Germany

Prosecutors in Cologne are preparing their first indictments in a tax-evasion probe involving some of the biggest names in finance that cost the German treasury billions of euros, according to people familiar with the matter. Investigators are looking at the role of dozens of banks, brokerages, accounting companies, and law firms in the deals, and the cases involve hundreds of individuals, said the people, who declined to be identified because they’re not authorized to discuss the probe, Bloomberg News reported.

Deutsche Bank AG had the outlook for its credit rating lowered to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings, which cited risks tied to the German lender’s turnaround plan, Bloomberg News reported. The move “reflects the substantial execution risk Deutsche Bank faces in implementing its restructuring and Fitch’s view that failure to strengthen its business model would result in the bank’s downgrade,” the rating company said in a statement late Thursday. It confirmed the lender’s BBB+ long-term issuer default rating and all other debt ratings.

Germany’s dominant factory sector faced stronger headwinds this month, with a key gauge sinking to its lowest level in a year in a half, in the latest sign that the eurozone has failed to escape its rough patch in the second quarter, the Financial Times reported. IHS Markit’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 55.9 in June from 56.9 the previous month. The reading was worse than the 56.2 consensus estimate in a poll conducted by Reuters, albeit well above the 50 level that indicates expansion.

France and Germany’s “historic” agreement to establish a eurozone budget has run into immediate opposition from hawkish governments that are sceptical of plans to create a fiscal capacity for the single currency area, the Financial Times reported. Eurozone finance ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today for the first eurogroup gathering since a Franco-German deal this week on the next steps to reform monetary union. It includes a plan to develop a euro-area budget to help economies “converge” and boost investment during downturns.

France’s finance minister has hailed substantial progress in Franco-German talks over a budget for the eurozone, signalling that an accord could be reached at a meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel this week, the Financial Times reported. But any deal between the French president and the German chancellor will fall short of Mr Macron’s initial integrationist ambition in terms of size and governance. After one last round of talks over a Franco-German road map for eurozone reforms, Bruno Le Maire, French finance minister, tweeted at the weekend that a “deal is now

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp, under increasing pressure from the activist hedge fund Elliott Management, is scrambling to renegotiate the terms of a proposed European merger with Tata Steel, according to people familiar with talks between the companies. The industrial group and its Indian rival are in the final stages of creating a steelmaking powerhouse with revenues of €15bn that would be Europe’s second-largest producer of the metal, behind ArcelorMittal, the Financial Times reported.

German industrial production unexpectedly fell in April, continuing a run of poor economic news from Europe’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. The 1 percent drop in output, along with a shock decline in factory orders reported earlier this week, indicates a moderate pace of expansion at the start of the second quarter. A separate report showed that exports fell 0.3 percent in April, while in France, industrial production also declined. The euro fell after the German data and was down 0.2 percent at $1.1772 as of 9:44 a.m. Frankfurt time.

Orders for German manufactured goods pulled back sharply in April amid a decline in domestic and eurozone demand, in a gloomy sign for the economy’s performance in the second quarter after a disappointing start to 2018, the Financial Times reported. New orders in manufacturing fell 2.5 per cent in April from March on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, according to the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis). It marked the fourth month in a row in which orders have fallen, FactSet data show. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.8 per cent rise.

Deutsche Bank AG’s new chief executive officer, Christian Sewing, suffered a fresh setback in his efforts to reinvigorate Europe’s largest investment bank as S&P Global Ratings cut the lender’s credit rating. S&P reduced the rating by one notch to BBB+, the third-lowest investment grade, citing “significant execution risk” after several management changes and strategy updates in past years, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of the lender rebounded from a record low as the credit rating company said Deutsche Bank has good capital and liquidity buffers.

Lufthansa will not be investigated for market abuse over rising ticket prices following the collapse of local rival Air Berlin, the German cartel office said on Tuesday. The watchdog had received complaints over high ticket prices and had been looking into the matter with a view to decide whether to instigate a full investigation, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Air Berlin collapsed in October last year, leaving Lufthansa with a monopoly on some German domestic routes for a few months.