Headlines

Indian bonds gained after the central bank scrapped a weekly debt sale amid rising yields with a central bank rate decision due on Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond fell as much as 7 basis points to 6.80%. That remains nearly 40 basis points higher this year as record borrowing for the next fiscal year coincided with a global rout in bonds. The 5-year bond yield was down 6 basis points to 6.38%.

European electricity prices jumped after the region’s biggest power producer cut its nuclear output target for a second time in a month, the latest sign that this winter’s energy crisis is far from over, Reuters reported. Electricite de France SA said its nuclear production could fall this year to levels not seen since 1990, and Morgan Stanley says there’s a “meaningful likelihood” of a production cut for 2023. The shortfall has forced France to import electricity at times, tightening supplies in neighboring countries used to relying on the nuclear giant to keep the lights on.

Canada posted a surprise trade deficit in December, as imports hit a new record high and exports fell from November, official data showed on Tuesday, but economists expect an export rebound in January on surging energy prices, Reuters reported. Canada's trade deficit was C$137 million ($108 million) in December, well below analyst forecasts of a surplus of C$2.50 billion. November's surplus was also revised down to C$2.47 billion from C$3.13 billion, still good for a 13-year record.

Bond investors are bracing for a potential default by Mexico’s largest payroll lender, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bonds for Credito Real SA B de CV lost almost half their value in recent days over uncertainty about its ability to repay a 170 million Swiss franc bond, equivalent to $184 million, that falls due on Feb. 9. If the company misses the payment it would mark a victory for hedge-fund managers who questioned its accounting practices last year and bet bonds and share prices would drop.

South Africa’s largest lender to farmers is seeking to exit default on its debt by the end of March, potentially marking the end of a two-year saga that’s raised concern other indebted state companies will follow suit, Bloomberg News reported. The Pretoria-based Land & Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa has been struggling to find a way forward since missing a loan repayment in April 2020 that triggered a cross-default in notes issued under a 50 billion-rand ($3.2 billion) bond program.

February 9 China Eases Property Loan Curbs as Housing Market Slumps China eased a year-long cap on loans for the real estate sector to fund public rental housing, the latest bid by authorities to tackle a slumping property market, Bloomberg News reported. Bank loans to fund low-cost rental projects will no longer be subject to regulatory curbs, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on Tuesday. The rules required banks to trim their loan exposure to the property sector to a certain level.

Tax havens could come in the way of cross-border insolvency laws, with Videocon Oil and Nirav Modi's Firestar International, two recent examples of Indian companies owning foreign assets that are undergoing insolvency proceedings in the country, demonstrating why this is so, said legal, insolvency and banking experts, the Economic Times of India reported. Videocon Oil has assets in Brazil and Indonesia, owned through intermediate companies located in jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Cayman Islands.

Jury selection is expected to begin on Monday in the U.S. corruption trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of involvement in the looting of billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law and launder money in connection with the alleged looting of billions of dollars from the fund.

Ukraine is betting that foreign aid and improved tax collection during an economic rebound will help it weather the financial tensions resulting from warnings by the U.S. and its allies of a potential Russian invasion, Bloomberg News reported. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the U.S. and western media are undermining Ukraine’s economy by spreading “information panic” about the risk of a Russian attack. The government in Kyiv insists the more than 100,000 Russian troops massed at the borders aren’t enough for a full-scale invasion -- and the Kremlin denies any such plans.

The European Union is successfully stepping up the fight to fend off risky foreign business takeovers from nations like China that could endanger national security or threaten control over essential sectors like energy, transport and health care, the Associated Press reported. The unprecedented legislation creating a new area of coordination in the 27-nation EU makes the bloc much better equipped to protect strategic homegrown businesses, a top French official said.