August may yet prove a sleepy month for the Italian bond market, but the last week has been a reminder not to take a summer lull for granted, the Financial Times reported. A renewed sell-off gripped the €2tn market late last week as the country’s populist Eurosceptic coalition government began negotiations on its debut budget, something the market had not expected until the autumn.

The future of House of Fraser will be settled in the next 48 hours as at least four bidders tabled rescue proposals for the struggling UK department store group. Two people familiar with the situation confirmed that Philip Day, the Dubai-based entrepreneur and owner of Edinburgh Woollen Mill, had put forward a plan that would avoid House of Fraser going into administration first, the Financial Times reported. Representatives for Mr Day declined to comment.

Greece has lived through eight lost years. Since 2010, its economy has shrunk by one-quarter, the disposable income of its citizens by-one third. More than 300,000 of those people have emigrated; among those left, unemployment is at 20 per cent. As the country prepares to draw a line under this grim period, with the international tutelage imposed after its bailout set formally to end on August 20, the question is whether the years of trauma will have acted as a purge — cleansing Greece of some of the problems that contributed to the crisis, the Financial Times reported.

The ruble extended its steepest slide in almost two years as a fresh round of U.S. sanctions against Russia deepened concern about what could be targeted next, Bloomberg News reported. Investors who had been building long positions in the currency earlier in the summer rushed for the exit, causing a two-day plunge of as much as 5.1 percent. Analysts at Citibank said it looks like traders are already pricing in a worst-case scenario of sanctions on banks and new sovereign debt.

Italian households suffered a much larger loss of income than their German counterparts due to the European Central Bank’s ultralow interest rates, according to an ECB report that appears to dispel some German concerns over the bank’s easy-money policies, The Wall Street Journal reported. German officials have frequently criticized the ECB for hurting the nation’s savers and subsidizing highly-indebted households in southern Europe by introducing low interest rates.

Hilco Capital, the new owner of British home improvement retailer Homebase, will next week detail plans to close around a quarter of its stores, threatening over 1,000 jobs, according to a Sky News report. Sky News said Hilco, which acquired Homebase from Australian group Wesfarmers for a nominal 1 pound in May, was expected to outline proposals for a so called Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring that would close roughly 60 of Homebase’s 249 stores, Reuters reported.

The Share Centre Ltd (TSC) will become the principal nominated broker for the transfer of client money and assets of part of collapsed broker Beaufort, administrators PwC said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. PwC are also in discussion with a second nominated broker for those clients previously managed by Beaufort Asset Clearing Services’ Welsh office in Colwyn Bay, it said in a statement. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority placed Beaufort, a leading adviser to companies listed on London’s junior market, into insolvency in March. The U.S.

Sterling’s weakness is pushing the UK currency into “rarefied territory” against the euro, according to one analyst, as investors’ anxiety over a hard Brexit increases, the Financial Times reported. A further decline on Wednesday pushed the pound beyond the 90p level against the euro for the first time since October, when traders were becoming enthused at the prospect of the European Central Bank unwinding its stimulus. The value of the pound against the euro is typically seen as a good barometer of the unfolding Brexit negotiations, which are yet to produce a deal.

Insolvency practitioner Gavin Jones discusses the kind of damages that might be claimed from a holding company or its directors in the event of the insolvency of a subsidiary – and the defences that might be available to mitigate these. With the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) of House of Fraser reportedly hanging in the balance, the well-publicised difficulties facing the retail sector are widespread, Real Business reported.

Insurer Prudential is unlikely to split into two before late 2019, it said on Wednesday as growth in Asia helped it beat first-half profit forecasts, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Britain's largest listed insurer said in March it planned to demerge M&G Prudential, its UK and Europe life insurance and asset management business, into a separate business with a London listing. The remaining Prudential business will focus on Asia and the United States.