Europe’s leaders have come down hard on Italy for its plans to increase spending with the aim of boosting growth and helping the poor. What they fail to recognize is that a little stimulus might be just what the Italian economy needs, a Bloomberg View reported. The outlook for the global economy is deteriorating more rapidly than forecasters realize. A slowdown in China has hit global trade, European exports are decelerating, and euro-area business sentiment is sharply down.

Europe’s top official in charge of winding down failed banks has urged the industry to press ahead with preparations for a no-deal Brexit, saying lenders should not expect regulators to help them cope with any upheaval caused by the UK’s departure, the Financial Times reported. Elke König, the head of the eurozone’s Single Resolution Board, told the Financial Times in an interview that banks should not expect any leeway in meeting a key regulatory standard set by the agency.

European Union states are close to a deal on rules for banks saddled with bad loans, according to diplomats and EU documents, with a plan that would give banks less time to build a backstop against new soured debt, Reuters reported. Euro zone banks have yet to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, and this year their shares dropped more than 20 percent . Italian banks have fallen nearly 30 percent and seen increased losses after a eurosceptic government took office in Rome in June. The new rules, if adopted, could cause them further trouble.

Creditors of India’s bankrupt Essar Steel have accepted an offer from ArcelorMittal, the global steel giant said on Friday, in a major step towards its efforts to establish a meaningful presence in India, the Financial Times reported. The announcement came a day after Essar’s founding Ruia family offered to pay off the company’s entire outstanding debt of Rs543bn ($7.4bn), in a last-ditch attempt to pull the company out of the insolvency proceedings and halt the sale by creditors.

A Portuguese court approved on Friday a debt restructuring plan that was passed by creditors in major Brazilian telecom firm Oi SA, marking a step forward in the company’s tortured bankruptcy recovery process, Reuters reported. With the court’s approval, seen by Reuters, bankruptcy courts in all relevant jurisdictions - Brazil, the United States, the Netherlands, and now Portugal - have signed off on the recovery plan, which was approved by creditors in December.

Italy's banks are charging households and businesses more to borrow after a fall in the value of the country's bonds, the first sign of a credit tightening that could disrupt the populist government's economic revival plans, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Investors have been dumping Italian assets since the formation in June of a coalition government whose draft 2019 budget plan this month prompted Moody's to cut Italy's credit rating and the European Commission to demand a revision.

German business confidence fell in October according to a closely-watched gauge of sentiment, as growing geopolitical tensions drove cross-sector pessimism about the year ahead, the Financial Times reported. Manufacturing businesses in particular were “markedly” less optimistic about the future. Their assessment of the current business climate fell to its lowest level since March 2017, and they reported incoming orders had extended their decline.

The European Central Bank is facing serious challenges: rising tensions between Brussels and Rome, doubts about monetary policy and worries about Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal, the Financial Times reported. A closely watched poll of purchasing managers published on Wednesday also showed that the region’s businesses are struggling to come to terms with increased global trade tensions — and that the export-led slowdown is beginning to affect the much larger services sector. Such problems have not changed the ECB’s mind since its last big meeting six weeks ago.

For nearly a decade, Trafigura Group Chairman Claude Dauphin coveted a zinc deal with Europe’s top smelter. The commodities trader finally got across the threshold in 2015, months after its co-founder’s sudden death. Just a few years later, it’s become one of Trafigura’s biggest headaches, Bloomberg News reported. Nyrstar NV shares have plunged to record lows as falling zinc prices squeeze profit and drive worries about its huge pile of debt.

ScS Group said on Thursday it would stop selling its sofas and carpets at House of Fraser stores from January, saying the partnership had ceased to be beneficial since billionaire Mike Ashley bought the collapsed department store group, Reuters reported. Sports Direct, the British sportswear retailer controlled by Ashley, snapped up House of Fraser and its 58 stores from administrators for 90 million pounds ($116 million) in August.