Germans are eager to sell hundreds of billions of euros’ worth of goods in Italy, while drinking its wines, skiing its Alps and sunning on its beaches. But in the weeks since UniCredit, a multinational bank based in Milan, swooped in to take a 21 percent stake in Commerzbank, one of Germany’s largest lenders, that fondness has been shown to have its limits, the New York Times reported.

Austria’s top court ruled that a restructuring plan put forward by Signa Prime Selection AG and its creditors was unlawful, pushing the luxury landlord into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The Supreme Court verdict follows a months-long court battle over the restructuring agreement adopted in March by creditors of the flagship unit in tycoon Rene Benko’s erstwhile conglomerate. The plan aimed to pay creditors 30% of their claims by appointing a trustee to manage a protracted sale of assets, benefiting from an anticipated recovery in market valuations.

The eurozone’s annual rate of inflation was in line with the European Central Bank’s target in October, increasing the likelihood that policymakers will lower borrowing costs for a third straight meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.0% higher than a year earlier across the 20-member currency area, a pickup from September, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week had expected to book a smaller rise to 1.9%.

Italy's economy minister on Thursday defended his decision to raise taxes on cryptocurrency capital gains as part of next year's budget, despite pressure from some lawmakers in his own party to backtrack, Reuters reported. Giancarlo Giorgetti said savers should make a distinction between investments that finance tangible projects and cryptocurrencies, whose value he said is completely disconnected from underlying assets. "Cryptocurrencies present a very high level of risk," Giorgetti said.

The Board of Directors of Romania’s 2 Mai Mangalia Shipyard (2MMS) has scheduled an extraordinary general shareholders meeting (EGSM) on November 28, aiming to terminate its association with Dutch partner Damen Holding in the ailing shipyard Damen Shipyards Mangalia, Ziarul Financiar reported. State-owned 2MM is the majority owner of Damen Shipyards Mangalia (51%), managed by Damen group (49%) under a contract negotiated by the Romanian government at the time the Dutch company took over the majority stake in the shipyard from Korean group Daewoo.

Esprit Holdings Limited announced the bankruptcy of its two U.S. subsidiaries, adding to insolvency filings in Europe and Asia as the brand struggles to stay afloat, RetailDive.com reported. Both Esprit U.S. Distributions Limited and Esprit U.S.Retail Inc. filed notices of chapter 7 bankruptcy on Monday, according to a company announcement. Esprit U.S. Distributions, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Esprit Holdings, and Esprit U.S. Retail, a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Esprit U.S.

Italy is struggling to find a "strategic" buyer for its stake in lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena before a year-end deadline, leaving it with little alternative but to turn to the market and broaden a fragmented shareholder base, Reuters reported. Italy must cut its 26.7% stake below 20% by the end of December to show the European Union authorities it no longer controls MPS, in line with re-privatisation commitments agreed during a 2017 bailout. The original EU deadline was extended after Italy failed to sell MPS to UniCredit in 2021.

The eurozone’s economy grew more rapidly than expected in the three months to the end of September, a boost to hopes that the bloc is set for a soft landing from the surge in inflation that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported. The pickup in growth will ease worries that a long period of high interest rates has stalled the currency area’s recovery, and reassure policymakers at the European Central Bank that rapid cuts to its key interest rate aren’t urgently needed.

German inflation quickened more sharply than expected and exceeded the European Central Bank’s 2% target – underpinning the challenges for policymakers in deciding on the pace and extent of further monetary-policy easing, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer-price growth in Europe’s largest economy picked up to 2.4% in October from 1.8% the previous month – well above the 2.1% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Base effects linked to energy helped drive the uptick, with services, goods and food also contributing, according to statistics agency Destatis.

Britain’s new Labour government presented its plan to jolt the U.K. out of years of moribund growth: more taxes and a bigger state, the Wall Street Journal reported. Standing in Parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Wednesday said her government will raise taxes by £40 billion, equivalent to around $51.9 billion, one of the biggest tax hikes in a generation, and borrow billions in the coming years to invest in the country’s infrastructure.