French consumers are becoming increasingly nervous. A closely watched indicator of consumer confidence dropped again in September and remains below its historical average, as citizens worried their financial stability and standard of living would decline over the coming year, the Financial Times reported. Households’ confidence in the economic situation declined by two points to 94, below analyst expectations of 97 according to a Thomson Reuters poll and its lowest level since April 2016, data released on Wednesday by Insee showed.

Alitalia returned to a net profit of 2 million euros ($2.35 million) in the third quarter, Stefano Paleari, one of the commissioners managing the airline, said on Wednesday in a sign that the fortunes of the airline were slowly improving, Reuters reported. Once a symbol of Italy’s post-war economic boom but recently in trouble due to low-cost carriers and high speed trains, Alitalia was put under special administration last year after workers rejected its latest rescue plan.

Britain's largest private healthcare group, BMI Healthcare, is nearing a 2 billion pounds restructuring deal that could cut millions of pounds from its annual rent bill, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. An announcement under which BMI's rent bill will be cut by about 60 million pounds is likely to be made imminently, the source told Reuters.

My understanding of Iceland proved dated and left me ill-prepared for what greeted me upon arrival: a booming economy, one that has been greatly transformed from the depths of the crisis. Growth has topped 4 percent in each of the past three years and the economy is forecast to expand 3.3 percent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. How Iceland recovered from one of the most traumatic shocks experienced by any nation during the financial crisis is worth reviewing, a Bloomberg View reported.

A push by Ireland’s richest man to refinance his heavily indebted Caribbean telecoms company has hit a wall after big investors rejected his bid to postpone repaying $3bn in bonds, the Financial Times reported. Denis O’Brien’s effort to buy more time for Digicel to repay the debt comes at a critical time for the company, amid anxiety about a possible default on a $2bn bond due in 2020. Now bondholders have dismissed Mr O’Brien’s proposal to extend by two years this debt and a $1bn 2022 note, saying the terms he has offered were “unacceptable”.

Egyptian officials plan to launch Asian and European tours starting in the week after next to market international bonds, which will be offered when the time is right, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Tuesday. Egypt plans to issue Eurobonds worth about $5 billion in the coming months, Reuters reported. “The week after next, we will start promotional tours in the Asian markets, then Europe in preparation for issuing Eurobonds bonds,” Maait said at a business event in Cairo.

Confidence among French manufacturers deteriorated in September, as industrialists cut their expectations about how much they would produce, the Financial Times reported. The manufacturing business climate index fell to 107 in September, below analysts’ expectations of 109 in a Thomson Reuters poll. The figure was also down from August’s reading of 110, the data published by national statistics agency Insee showed. However, the composite indicator for manufacturing remains “well above” its long term average of 100, Insee said.

Giovanni Tria turns 70 on Friday. Whether Italy’s finance minister gets to enjoy his celebrations will probably hinge on events the day before, when he will announce borrowing and spending targets with the potential to send tremors through financial markets and trigger the fury of Brussels.

Cardboard box-maker Smurfit Kappa has decided to deconsolidate its troubled Venezuelan operations from its balance sheet, after losing control of the unit to the local government, which will result in the writedown of its €60 million of net assets, The Irish Times reported. The move comes a month after the Caracas government decided to seize Smurfit Kappa Carton de Venezuela (SKCV) for 90 days amid complaints about prices that the company was charging for its products in an alleged abuse of its dominant market position – at a time when the country is grappling with hyperinflation.

Euro zone finance ministers will discuss on Oct. 1 how they can get a precautionary loan from the euro zone bailout fund more easily, but are unlikely to take final decisions before agreeing on a whole package of euro zone reforms in December, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), now offers a Precautionary Conditioned Credit Line (PCCL) that is similar to a loan offered by the International Monetary Fund and can be granted to a euro zone country with a sound economy.