Deutsche Bank AG had the outlook for its credit rating lowered to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings, which cited risks tied to the German lender’s turnaround plan, Bloomberg News reported. The move “reflects the substantial execution risk Deutsche Bank faces in implementing its restructuring and Fitch’s view that failure to strengthen its business model would result in the bank’s downgrade,” the rating company said in a statement late Thursday. It confirmed the lender’s BBB+ long-term issuer default rating and all other debt ratings.

Germany’s dominant factory sector faced stronger headwinds this month, with a key gauge sinking to its lowest level in a year in a half, in the latest sign that the eurozone has failed to escape its rough patch in the second quarter, the Financial Times reported. IHS Markit’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 55.9 in June from 56.9 the previous month. The reading was worse than the 56.2 consensus estimate in a poll conducted by Reuters, albeit well above the 50 level that indicates expansion.

Business confidence in France was higher than expected in June, with a particular uptick in optimism in the services sector, but the manufacturing sector continued to lose steam, according to the latest survey data from IHS Markit, the Financial Times reported. France’s flash composite purchasing managers’ index rose to a two-month high of 55.6 and the services PMI rose to 56.4, both higher readings than the figures expected by economists in a Reuters poll, (54.2 and 54.3 respectively).

Do markets look a little weird right now? That is a question many investors might be asking. In recent weeks geopolitical tensions have intensified, and the monetary policy cycle is turning in both the US and Europe. Equity markets quivered on Monday, which was the day after China said it would retaliate against new US tariffs by imposing tariffs of its own, but the jitters were modest, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Indeed, the MSCI world equity index is up 10 per cent up for the past 12 months — never mind that pesky trade war. This is odd.

Eurozone governments have brokered a long-awaited debt relief deal for Greece, pushing back repayment deadlines on almost €100bn of bailout loans as the country prepares to exit its era of financial rescue programmes, the Financial Times reported. Finance ministers hammered out the final points of an agreement in more than six hours of talks that stretched into the night in Luxembourg on Thursday.

The creditors of Croatia’s indebted food producer and retailer Agrokor will vote on a settlement deal on July 4, a local commercial court said on Thursday. For the deal to be approved, two-thirds of creditors must vote for it, which is widely expected, Reuters. The legal deadline for the vote, aimed at avoiding Agrokor’s bankruptcy, is July 10. Earlier this week the representatives of major creditors in the so-called interim creditors’ council have accepted the settlement contract, which includes a debt-to-equity swap and some loan write-offs..

France and Germany’s “historic” agreement to establish a eurozone budget has run into immediate opposition from hawkish governments that are sceptical of plans to create a fiscal capacity for the single currency area, the Financial Times reported. Eurozone finance ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today for the first eurogroup gathering since a Franco-German deal this week on the next steps to reform monetary union. It includes a plan to develop a euro-area budget to help economies “converge” and boost investment during downturns.

Italian government bond prices and stocks fell sharply in value on Thursday after two staunchly Eurosceptic lawmakers from the far-right League were tapped to lead key Italian parliamentary committees that deal with economic policy, the Financial Times reported. The yield on two-year government bonds rose as much as 33 basis points to 0.912 per cent while the 10-year was up 16bp to 2.721 per cent as debt prices fell.

France‘s top central banker has said the European Central Bank cannot step in to offset slower growth or market turmoil should a serious trade war materialise or governments overspend, the Financial Times reported. François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of Banque de France, also “strongly“ welcomed the commitment made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s president Emmanuel Macron earlier this week to reform the eurozone economy through more economic integration.  The ECB announced last Thursday that it planned to end its €2.4tn quantitative easing programme by the

The property market has fallen a little closer to Earth: prices dropped by 9% between September and January, largely because of a surfeit of pricey new flats. They then steadied, and are around 5% below the peak—and 50% higher than at the start of 2013, calculates Valueguard, a data provider. As Swedes have borrowed to buy, their debts have risen, The Economist reported. Finansinspektionen (FI), the financial-stability supervisor, estimates that borrowers’ debts rose by 36% between 2012 and 2017, while disposable incomes went up by 13%.