Siewert & Kau, a well-known IT distributor based in Bergheim, has filed for insolvency proceedings at the Cologne District Court, marking a significant development for one of Germany's largest medium-sized IT retailers, the Pinnacle Gazette reported. The company, which has been in operation for over 30 years, employs around 400 people across several European locations, including Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. As of Monday, May 5, 2025, insolvency administrator Marion Rodine and her team have been on site to stabilize business operations.

President Trump announced an agreement on trade with the U.K. on Thursday, the first in what the White House hopes is a series of such developments since it imposed tariffs against allies and adversaries, the Wall Street Journal reported. Trump teased the announcement on Truth Social earlier, calling the agreement “full and comprehensive,” and added: “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!” U.K. officials said the pact isn’t a comprehensive trade agreement and will instead focus on reducing tariffs in specific sectors.

The Bank of England cut interest rates on Thursday, although the uncertain impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on economic growth brought a surprise three-way split among policymakers, Reuters reported. The BoE's rate-setters voted 5-4 in favour of cutting borrowing costs by quarter of a percentage point to 4.25%. Two members of the Monetary Policy Committee, Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor, voted for a bigger half-point cut, while Chief Economist Huw Pill and external member Catherine Mann wanted to keep rates on hold.

Swedish and Norwegian policymakers left their key rates unchanged Thursday, mirroring the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold a day earlier as they assess the economic impact of tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sweden’s central bank held its key policy rate at 2.25% but suggested that further rate cuts could be on the horizon if U.S. President Trump’s tariff hikes threaten to weaken economic growth and push inflation lower. Policymakers said that uncertainty in the global economy has increased significantly since Trump took office, not least as a result of the new U.S.

Ukraine is starting to consider a shift away from the U.S. dollar, possibly linking its currency more closely to the euro amid the splintering of global trade and its growing ties to Europe, Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyi told Reuters.

Yokohama Rubber, a Japanese corporation with a history of over 107 years, has purchased a tire factory for the mining industry, as well as for earthmoving and oversized transport machinery, located in Drobeta Turnu Severin, according to Profit.ro. The factory, built in the 1970s–1980s, was put up for sale by the judicial liquidator of the company Euro Tyres Manufacturing SRL, which went bankrupt at the end of January 2025 after nearly 7 years of insolvency. The company owns an industrial platform spanning over 19 hectares in the city of Drobeta Turnu Severin.

Eurozone consumers tightened their purse strings at the end of a first quarter marked by growing unease about the coming U.S. trade tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail trade slipped by 0.1% across the 20 nations that share the euro, defying economists’ expectations for an increase that would have built on February’s growth in sales, figures from the European Union statistics agency showed Wednesday. February remains the only month in the last six in which trade has increased.

German factory orders climbed surprisingly sharply in March, reflecting the stockpiling of goods in the U.S. to get ahead of tariffs placed by the Trump administration in the following month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Manufacturing orders jumped 3.6% on month at the end of the first quarter, after flatlining in February, German statistics agency Destatis said Wednesday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a 1.0% uptick. Despite the increase, new orders were 2.3% lower in the first quarter than in the final three months of 2024, Destatis said.

Mark Branson, the president of Germany's bank watchdog BaFin, said on Wednesday that the nation's financial firms were in a strong position but that uncertainty would remain extremely high, Reuters reported. "The possibility that problems in the non-banking sector have an impact on banks cannot be ruled out just because we have weathered the turbulence well so far," Branson said. Read more.

Volvo Cars' battery company Novo Energy said on Monday it will cut its workforce by 50% to reduce costs after evaluating its business to take account of the bankruptcy of Sweden's Northvolt, which originally co-owned the venture, Reuters reported. "Despite our best efforts to secure our business and an extensive ongoing search for a suitable new technology partner, the current economic challenges and market conditions have made it impossible to maintain our operations at the current scale," Novo Energy CEO Adrian Clarke said in a statement.