The eurozone’s manufacturers are beginning to rein in spending and delay hiring plans as trade tensions between the US and China escalate, according to a poll of business sentiment, the Financial Times reported. The purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, fell to a four-month low of 54.2 in September, down from 54.5 in August on weaker export sales, according to a poll released on Friday. Separate readings showed that new orders fell to a two-year low and firms have become reluctant to take on new staff.

Nasdaq's Nordic commodities exchange has reached agreement on the sale of assets belonging to a private trader who defaulted on his commitments last week, it said on Friday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Einar Aas, a Norwegian derivatives trader who made large bets on the power market, left a 114 million euro ($134 million) hole in Nasdaq's Nordic clearing house buffers when his funds ran out. Within just two working days of the default, members of the exchange, and Nasdaq itself, were forced to replenish the funds in order to continue trading.

One of Portugal’s wealthiest people, Paula Amorim, and Vangard Properties have presented a joint bid for part of the oceanside Comporta estate, the country’s largest privately-owned property. Comporta was the Espirito Santo family’s largest real estate holding. It is now held by liquidators following the 2014 collapse of the family business and the bank founded by them, Banco Espirito Santo, Reuters reported. The property, which stretches over a 1,300 hectare area of coastline south of the city of Setubal, includes plots for villas, golf courses and comes with licenses to construct hotels.

Germany’s powerhouse manufacturing sector extended its slowdown into September, early data showed on Friday, but its service sector bucked the trend with growth remaining robust, the Financial Times reported. The flash manufacturing purchasing manager’s index for the eurozone’s largest economy fell to a 25-month low to 53.7 according to IHS Markit, which compiles the data. That was a dramatic fall in the pace of growth reported by executives from the previous month, when the index stood at 55.9. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had only expected a very slight drop to 55.7.

Geopolitical tensions will take centre stage in London’s law courts after a legal ruling opened the door to a case that could have major implications for the sovereign debt markets, the Financial Times reported. The English Court of Appeal last week ruled that a $3bn dispute between Ukraine and Russia over the non-payment of bonds should go to a full trial.

Streets littered with potholes and garbage. Alcohol and drug treatment centers shut down. Vulnerable adults and children left without care. That is the grim picture of Britain’s future painted by the County Councils Network, which warned on Thursday that local councils will be forced to slash more than $1 billion from their budgets next year in cuts that will very likely result in services being whittled to the bone.

Eurozone consumer confidence fell sharply in September to hit its lowest level in more than a year, in the latest sign of lingering weakness in the region’s economy, the Financial Times reported. A flash estimate showed the official consumer confidence indicator published by the European Commission dropped to minus 2.9 from minus 1 in August. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a smaller decline to minus 2. Confidence has not been below that level since May 2017.

It is too soon for financial risk to be shared more broadly across the euro zone, Germany's European Central Bank representative said on Thursday, a day after its head made the case for a deeper union. Germany has long resisted calls for more risk-sharing, and Jens Weidmann said high government debt and piles of soured bank credit were created under national responsibility so should not be pushed onto a community which had had no chance to mitigate them, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Italy wants the public debt of all euro zone states to be brought below 60 percent of gross domestic product, via a long-term restructuring underwritten by the European Central Bank, its European Affairs Minister wrote. The proposal was made in a paper posted on the website of Paolo Savona's ministry and sent to the European Commission, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Italy’s new populist government is facing a difficult decision: How to reconcile its expensive election promises with the reality of the country’s fragile finances. It is a test of whether Europe’s rising antiestablishment parties can bring change to countries still bearing the scars of the Continent’s long economic downturn—or whether the constraints of life in the eurozone will force them to follow policies they long denounced, The Wall Street Journal reported.