Defaults among emerging market companies continued to pile up in the third quarter due to troubles in Russia as well as China's property sector, with the volume of bonds trading at distressed levels close to record highs, JPMorgan said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The year-to-date default rate for emerging market high-yield firms reached 10.3%, the bank found in its latest default monitor. This was driven by Russian defaults lifting the rate in emerging Europe to 21.7%, while China's property sector woes saw the default rate across Asia run to 12.8%.

Germany and the Netherlands have proposed a package of 10 measures that the European Union could use to curb gas prices and avoid fuel rationing, including looking into setting a new benchmark price for liquefied natural gas. The plan, seen by Reuters and shared with other EU countries before the bloc's energy ministers meet on Wednesday, calls for the EU to kickstart joint gas buying, to avoid one country outbidding another and driving prices higher.

The Bank of England extended support targeted at pension funds for the second day in a row, the latest attempt to contain the fallout of a furious bond-market selloff that has threatened U.K. financial stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank on Tuesday said that it would add inflation-linked government bonds to its program of bond purchases after a fresh attempt on Monday to help pension funds failed to calm markets. The bank said it would buy up to £5 billion of index-linked gilts each day through Friday, equivalent to $5.5 billion.

Dutch greenhouses are cutting output of food and flowers and almost a 10th expect to be forced into bankruptcy soon by Europe’s energy crisis, an industry group survey showed, Bloomberg News reported. The recent survey by Glastuinbouw Nederland is one of the latest signs of how the region’s energy crunch is making it more expensive to produce goods and commodities. A quarter of the Netherlands’ cultivation area has been cut and 8% of greenhouse businesses predict filing for bankruptcy this year.

The French government moved to break blockades at fuel depots of some of the country’s biggest refineries, where weeks-long strikes that have brought shortages and long lines at gas stations, Bloomberg News reported. With wage talks between managements and some unions not going far enough, the labor actions have left almost a third of the gas stations in the country with supply shortfalls.

Germany is coming around to backing the idea of joint EU debt issuance to help cushion the blow of the energy crisis, as long as the freshly raised money is disbursed to struggling member states as loans, not grants, Bloomberg News reported. The change in the position follows criticism from other leaders that Germany’s €200 billion national aid plan could trigger economic imbalances in the bloc. The EU’s pandemic-era SURE program — which offers employment support of as much as €100 billion in the form of loans — could provide a blueprint for a new debt-backed instrument, we’ve been told.

Economic activity in Russia slowed significantly at the end of September, Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin told lawmakers on Tuesday, but payments to mobilised troops should cushion the negative effect on consumer demand, Reuters reported. President Vladimir Putin announced on Sept. 21 that 300,000 people would be mobilised to boost Russia's efforts in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, but details of the economic impact have so far been thin on the ground.

A crisis in U.K. government debt markets accelerated after a fresh attempt by the Bank of England to extend support to pension funds failed to assuage worried investors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The U.K.’s central bank said Monday that it would increase the daily amounts it was willing to buy in long-dated bonds before ending the program it established last month as scheduled on Friday. It also unveiled two types of lending facilities aimed at freeing up cash for pension funds beyond the end of the bond buying. The moves appeared to backfire, with yields on 30-year U.K.

Germany has hired a number of investment banks for a new syndicated 30-year bond sale on Monday, according to memos from two lead managers seen by Reuters. The bond, due 15 August 2053, will carry a coupon of 1.8% and "will be launched and priced in the near future, subject to market conditions," the memos said, a phrase debt management offices usually use a day before a sale. Germany hired Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan for the sale, the memos said. Read more.

The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved plans to loosen insolvency rules until the end of next year in the face of exploding energy and raw material prices, Reuters reported. The planned easing of the law, which must be put to parliament, applies to the obligation to file for insolvency in the case of over-indebtedness. Companies are to be exempt from this if they can prove that their business is financed for the next four months rather than the current 12-month requirement.