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.

Mario Draghi said that signals from Italy in recent months that it may flout EU budget rules have driven up borrowing costs for the country’s households and small businesses, in a warning shot as the government prepares its 2019 budget. Without directly criticising the Italian government, the European Central Bank president said that comments ministers had made on straying from previously agreed deficit targets “certainly did have an impact: households and companies are now paying higher rates than before as a result of the statement,” the Financial Times reported.

The British government will step in to bail out a 335 million pound new hospital in the city of Liverpool, after the collapse of Carillion, which was overseeing the deal, Sky News reported on Monday. An announcement by ministers on the termination of the Royal Liverpool Hospital private finance initiative deal and taking it into full public ownership is expected to be made within days, Sky said.

Nasdaq's Nordic commodities exchange has reached agreement on the sale of assets belonging to a private trader who defaulted on his commitments last week, it said on Friday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Einar Aas, a Norwegian derivatives trader who made large bets on the power market, left a 114 million euro ($134 million) hole in Nasdaq's Nordic clearing house buffers when his funds ran out. Within just two working days of the default, members of the exchange, and Nasdaq itself, were forced to replenish the funds in order to continue trading.

One of Portugal’s wealthiest people, Paula Amorim, and Vangard Properties have presented a joint bid for part of the oceanside Comporta estate, the country’s largest privately-owned property. Comporta was the Espirito Santo family’s largest real estate holding. It is now held by liquidators following the 2014 collapse of the family business and the bank founded by them, Banco Espirito Santo, Reuters reported. The property, which stretches over a 1,300 hectare area of coastline south of the city of Setubal, includes plots for villas, golf courses and comes with licenses to construct hotels.

The eurozone’s manufacturers are beginning to rein in spending and delay hiring plans as trade tensions between the US and China escalate, according to a poll of business sentiment, the Financial Times reported. The purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, fell to a four-month low of 54.2 in September, down from 54.5 in August on weaker export sales, according to a poll released on Friday. Separate readings showed that new orders fell to a two-year low and firms have become reluctant to take on new staff.

Ukraine posted its tenth successive quarter of growth earlier this year with a 3.6 per cent year-on-year increase in GDP in the period April to June. Although still well below its real potential growth rate, this is progress for a country that stood on the brink of financial collapse four years ago, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. It also represents a qualified success for western policy, which eschewed a military role in the conflict with Russia in favour of measures designed to shore up Ukraine’s economic sovereignty.

Germany’s powerhouse manufacturing sector extended its slowdown into September, early data showed on Friday, but its service sector bucked the trend with growth remaining robust, the Financial Times reported. The flash manufacturing purchasing manager’s index for the eurozone’s largest economy fell to a 25-month low to 53.7 according to IHS Markit, which compiles the data. That was a dramatic fall in the pace of growth reported by executives from the previous month, when the index stood at 55.9. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had only expected a very slight drop to 55.7.

Debenhams Plc is known for being constantly on sale. But if its fortunes don’t improve in the next few months, it may well have to attempt a controversial property restructuring, a Bloomberg View reported. This might set billionaire shareholder Mike Ashley up for another high street bargain. The Sunday Telegraph reported Sept. 8 that Debenhams, which warned on profit three times this year, was considering a CVA, a mechanism retailers have been using lately to obtain creditor agreement to close some stores and cut rent on others.

Eurozone consumer confidence fell sharply in September to hit its lowest level in more than a year, in the latest sign of lingering weakness in the region’s economy, the Financial Times reported. A flash estimate showed the official consumer confidence indicator published by the European Commission dropped to minus 2.9 from minus 1 in August. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a smaller decline to minus 2. Confidence has not been below that level since May 2017.