Struggling British fashion retailer Joules Group on Thursday said that its turnaround plan, focused on boosting profitability, was making good progress, weeks after Next Plc abandoned plans to inject funds into the company, Reuters reported. Joules, which sells clothing, footwear and accessories, has been wrestling with finances as consumers turn cautious about spending as surging inflation has fed a cost of living crisis. British inflation was 9.9% in August and expected to rise further, with the cost of living crunch squeezing households' disposable spending.

Euro zone inflation zoomed past forecasts to hit 10.0% in September, a new record high that will reinforce expectations for another jumbo interest rate hike next month from the European Central Bank, Reuters reported. Price growth in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated from August's 9.1%, data from Eurostat showed on Friday, beating expectations for a reading of 9.7%, with some euro zone members experiencing the fastest price growth since the time of the Korean War 70 years ago.

Porsche Automobil Holding SE won the dismissal of lawsuits from hedge funds seeking about 5.4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in damages they say they incurred during Porsche’s failed takeover of Volkswagen AG more than a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Institutional investors and private shareholders had pursued Porsche for compensation for losses they suffered in the trading of Volkswagen stock.

The commercial hub of Delaware is blocking startup ventures with past ties to Russia from maintaining their corporate standing in the state, ensnaring some tech firms that say they have little or no current connection to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported.

Germany on Thursday unveiled a wide-ranging price cap on energy in response to growing concerns among German businesses that a wave of insolvencies could wash over the country and disrupt the supply chains serving Germany’s largest industrial sectors, the Wall Street Journal reported. The government said that it would cap the prices of electricity and natural gas as part of a fourth package of measures aimed at shielding businesses and consumers from soaring energy prices following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Prime Minister Liz Truss looked to reassure the British public and rattled investors that her plan to cut taxes wouldn’t lead to prolonged financial instability, arguing in a series of interviews on Thursday that the country had been buffeted by global shocks rather than her government’s reforms and that her policies would result in faster growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. “We had to take decisive action,” Ms. Truss told the British Broadcasting Corp. in her first public comments since the tax plan was presented last Friday.

European Central Bank policymakers see no need to step in and buy more Italian government bonds via a new emergency scheme despite a rise in the country's borrowing costs since a right-wing coalition won a general election, sources told Reuters. Analysts have been speculating about whether the ECB would activate its Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI) to stem a rise in Italian bond yields and spreads driven by concerns about public finances under a new government promising lower taxes.

The Bank of England on Wednesday said it would buy U.K. government bonds with long maturities “on whatever scale is necessary” in an effort to restore order to the market after a large set of government tax cuts sent borrowing costs soaring, the Wall Street Journal reported. The furious selloff in U.K. government debt in recent days ripped through normally staid parts of the financial markets. Pension funds and insurers who hold financial derivatives tied to U.K. debt in particular faced the possibility of severe losses, according to analysts.

The European Commission signed off Tuesday on the next 21-billion-euro ($20.2 billion) tranche of Italy’s pandemic recovery funds, a welcome infusion that comes amid questions about whether Giorgia Meloni and her euroskeptic party, which won the national election, will be able to keep the funding coming, the Associated Press reported.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Wednesday a new package of Russia sanctions, designed "to make the Kremlin pay" for escalating the conflict in Ukraine with what she called "sham" votes in occupied territory, Reuters reported. "We do not accept the sham referenda and any kind of annexation in Ukraine, and we are determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation," she told reporters in Brussels.