The European Central Bank is staying on hold as it waits for more clarity on how the Trump administration’s tariffs will affect growth and inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank left its key deposit rate at 2% on Thursday for the second consecutive meeting. It brought rates down eight times starting in June 2024, an aggressive easing campaign that contrasts with the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s reluctance to cut rates attracted criticism from President Trump, which has evolved into moves that would undermine the central bank’s independence.

The U.K. housing market continued to experience a slowdown in sales in August, according to a report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most parts of the U.K. experienced a decline in new buyer inquiries, with the slowdown expected to continue in the coming months, according to a RICS survey of property professionals. This suggests that the fall in buyer demand gathered momentum over the month, with most parts of the country seeing a negative trend emerge, RICS said. Agreed sales also faced a quickening slowdown in August.

Argo Blockchain, a UK-based Bitcoin mining company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has entered a restructuring agreement that will likely see over 80% of its equity acquired by US group Growler Mining, UKTech.news reported. The firm announced in June that it was seeking a loan and restructuring deal described as “necessary to avoid an uncontrolled insolvency and liquidation”.

Around 30 million car finance loans are under scrutiny by the City watchdog to see if they qualify for mis-selling compensation payments, according to its chief executive, the Telegraph reported. On Tuesday, Nikhil Rathi, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive, said the agency was examining the agreements – which were taken out between 2007 and 2020 – to see if they were mis-sold by banks and qualify for the FCA’s mass redress scheme.

The number of new businesses launched in Yorkshire and the Humber fell in August, but insolvency-related activity also declined, according to research by restructuring, turnaround and insolvency trade body R3, InsiderMedia.com reported. The latest figures, based on data from Creditsafe, show that business start-ups across Yorkshire and the Humber dropped by 11.3 per cent in August compared to July, falling from 4,728 to 4,192. The region mirrored a national picture of declining start-up activity.

The European Central Bank is easing some of the checks it makes on euro zone banks, from how lenders get approval for share buybacks to how stress tests are carried out, ECB supervisor Sharon Donnery said on Monday, Reuters reported. The ECB is coming under pressure from lenders it oversees to ease the supervisory burden as the Trump administration promises easier rules in the United States and shadow banks gain ground in the credit business.

Irish government spending is accelerating at an unsustainable rate, and overruns in day-to-day spending are likely to top €2.5 billion by year end, the budgetary watchdog has warned, the Irish Times reported. In a prebudget statement the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) said spending overruns were more broad-based this year than in the previous years, with expenditure across education, children and justice already up by 7.5 per cent against a targeted increase of 2.5 per cent.

A Quebec Superior Court judge has declared the North American branch of battery manufacturer Northvolt insolvent as the provincial government seeks to recover $260 million owed to it, CBC.ca reported. Justice Janet Michelin on Friday placed Northvolt Batteries North America under creditor protection following a request earlier in the week from the province.

Italy was once Europe’s emblem for political instability, with a mounting debt and deficit and few options to fix the mess. Now, it’s France’s turn, and the situation is about to get worse, the New York Times reported. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron’s government is expected to fall for the second time in just nine months after a confidence vote in Parliament. The French prime minister, François Bayrou, called a vote to shore up support for his plan to mend the country’s finances with 44 billion euros (a little over $51 billion) in spending cuts.