgen Müller, chairman of the works council, to the Aachener Zeitung. The business figures for the past year presented in April also looked good at first.

Building permits for apartments in Germany fell 31.5% in July from a year earlier, the statistics office disclosed on Monday, highlighting a slump in demand plaguing the construction and real estate industry, Reuters reported. The nosedive in permits comes amid calls from firms for stimulus from Berlin to support the industry ahead of a meeting next week with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The statistics office attributed the decline in demand to high building costs and difficulties in getting financing, factors that have deepened stress across the broader sector.

Padel, the racket sport craze currently sweeping across much of the planet, has turned into a cautionary tale for investors in one of the countries that first fully embraced it: Sweden, Bloomberg News reported. Padel centers in the biggest Nordic country are being converted to warehouses and budget grocery stores after the racket sport’s pandemic boom turned into a bust. Almost 90 padel-related companies have filed for bankruptcy this year, according to data from credit reference agency Creditsafe.

Company insolvencies in England and Wales in August rose 19% year on year to the third highest level since monthly record started in January 2019, as firms grapple with rising costs and uncertain economic outlook, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service, a government agency, reported 2,308 corporate insolvencies last month, up from 1,728 in July. Companies were mostly declared insolvent through creditors' voluntary liquidations, in which a firms' directors agree to wind up the business without a formal court order.

A group of international bond investors is drawing up plans to sue Switzerland in the U.S. courts for expropriation over the losses they suffered after UBS agreed to take over Credit Suisse with state support, the Financial Times reported. The case is being brought together by law firm Quinn Emanuel and could be filed by the end of the year, the report said on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. In essence, the claim would be seeking compensation for the destruction of [investors'] property rights, a person with knowledge of the plans told FT.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire urged the European Central Bank not to raise interest rates again, joining a cohort of politicians reacting to Thursday’s hike in borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. “We are on the right track to reduce inflation,” Le Maire told Bloomberg Television on Friday in the western Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, where he attended a meeting with euro-area counterparts on Friday along with ECB President Christine Lagarde.