Headlines

The Argentine government’s election loss on Sunday weakens Economy Minister Martin Guzman’s negotiating power with the International Monetary Fund over its record $45 billion debt, according to one of the nation’s former representatives with the fund, Bloomberg News reported. President Alberto Fernandez’s coalition was defeated in primary congressional races in the majority of Argentina’s provinces, as well as in the capital, reflecting discontent over rising poverty and 50% inflation ahead of the general midterms on Nov. 14.

Lebanon’s new government held its first meeting Monday with a call by the president to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund to help kick-start its recovery from one of the world’s worst economic crises in more than a century, the Associated Press reported. The 24-member Cabinet’s most pressing mission over the coming weeks will be to help improve conditions in the country of 6 million, including a million Syrian refugees. More than half the population now lives in poverty amid extended power outages and severe shortages in fuel and medicine.

Businesses around the world want to hire but face a similar dilemma: attracting workers, Bloomberg News reported. A survey of nearly 45,000 employers across 43 countries showed 69% of employers reported difficulty filling roles, a 15-year high, according to employment-services provider ManpowerGroup Inc. At the same time, 15 countries -- focused in Europe and North America -- reported their highest hiring intentions since the survey began in 1962. Businesses across all surveyed countries reported stronger hiring outlooks for the end of this year compared to the final three months of 2020.

Job vacancies in Britain climbed to a record in August, rising above one million for the first time, as the labor market continued its uneven recovery, according to data released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics, the New York Times reported. As Britain emerged from lockdowns, the demand for workers has soared. Every sector is seeking more workers, with restaurants, bars, hotels and other accommodation and food businesses trying to hire the most over the summer.

The European Union returned to the bond market on Tuesday for a seven-year debt sale, pulling in another huge orderbook, Bloomberg News reported. The nation racked up more than 85 billion euros ($100 billion) of orders for a 9 billion-euro offering of bonds maturing in 2028 via banks, with pricing set at 14 basis points below swaps. Analysts had expected a rush of orders from investors because the bonds are relatively scarce and the central bank is able to buy up to 50% of the EU’s issuance, providing a guaranteed backstop.

A day after being spurned by Kansas City Southern, Canadian National Railway is facing additional pressure from a major investor who wants CN to abandon its effort to buy the U.S. railroad, the Associated Press reported. The London-based investment firm TCI Fund — which owns about 5% of CN’s stock and about 8% of rival Canadian Pacific’s shares — said Monday that it is calling for a special CN shareholder meeting where it plans to nominate four new directors. TCI has said it thinks CN should overhaul its board, get a new CEO and refocus its efforts on improving its own operations.

Coronavirus-induced business failures in Japan rose 49% in August to 121 from a year earlier amid a fourth wave of COVID infections, Nikkei Asia reported. Analysis from research specialist Tokyo Shoko Research published Wednesday found that the total number of coronavirus-induced bankruptcies from January to August reached 1,026, accounting for around 26% of all business failures in Japan over the period. The restaurant and bar businesses have been hit hardest.

A Cayman Island mutual fund whose manager was charged in a $100 million bait-and-switch scheme filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. to protect its assets from lawsuits by disgruntled investors, Bloomberg News reported. Representatives of the so-called Income Collecting 1-3 Months T-Bills Mutual Fund asked a federal bankruptcy judge in New York on Friday to recognize their efforts to liquidate the company, which they said would include an attempt to pay back investors. Recognition of the foreign liquidation would put a hold on any lawsuits against the fund.

The Indian Supreme Court on Monday said that 330 days deadline for resolution plan has to be strictly adhered to and NCLT and NCLAT must decide insolvency and bankruptcy matters keeping in mind the sanctity of the deadline provided by legislature. A SC bench headed, by Justice D Y Chandrachud, said that earlier bankruptcy code failed mainly because of long delays in litigation in judicial forums and promised that the present IBC will not be allowed to meet the same fate.

A Danish power trading company has filed for bankruptcy as the unprecedented rally in energy prices across Europe claimed yet another victim. Nordstrom Invest A/S filed a request on Sept. 7 to the Bankruptcy Court in Aarhus, according to the Government Gazette of Denmark, Bloomberg News reported. It comes just days after several energy suppliers in the U.K. ceased trading.