Headlines

Fewer companies went bust in May than the previous month, amid a pick-up in business activity across England and Wales, according to official data, PA Media reported. U.K. company insolvencies fell 6% month-on-month to 2,006, which is 21% lower than in May 2023, the Insolvency Service said. The number of firms going out of business rose steadily during 2021 and 2022, with 2023 seeing the highest annual number of company insolvencies since 1993.

British inflation fell back to the Bank of England’s 2% target for the first time in almost three years, a milestone that likely comes too late to improve the political fortunes of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before the looming election, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer price increases eased in May from 2.3% the month before, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has provided comprehensive clarity on the application of set-offs within the framework of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), particularly during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). The recent ruling in the case of Bharti Airtel Ltd and Anr. v Vijaykumar V. Iyer addresses a frequently contested issue, offering a detailed analysis of different types of set-offs and their implications, the Times of India reported.

China’s central bank chief hinted at a blueprint for a new toolkit that could open the door to its biggest policy overhaul in years, as officials try to bolster growth in the world’s No.2 economy, Bloomberg News reported. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, gave the clearest signal yet that the authority may start trading government bonds in the secondary market, during a speech in Shanghai on Wednesday. That shift has the potential to rewire how the central bank injects money into the economy and regulate liquidity.

The European Central Bank can ease monetary policy further so long as inflation continues to moderate, according to Governing Council member Mario Centeno, Bloomberg News reported. “The cycle of interest rates will continue to evolve,” the Portuguese official told lawmakers Wednesday in Lisbon. “Rates will fall if inflation helps us, which it’s doing.” The ECB, though, is in no rush to follow up this month’s reduction in borrowing costs with another, concerned that rapid wage growth may delay inflation’s return to its 2% target.

Brazilian companies that loaded up on cheap debt are bracing for a new reality: double-digit interest rates for longer than anyone expected, Bloomberg News reported. The Central Bank of Brazil’s easing cycle appears headed for a premature end, with traders expecting it to hold the policy rate at 10.5% when it meets later Wednesday. Borrowing costs will remain above 10% for the foreseeable future, according to pricing in Brazil’s swap curve. That poses a fresh challenge to companies carrying floating-rate debt they took on when rates were around historic lows of 2% during the pandemic.

Japan's exports surged 13.5% in May, faster than expected growth helped by a weak yen and strong demand in the U.S. and Asia, the Associated Press reported. Finance Ministry data reported Wednesday showed that the trade deficit totaled 1.22 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), down nearly 12% from 1.38 trillion yen a year earlier. Imports grew 9.5%, year-on-year, to nearly 9.5 trillion yen ($60 billion). Exports totaled 8.3 trillion yen ($53 billion) and grew at the fastest since November 2022.

Thailand’s central bank remains firm in its opposition to a government plan to give nearly $14 billion in cash to almost all adult citizens to revitalize consumption activity, saying the prudent thing would be to focus on the needy, Bloomberg News reported. With private consumption forecast to expand about 4% this year after a record growth of 7% last year, there’s no need to stimulate demand across the board, Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said in an interview on Tuesday.

New Zealand’s central bank expects inflation to continue to slow but said it needs more time to be certain. Good progress is being made in bringing inflation back to the Reserve Bank’s 1-3% target band, chief economist Paul Conway said in a speech Wednesday in Wellington. Increasing spare capacity in the economy and declining inflation expectations are likely to further reduce price pressures, while “sticky” domestic costs are also expected to eventually abate. “These processes could occur more quickly or slowly than currently projected,” he said.

The cost of hedging the franc overnight jumped early Wednesday by the most since the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly removed a floor for the currency in 2015, Bloomberg News reported. The sharp move came ahead of the SNB’s next decision on Thursday, given market uncertainty over whether policy makers could opt to cut interest rates and signal support for the currency through intervention. That made hedging the Swiss franc the day before a SNB meeting the most expensive since 2022.