Headlines

The Czech Republic's biggest steelworks Liberty Ostrava, part of Indian-British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's business empire, was sent into bankruptcy by a court on Friday, AFP reported. Liberty Steel Group, part of Gupta's GFG Alliance, said earlier this month it had put its operations in the eastern Czech steel hub of Ostrava up for sale, citing "very demanding" conditions on the crisis-hit steel market. Liberty Ostrava has said its overdue debt had exceeded five billion koruna ($214 million) as it asked to be declared insolvent.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland said that it saw an increase in demand for its services last year with applications for insolvency solutions, other than bankruptcy, increasing by 20% compared to 2022, RTE.ie reported. In its annual report released Friday, the ISI said 72 people were adjudicated bankrupt in 2023, down from 105 in 2022. 99 people also exited bankruptcy last year. More than 1,560 new insolvency applications were made last year, while the ISE website reported a total of 87,791 visits.

China is pushing for Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to lower their bank card transaction fees in the country, a person familiar with the matter said, as part of an effort to facilitate payments for foreign visitors, Bloomberg News reported. The Payment & Clearing Association of China is negotiating with global card issuers including Visa and Mastercard on lowering fees local merchants are charged on foreign card transactions. The association proposed trimming the fee to 1.5% from 2-3%, the person said. The negotiations are ongoing and the fee cut details could change.

A care home operator which once ranked among the largest in Britain is being put up for sale in a move expected to fetch about £300m, SkyNews reported. Four Seasons Health Care Group has appointed CBRE, the property agent, to oversee an auction in the coming months. The process will be launched after a protracted period in which Four Seasons was reshaped and slimmed-down through a string of asset sales. While far smaller than it was before the pandemic, the company still employs more than 4,000 people and operates more than 45 freehold care homes.

Japan’s consumer inflation picked up in May, adding to market expectations for interest rate increases from the Bank of Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported. Overall consumer prices in May rose 2.8% compared with the same period a year earlier, due mainly to higher electricity bills, compared with the 2.5% increase in April, government data showed Friday. Many analysts and traders expect the Japanese central bank to raise its interest-rate target this year, with inflation staying above the bank’s 2% target for more than two years.

U.K. shoppers returned to retailers by more than expected in May, with sales recovering from the wet weather in the prior month, data showed Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales volumes rose 2.9% on month in May, flipping the 1.8% fall in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. Clothing retailers and furniture stores especially improved sales in the month, following April’s poor weather, the ONS said. Last month was the warmest May on record, while the month before that was the wettest April since 2012, U.K. weather agency the Met Office said.

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is encouraging the UK and others to shorten the settlement time for currency trading to better align their markets with those in Asia and North America, Bloomberg News reported. The UK is debating a transition to next-day settlement, known as T+1, for securities transactions, with its Treasury calling for the shift by the end of 2027. But SEC Chair Gary Gensler is nudging the UK to go bigger by adding more asset classes for shorter settlement. The US, Canada, Mexico and other countries already pressed ahead.

Norway’s central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5% and reiterated guidance that the rate is likely to stay at that level for some time, as high wage growth is expected to keep inflation elevated, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank said on Thursday that while inflation has cooled, it remains above target, while surveys suggest that wages might rise more rapidly than previously anticipated. Policymakers worried that a cut in the key rate could cause inflation to remain above their target for longer than they would like.

Indonesia’s central bank stood pat at its June policy meeting as expected, aiming to keep inflation in check as well as to maintain the rupiah’s stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Indonesia on Thursday kept its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 6.25%. The central bank also held its overnight deposit facility rate at 5.50% and its lending facility rate at 7.0%. The decision is consistent with the bank’s pre-emptive, forward-looking stance to ensure inflation remains under control and to strengthen the rupiah, Bank Indonesia Gov.

Canadian retail sales likely dropped last month, nearly wiping out all of April’s gains and highlighting weakness in consumer spending that will keep more Bank of Canada rate cuts on the table this year, Bloomberg News reported. Receipts for retailers fell 0.6% in May, the biggest monthly decline since January, according to an advance estimate from Statistics Canada released Friday. April’s increase — the only gain in retail sales so far this year — was primarily driven by gasoline stations and fuel vendors, which likely benefited from higher prices. In volume terms, retail sales rose 0.5%.