Headlines

An ad hoc group (AHG) of noteholders has successfully converted Dutch scheme of arrangement arbitration (WHOA) proceedings launched by Brazilian cement maker InterCement’s finance-raising arm in Amsterdam into bankruptcy proceedings, two weeks after the group secured chapter 15 recognition of its Brazilian recuperação judicial (RJ) plan, Latin Lawyer reported. Read more.

Annual inflation eased for a second month in a row in the U.K., teeing up a new cut to interest rates as policymakers grow increasingly worried about the economic hit from U.S. President Trump’s changeable tariff policy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The consumer-price index rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, slowing from an annual rate of inflation of 2.8% in February, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. Inflation came in a little lower than economists had expected, according to a consensus of estimates compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

Min Byung-deok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 16th that he has proposed the 'Virtual Asset Exchange Bankruptcy Isolation Act' to effectively protect user assets in the event of a cryptocurrency exchange bankruptcy, Bloomingbit reported. This amendment is a supplementary legislation to the current 'Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users', aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the provision that mandates exchanges to segregate customer assets from company assets.

The unexpected weakening of the U.S. dollar is suddenly becoming the rest of the world’s problem, The Wall Street Journal reported. For foreign sellers of all manner of goods, including cars, cognac and Scottish tweed, the dollar’s steep slide is a double whammy, compounding losses caused by President Trump’s import levies. For central banks around the world, the rapid strengthening of their own currencies heaps pressure to cut interest rates more aggressively. ​The U.S.

The Bank of Canada released the following statement on Wednesday: "The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 2.75%, with the Bank Rate at 3% and the deposit rate at 2.70%,” Reuters reported. “The major shift in direction of U.S. trade policy and the unpredictability of tariffs have increased uncertainty, diminished prospects for economic growth, and raised inflation expectations. Pervasive uncertainty makes it unusually challenging to project GDP growth and inflation in Canada and globally.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank may need to take policy action if U.S. tariffs hurt the Japanese economy, the Sankei newspaper reported on Wednesday, signaling the potential to pause the bank's rate-hike cycle. Since February, risks surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's policies have "moved closer towards the bad scenario" the BOJ had envisioned, Ueda said in an interview, adding that recent developments have already affected corporate and household confidence.

China's first-quarter economic growth outstripped expectations, underpinned by solid consumption and industrial output, but analysts fear momentum could shift sharply lower as U.S. tariffs pose the biggest risk to the Asian powerhouse in decades, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods to eye-watering levels, prompting Beijing to slap retaliatory duties on U.S. imports that have raised the stakes for the world's two biggest economies and rattled financial markets.

The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates for the seventh time in a year on Thursday, looking to prop up an already struggling economy that will take a large hit from U.S. tariffs, Reuters reported. The ECB has been easing borrowing costs rapidly as undue price pressures are disappearing, and recent turmoil on global markets is likely to bolster the bank's conviction that eurozone inflation is under control, adding to the case for further policy easing.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has sharply downgraded its forecast for home sales in 2025 as buyers remain concerned about tariffs and interest rates, The Globe and Mail reported. The new 2025 forecast, which updates a prior forecast released Jan. 15, is CREA’s largest revision between quarters since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. CREA now expects 482,673 residential properties to trade hands in 2025, which would be virtually unchanged from 2024 levels. However, this is a large downward revision from the 8.6 percent sales increase predicted in January.

In the global trade war, Boeing is a big loser, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese officials told domestic airlines not to place new orders for Boeing jets and are requiring carriers to seek approval before taking delivery of already-ordered aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter. The tariff turmoil keeps getting worse for America’s largest exporter: Boeing’s vast and fragile supply chain is grappling with the end of its decades-long duty-free status. Boeing faces retaliatory tariffs from other countries.