Europe

Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday, with policymakers signaling they might be finished with their monetary policy easing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%. The bank had previously opened the door to a rate cut during the first half of this year. It said in its statement Wednesday that given the limited risk of inflation becoming too high, coupled with weak economic activity, it decided to make the cut at its first meeting of the year.

Northvolt asked more than 100 shareholders at a meeting this month to provide $1.29 billion over the next two years to help restore the bankrupt Swedish battery maker's business, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Considered Europe's best shot at a home-grown electric vehicle battery champion to compete with Chinese rivals BYD and CATL, Northvolt filed for chapter 11 U.S. bankruptcy in November after talks for fresh funding with investors collapsed amid production and other problems.

Hungary’s central bank adopted a more hawkish monetary policy guidance after a spike in inflation and concern about the impact of geopolitical risks for the recession-hit economy, Bloomberg News reported. The National Bank of Hungary held its main interest rate at 6.5%, matching the estimate of all 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey. That left it even with Romania for the highest key rate in the European Union.

Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday, with policymakers signaling they might be finished with their monetary policy easing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%. The bank had previously opened the door to a rate cut during the first half of this year. It said in its statement Wednesday that given the limited risk of inflation becoming too high, coupled with weak economic activity, it decided to make the cut at its first meeting of the year.

French investigators said on Tuesday they had opened a judicial probe into money laundering, tax fraud and other charges at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Reuters reported. The economic and financial crime section of the Paris public prosecutor's office (JUNALCO) said in a statement that the probe includes money laundering in connection with drug trafficking. The investigation is examining the period from 2019 to 2024, involving offences committed in France but also in all European Union countries, JUNALCO said.

Germany’s financial regulator plans to ask the country’s insurers if they grasp the risk of investments they have made in direct loans and private credit funds after a search for yield in the previous decade, Bloomberg News reported. Insurers’ management of risks from private debt and other alternative assets will be a special focus of BaFin’s assessment this year of their investment behavior, Mark Branson, who leads the watchdog, told reporters in Frankfurt on Jan. 28.

The Irish economy recorded a surprise contraction as 2024 drew to a close, a blow to the eurozone economy, of which it is one of smallest but most changeable members, the Wall Street Journal reported. But while the country’s central bank expects to see a return to growth this year and next, it has also warned that the Irish economy is particularly vulnerable to changes in tax and tariff policies under President Trump’s second administration.

Spain’s unemployment rate fell again in the fourth quarter of 2024, likely reflecting a buoyant economy last year that was boosted by tourism, investment and immigration, the Wall Street Journal reported. Joblessness fell to 10.6% in the October-December period, down from 11.2% in the three months to September, and 11.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, Spain’s statistics body INE said Tuesday. The number of unemployed people declined by 158,600 to 2.60 million in the quarter, the agency said.