Norwegian power trader Einar Aas has reached an agreement with creditors, including Nasdaq Clearing, after his default in September forced members of the clearing house to stump up around 100 million euros ($113 million) to cover his losses, Reuters reported. Nasdaq Commodities, which operates the Nordic power exchange, said on Thursday that Aas had agreed to sell his assets to help the clearing house and its members recover the money they had to put into a default fund.

The cost of insuring exposure to Britain’s sovereign debt rose to its highest level in almost two years on Thursday as political turmoil in the country over its exit from the European Union ripped through UK currency, bond and equity markets, Reuters reported. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) jumped 3 basis points (bps) from Wednesday’s close to 34 bps - the highest level since December 2016, data from IHS Markit showed. Read more

Italy's government is looking to avoid European sanctions over its 2019 budget, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday while stressing he did not want Italians to have to foot the bill, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "When they ask us to respect all the rules, they are asking us for a blood and tears budget," Di Maio said. On Wednesday, Italy re-submitted its draft 2019 budget to the EU Commission with the same growth and deficit assumptions as a draft previously rejected for breaching EU rules, stepping up its showdown with Brussels.

In a car park near Berlin’s unfinished Brandenburg airport, 10,000 unsold Volkswagens are testament to the woes of the eurozone’s largest economy — and to a conundrum for Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported. The German economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the three months to September, the first time it has gone into reverse in three years, after its car industry — normally such a smooth engine of growth — sputtered badly.

Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc’s bond risk quadrupled this year as the automaker plays catch-up on electric vehicles and is hit by weakened demand in China. Moody’s Investors Service is warning of more tough days ahead, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s on Nov. 13 cut its rating on Jaguar, owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd., to Ba3, three levels below investment grade. Jaguar’s weak operating performance “will likely continue over at least the next 12-18 months” and it will weigh on the parent’s performance too, it said.

U.K. markets were thrown into turmoil after Prime Minister Theresa May faced the biggest challenge to her leadership since she took office, Bloomberg News reported. Sterling slid the most in more than 17 months after ministers including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey quit May’s top team, while Brexiteer Jacob Rees Mogg called for a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister. Investors priced out the prospect of a rate increase by the Bank of England next year on concern that any revolt against May could ultimately imperil the chances of the U.K.

Italian construction company Salini Impregilo said on Thursday it had presented a non-binding expression of interest for Astaldi, which has filed for creditor protection, Reuters reported. Astaldi, one of Italy’s leading contractors with more than 10,500 employees, filed for court protection in September after delays to the sale of its 33.3 percent stake in the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey. Last month sources told Reuters that Salini was working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Vitale & Co on options for a possible full or partial takeover of Astaldi.

Growth momentum in Europe is fading, with a broad measure of eurozone industrial production flagging in September, the Financial Times reported. Industrial output in the Eurozone decreased by 0.3 per cent in September from August, data from the European Union statistics agency Eurostat showed on Wednesday. The slowdown was better than the 0.4 per cent month-on-month decline economists had predicted in a poll for Reuters, but followed a 1 per cent rise in August. Economic growth in the Eurozone was confirmed at just 0.2 per cent in the third quarter.

Italy’s government debt sold off sharply on Wednesday with the benchmark 10-year yield rising to a three-week high after the country’s government told the European Commission that it would forge ahead with its fiscally aggressive budget, the Financial Times reported. The yield on the 10-year bond hit a session high of 3.547 per cent, an increase of 9.8 basis points, after Italy’s populist coalition government defied calls from Europe to reverse its plans to sharply increase public spending.

The German financial sector is ill prepared to weather a recession, as the long era of economic growth may have inflated asset prices and lured lenders into underestimating future credit risks, Bundesbank has warned in its Financial Stability Review, the Financial Times reported. Germany’s central bank said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned that a surprise recession and a collapse in asset prices could kick off a downward spiral.