Headlines

On October 30, the Moscow Arbitration Court extended the bankruptcy procedure of Radio Liberty (RFE/RL, the media corporation is recognized in Russia as a foreign agent and an undesirable organization, LLC is its Russian legal entity) until June 30, 2025, Oreanda News reported. In the definition on the court's website, the specific date of the next report of the bankruptcy trustee of RCE/RS LLC, Yulia Aga-Kulieva, is not indicated.

Some Bank of Canada officials worried cutting interest rates by half a percentage point would be misinterpreted as a sign of trouble for the economy, Bloomberg reported. Part of the bank’s governing council feared that a larger-than-typical reduction in borrowing costs would lead investors and Canadians to anticipate additional jumbo cuts, according to a summary of deliberations of the October rate decision.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has proposed that operational creditors such as vendors and service providers, which account for the largest number of admitted cases, should have the option of exploring mediation with a defaulting company before dragging them to overburdened tribunals, Mint reported. If mediation fails, the operational creditors may approach a tribunal, the bankruptcy rule-maker said in a discussion paper brought out on Monday.

One of the most popular electric bicycle manufacturing companies in the Netherlands, Stella, has requested protection from its creditors as the business is struggling financially, the Financeele Dagblad reported on Tuesday, according to the NL Times. The fate of the company’s 440 employees and 50 retail outlets is now up in the air. The move to defer payments can often lead to a Dutch company declaring bankruptcy. Stella’s parent, investment firm DMEP, has said that they think it would be irresponsible to invest more money into the company.

Rachel Reeves’ big fiscal feast risks giving the Bank of England indigestion, Reuters reported. The new Labour finance minister’s decision to hike spending, taxes and borrowing in the budget will provide a short-lived boost to growth next year. But it will also reduce BoE Governor Andrew Bailey’s ability to cut rates and keep pace with his European and U.S. counterparts. Reeves’ plan to reduce economic slack but may leave Bailey without any of his own. Her budget will raise spending by 70 billion pounds a year until 2030, according to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

French investigators raided offices of the French soccer league and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners on Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible corruption and embezzlement related to an investment deal, a judicial official said, the Associated Press reported. The searches took place amid an investigation that opened in July into charges of misappropriation of public funds, active and passive corruption of a public official and illegal taking of interest, the judicial official told the Associated Press.

Australia’s central bank held its key interest rate at a 13-year high on Tuesday, aiming to keep up the pressure on stubbornly sticky inflation while joining much of the world in waiting for the outcome of US elections, Bloomberg reported. As expected, the Reserve Bank left its cash rate at 4.35%, marking a year at that level, and restated that it isn’t “ruling anything in or out” on policy. The RBA’s board highlighted the “high level of uncertainty” about the international outlook. Underlying inflation “remains too high,” the rate-setting board said in a statement.

Japanese manufacturers were less confident about business conditions in November than in October, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Wednesday, as China's economic slowdown and a persistently high rate of inflation soured sentiment, Reuters reported. Confidence in the service sector also eased for the fifth consecutive month to its lowest since February 2023 due to rising costs and a shortage of labor, the poll showed. Both manufacturers and non-manufacturers cited a particularly volatile foreign exchange market as a concern.

Banks in the euro region have about €1.3 trillion ($1.4 billion) in outstanding loans to commercial real estate investors and credit quality is “visibly deteriorating,” European Central Bank researchers found in a study of the links between CRE and the financial system, Bloomberg reported. “Exposures are not evenly spread across banks, and a tail of smaller, specialized banks with larger exposures” may “experience stress,” according to the report. The researchers pointed to a rise in non-performing loans as evidence of the worsening creditworthiness.

Philippine inflation quickened within market expectations in October, giving the central bank room to sustain its easing cycle, Bloomberg reported. Consumer prices rose 2.3% year-on-year in October, matching median economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey and falling within the central bank’s estimate of 2% to 2.8% for the month. Food inflation accelerated as rice price gains snapped a downtrend due to base effects. While inflation ticked up after decelerating in September, average inflation for the past ten months was at 3.3%, still within the central bank’s 2%-to-4% goal.