The European Central Bank needs to have an open mind on its next steps as it confronts persisting inflation risks, according to Governing Council member Peter Kazimir, Bloomberg News reported.

Germany’s embattled manufacturing industry faces a fresh slump after new orders plunged by 7pc between December and January, The Telegraph reported. Machinery orders dropped more than 10pc on the month, while “other transport equipment” – the category including planes, ships, trains and military vehicles – plunged by almost 18pc. Consumer goods also slid 2pc.

It is only "a matter of time" until another Premiership club goes bust unless there is "radical change" according to the administrator who oversaw London Irish's insolvency, BBC.com reported. London Irish, Wasps and Worcester went out of business during the 2022-23 season leaving the top flight of English rugby with only 10 teams. A parliamentary report in January 2023 concluded that the financial situation of elite clubs was unsustainable.

The U.S. Secret Service, working with a coalition of international law enforcement agencies, has taken down and seized the website of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange accused of being associated with darknet markets and ransomware hackers, TechCrunch.com reported. On Thursday, the official Garantex website was replaced with a notice saying the exchange’s domain has been seized by the Secret Service following a warrant by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. This is the latest action taken by Western governments against the Moscow-based exchange.

Rachel Reeves risks being forced to nationalise Thames Water just two days before her Spring Statement in a move that would force the Chancellor to tear up her spending plans, The Telegraph reported. The Treasury is drawing up fresh contingency proposals for Britain’s biggest water supplier ahead of a court showdown that could plunge the business into special administration. The threat of special administration is still looming over Thames Water, which has 16m customers, despite the High Court approving an emergency loan from its lenders last month.

The European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the sixth time since June and indicated that its cutting phase may be drawing to a close as inflation cools and the economy digests seismic shifts in geopolitics, Bloomberg News reported. The deposit rate was reduced by a quarter point to 2.5% as officials described their monetary-policy stance as becoming “meaningfully less restrictive.” Revealing that inflation will take slightly longer to reach 2%, the ECB is switching “to a more evolutionary approach,” President Christine Lagarde said Thursday.