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German automotive supplier Kiekert has applied for insolvency, according to a court document seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Two core businesses - Kiekert AG and Kiekert Holding GmbH - have initiated insolvency proceedings and Joachim Exner has been appointed as administrator on an interim basis, the document showed. Kiekert, which specialises in locking systems, has 4,500 employees in 11 locations, according to its website.

Confidence among German businesses fell back for the first time this year, according to a survey that adds to worrying signs for Europe’s most important economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Ifo Institute said on Wednesday that its business-climate index declined to 87.7 in September from 88.9 last month. That decrease breaks a streak of gradually improving sentiment among German companies unbroken since the start of 2025, and overturns economists’ expectations for a further uptick in the index.

French healthcare group Emeis, fresh off a 2024 rebrand from Orpea, is selling a chunk of its real estate business to Farallon Capital and TwentyTwo Real Estate – trimming nearly €700 million from its debt while staying in charge of its care homes, Finimize.com reported. Emeis is making a big shift in European healthcare real estate by splitting off its operated properties through a new partnership with Farallon Capital and TwentyTwo Real Estate. The deal means Emeis will surpass its asset sale goal by €300 million, with the two investors pledging €761 million by the end of 2025.

Treasury is warning that New Zealand's government debt will hit 200% of GDP by 2065 ‒ or $246,500 per person ‒ if major policies are not changed, The Post reported. The agency is not recommending any specific policy but notes that with an ageing population the costs of superannuation and healthcare will spiral upwards, without enough working age people to keep paying the taxes for such policies. It noted that New Zealand had seven working age Kiwis for every retiree in 1960, four for every retiree now, and but would hit just two working Kiwis for every retired Kiwi by 2065.

Mexico's headline inflation sped up in the first half of September, broadly in line with market expectations, heading closer to the upper limit of the central bank's target, Reuters reported. Consumer prices were up 3.74% in the 12 months through mid-September, statistics agency INEGI said, speeding from a prior figure of 3.49%. While the market expects inflation in Latin America's second-largest economy to reach 3.9% by the end of the year, Banxico, as the central bank is known, targets an inflation rate of 3%, plus or minus a percentage point.

Australian consumer prices rose at the fastest annual pace in a year in August after a hot July, suggesting some upside to inflation that prompted markets to pare back the chances of imminent policy easing, Reuters reported. The Australian dollar rose 0.3% to $0.6619, while three-year government bond futures fell 7 ticks to 96.45, the lowest in three weeks. Investors doubled down on bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will skip a move in interest rates next week given the recent flow of data has been on the strong side.

British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says that government’s plan to find $1.5 billion in savings over three years won’t be enough to “start bending the curve towards balance” as the province forecasts an unprecedent deficit of $11.6 billion, BNN Bloomberg reported.

In the days leading up to his announcement of a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick summoned to the White House a group of President Trump’s allies from anti-immigration groups to sell them on his idea, the Wall Street Journal reported. Lutnick, who is personally close to Trump, had for months been working on a different pet project: a “gold card” that would provide a path to citizenship to wealthy foreigners willing to pay $1 million.

Chinese automakers are expanding in Europe, betting on their competitive pricing and advanced technology to break into a market traditionally dominated by European and American brands, amid a global shift towards electric vehicles, Reuters reported. This expansion has stoked trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing, including a row over EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, imposed to protect European producers. Read more

The New Zealand government has appointed Anna Breman from Sweden’s central bank as the next governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Wall Street Journal reported. Breman has been deputy governor of Riksbank since 2019 and her appointment follows a global talent search that involved 300 candidates, said New Zealand Finance Minister Nicola Willis in a statement. The search for a new governor began after the sudden exit from the central bank of former Gov. Adrian Orr in March.