Headlines

The crisis at Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB contributed to an historically high rate of bankruptcies last month, when the company’s main expansion project in Skelleftea went insolvent, Bloomberg News reported. A total of 821 companies went bankrupt in October compared to the monthly average of 576 over the past 10 years, according to credit reference agency Creditsafe. Several large bankruptcies were connected to Northvolt, the agency said in a statement.

Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger Technology AG said its ability to continue operating cannot be assured given its indebtedness and cash burn, underscoring the industry’s troubles as cheaper Chinese modules flood the market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company saw sales halve in the first six months of 2024 compared to a year earlier, while generating a loss of CHF123.5 million ($142 million) in terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Bankruptcies in the construction industry have surged across the eurozone this year, but the Netherlands has managed to keep its figures relatively low, according to new findings from Allianz Trade published this week, NLTimes.nl reported. Between January and August, Italy and Sweden experienced a staggering 35 percent rise in construction bankruptcies. In stark contrast, the Netherlands reported only a 4 percent increase in bankruptcies within the construction sector.

Argentina’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate Friday for the first time in nearly six months as President Javier Milei continues to oversee a slowdown in inflation in the crisis-prone economy, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary authority cut borrowing costs to 35% from 40%, according to a press release sent via text message. The decision is based on the country’s liquidity context, the lowering of consumer price expectations and the government’s fiscal anchor, the bank said. Argentina also reduced rates for notes known locally as pases to 40% from 45%.

Colombia’s central bank ignored pressure to accelerate the pace of interest rate cuts as policymakers weigh fiscal risks that sent the peso to its weakest level in more than a year, Bloomberg News reported. The seven-member board voted 4-3 to lower the benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 9.75%, Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota on Thursday. The minority voted for a bigger reduction, to 9.5%.

Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said efforts to revamp banking regulation are designed to ensure trust in the nation’s financial center and help it remain a world leader in the aftermath of Credit Suisse’s demise, Bloomberg News reported. “We have to find a balance between competitiveness on the one and the protection of the economy on the other side,” said Keller-Sutter, 60.

The economic outlook for the Asia-Pacific region seems a touch brighter but as risks to growth mount, cautious policymaking will be needed, the International Monetary Fund said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Asia’s economic growth is expected to moderate this year and the next as the postpandemic boost fades and demographic factors like population aging increasingly put a brake on activity, the IMF said in its latest regional outlook on Friday.

A private gauge of China’s manufacturing activity signaled that the sector returned to growth in October, in a potential sign that Beijing’s more aggressive efforts to boost the economy are having an effect, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.3 in October from 49.3 in September, according to data released by Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global on Friday. A reading below 50 suggests that activity is shrinking and one above indicates that it is expanding.

China's push to shift its food import sources since 2018 has put it in a better position to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on U.S. farm goods with less harm to its food security if trade friction with Washington flares after the U.S. presidential election, Reuters reported. The threat of a trade war looms for China, the world's top importer of farm products such as soybeans and corn, with Republican candidate Donald Trump floating blanket 60% tariffs on Chinese goods in a bid to boost U.S. manufacturing. His opponent Kamala Harris, a Democrat, is also expected to confront China on trade.

Germans are eager to sell hundreds of billions of euros’ worth of goods in Italy, while drinking its wines, skiing its Alps and sunning on its beaches. But in the weeks since UniCredit, a multinational bank based in Milan, swooped in to take a 21 percent stake in Commerzbank, one of Germany’s largest lenders, that fondness has been shown to have its limits, the New York Times reported.