The woes of the eurozone’s manufacturers are worsening, with a closely watched gauge of the export-dependent sector hitting its lowest level in more than six and a half years in July, the Financial Times reported. The purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing, produced by data firm IHS Markit, fell to 46.4 — a 79-month low. The July figure, down from a reading of 47.6 in June, is significantly below the crucial 50 level that marks steady growth. The lacklustre figures follow disappointing numbers for factory activity in both of the eurozone’s two biggest economies.

Morning, the new prime minister would have us believe, has come to Britain. On the sunlit steps of 10 Downing Street, the home Boris Johnson has dreamt of occupying since he was a child, the incoming premier reeled off a string of promises: more police, shorter waits for doctors, better roads, rail, broadband and education, the Financial Times reported. His was a breezy optimism. “The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong again,” he proclaimed.

Deutsche Bank’s plans to retreat from risky investment banking, fire thousands of people and return to its German roots may eventually create a healthier lender. In the short term, the overhaul will be a major financial drain, the International New York Times reported. That was made clear on Wednesday, after the bank reported a loss of 3.2 billion euros, or $3.6 billion, from April through June, as it subtracted the costs of a restructuring plan announced earlier this month. The plan is seen as a last-ditch attempt to arrest a decade of decline.

Legal combat in Sean Dunne’s US bankruptcy case appears set to resume after more than 10 hours of mediation last week failed to produce a settlement, The Irish Times reported. “We mediated the case over a day and half,” said Thomas Curran, a lawyer for the plaintiff, the trustee in Mr Dunne’s American bankruptcy. “The case did not settle.” Mr Curran said the moratorium on most filings imposed by US district judge Jeffrey Meyer during the mediation is set to expire, and he expects the two sides to resume briefing on various issues.

German auto parts maker Weber Automotive GmbH has been put up for sale as part of insolvency proceedings that started this month, according to a company spokesman. Weber filed for insolvency amid deteriorating earnings and a row between its founding family and majority shareholder Ardian SAS over the “form and scope” of a financial restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Failure to rescue the ailing company leaves its creditors on the hook for what remains outstanding from a 130 million euro ($145 million) loan dating from 2016.

Emerging market economic growth will fall to its weakest level since the height of the global financial crisis this year, according to the IMF, in a big cut to its forecasts, the Financial Times reported. Full year emerging market-wide growth is projected to come in at 4.1 per cent, a decade low and the second-weakest figure since the dotcom bust of 2002, rather than the 4.4 per cent the IMF pencilled in as recently as April. The gloomy forecast is just the latest in a series of swingeing downgrades by the Washington-based body.

Mario Draghi has three months to cement his impressive legacy at the European Central Bank. He is widely expected to preside over further easing in monetary policy before his departure, the Financial Times reported. The only uncertainty is exactly when, and which precise parts of the crisis toolkit will be deployed again. He should act soon, and he should use all tools at the ECB’s disposal. Anything less risks shackling the eurozone economy to a further period of weak growth and low inflation. Mr Draghi’s June speech at the ECB’s annual symposium in Sintra marked a turning point.

Heraeus’s quartz glass works in Bitterfeld and Nemak’s auto supplies plant in Wernigerode have little in common, outwardly at least, the Financial Times reported. But both have resorted to the same unusual manoeuvre to cope with Germany’s industrial slowdown. The three are among dozens of companies that have imposed “short-time work” on their employees, in what economists say could be the harbinger of trouble in the German labour market. Germany is in its tenth straight year of economic growth, with unemployment close to a record post-reunification low.

Greece unveiled on Monday a plan to overhaul loss-making state-controlled Public Power Corp. (PPC) to shore up its finances, including voluntary redundancies and selling shares in its distribution network, Reuters reported. PPC, which is 51% owned by the state, has been struggling to collect part of more than 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of arrears from bills left unpaid during the country’s debt crisis, which began in late 2009.

Core European government bond yields steadied on Monday after posting their biggest weekly drop in seven weeks as investors consolidated positions before a central bank policy meeting this week where policymakers might unveil plans of more rate cuts, Reuters reported. Though hopes have grown that the ECB might cut its deposit rate as soon as Thursday to soften the impact on the euro from a much-awaited Fed rate cut, market watchers say policymakers will change its forward guidance before taking fresh steps.