Headlines

China’s factory inflation surged again in July, following a short-lived retreat in the previous month, as commodity prices remained high despite the government’s steps to rein in costs, Bloomberg News reported. The producer price index grew 9% in July from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday, quickening from 8.8% in the previous month and beating the median forecast of an 8.8% gain. Consumer prices rose 1% in July, easing for a second month but remaining above the median estimate of 0.8%.

Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) has further reduced its legal claims to 4.9 billion euros ($5.8 billion), a slide on the Tuscan bank's website showed, marking another step in Rome's efforts to reprivatise the ailing lender, Reuters reported. MPS initially faced some 10 billion euros in legal risks, seen as one of the main hurdles to Italian Treasury's plans to cut its 64% stake in the bank by mid-2022, as agreed as part of a 2017 state bailout.

The European Union’s banking regulator has proposed guidance for financial-sector compliance officers, another step in the bloc’s effort to revamp its anti-money-laundering system, the Wall Street Journal reported. The proposal from the Paris-based European Banking Authority is the latest move by the EU to harmonize anti-money-laundering rules across member states and shift implementation away from national authorities.

Credit Suisse has repaid another $400 million to investors in its Greensill-linked supply chain finance funds, the Swiss bank said on Friday, Reuters reported. The collapse of the funds in March kicked off a tumultuous period for the bank, culminating with a multi-billion dollar loss related to investment fund Archegos, a raft of executive oustings and an impending strategic overhaul. The payout, originally announced with the bank's second-quarter earnings last week, is the fourth distribution so far and takes the total amount returned to the investors to roughly $5.9 billion.

Talks under a mediator’s watch continued late Thursday between Canada and the union representing its border agents to head off a labor action starting Friday that threatens the flow of U.S.-Canada trade and a plan to allow American tourists to visit for the first time in 16 months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The two sides agreed to work with a mediator ahead of a 6 a.m. Eastern time Friday deadline set by the union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

British supermarket group Morrisons has agreed to an improved takeover offer worth 6.7 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) in cash from a consortium led by Fortress Investment Group, though its shares were trading above the level of the new bid, Reuters reported. That indicated investors were still hoping for a counter bid from U.S. private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). Softbank-owned Fortress said its raised offer comprises 270 pence per Morrisons share plus a 2 pence a share special dividend and was aimed at warding off its rival suitor.

Bankrupt units of a Mexican and Colombian payroll lender have secured court approval to access part of a $45 million loan to fund operations during their chapter 11 case after agreeing to install a chief restructuring officer, Reuters reported. During a virtual hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kate Stickles in Wilmington, Del., signed off on Alpha Latam Management LLC's request to tap $17.5 million of the full loan. A hearing on the rest of the loan will be held at a later date. ALM is an affiliate of Mexico’s Alpha Holding SA de CV, which is not part of the chapter 11 case.

In recent months, China has blown up what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering, launched probes into some of its biggest technology companies, and wiped out more than $1 trillion in market value while investors scramble for cover. There are many signs it isn’t over yet, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak have vowed to overhaul rules governing Britain's huge asset management industry to make it easier to firms to invest in the U.K., Yahoo News reported. The pair issued a rallying cry to Britain's investment industry on Wednesday night, calling for money managers to plough more cash into British businesses and assets. The prime minister and the chancellor sent an open letter to senior investment industry professionals, calling for an "investment Big Bang" to help drive the country's recovery from COVID.

Creditors of indebted Ocho Rios attraction Mystic Mountain are scheduled to meet today in a bid to change the trustee in bankruptcy named last month by Mystic Mountain Limited, MML, as part of a proposal to settle nearly US$14 million, or approximately $2.1 billion in debt, should the company be declared bankrupt, the Jamaica Gleaner reported.