Headlines

Argentina's state airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, is slimming down for a potential sale, shedding 13% of its staff, cutting money-losing domestic routes and even removing snacks formerly available to passengers, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters. The cutbacks, many of whose details were previously unreported, are part of a backdoor attempt to trim the airline's burden on the state and lure private investment. The drive is progressing, even though libertarian President Javier Milei's plans to privatize the firm have generated pushback.

Argentina unveiled a $1 billion repurchase agreement with five international lenders that will help replenish foreign reserves at its central bank, a key victory for President Javier Milei as he works to stabilize South America’s second-largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. The deal, commonly known as a repo, will be in place for two years and four months, the monetary authority said Friday in a statement, without naming the banks. Citigroup Inc. participated in the repo, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

China will sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds in 2025 to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official said on Friday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalise the faltering economy, Reuters reported. Special treasury bonds will be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da, deputy secretary-general of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at a press conference.

U.K. house prices climbed to within touching distance of a record high at the end of last year, according to industry figures from Nationwide Building Society, suggesting the resilient property market gathered more momentum, Bloomberg News reported. The lender said prices rose 0.7% month-on-month to an average of £269,426 ($338,000), a fraction below the record high of £273,751 ($343,000) set in the summer of 2022.

The Bank of England said on Thursday it had allotted 46.180 billion pounds ($57.49 billion) at its first short-term repo of 2025, the second-highest amount on record and up from 38.075 billion pounds at a repo on Dec. 19, Reuters reported. The short-term repo allows banks to borrow money from the BoE - usually for a seven-day period - in exchange for high-quality collateral and is designed by the BoE to keep interbank lending rates close to its policy interest rate. The highest amount allotted in the repo was 46.743 billion pounds on Oct.

Germany’s jobless rate held steady in December despite the continuing specter of jobs losses at major manufacturing firms, the Wall Street Journal reported. Germany’s adjusted unemployment rate was stable at 6.1% in December, data from the Federal Employment Agency showed Friday. However, there are indications the jobs market is cooling. Jobless claims ticked up 10,000 in December, on an adjusted basis, more than the 6,000 in November. Registered job vacancies stood at 654,000, around 59,000 fewer than the same point last year.

Turkish inflation eased in December, likely reassuring the country’s central bank after it cut its key interest rate for the first time since 2023 last month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 44.4% higher on year in December, the lowest since June 2023, cooling from the 47.1% a month earlier, the country’s statistics agency Turkstat said Friday.

The board of Cork-based PMD Device Solutions has filed for bankruptcy following a review of the company’s financial position which found that it could not resolve its short-term liquidity requirements rendering it unable to meet critical obligations, the Irish Examiner reported. PMD Device Solutions develops and sells medical products for respiratory monitoring in both the hospital acute monitoring sector and the remote monitoring home care sector.

Business bankruptcies across Canada have risen to their highest level in 15 years, Baystreet.ca reported. The latest data from the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals shows that 1,312 companies filed for bankruptcy during the third quarter of 2024, the highest level since the 2009 financial crisis. On a yearly basis, bankruptcy filings rose in every province except New Brunswick and Newfoundland during Q3 2024. In Ontario, bankruptcy filings rose 67% year-over-year in Q3, while bankruptcy filings in Quebec increased 40%.

Canadian manufacturing activity increased at the fastest pace in nearly two years in December as inventory accumulation by U.S. clients in anticipation of trade tariffs provided a measure of support for export sales, Reuters reported. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 52.2 in December from 52.0 in November, its highest level since February 2023 and the fourth straight month above the 50.0 no-change mark. The average for the PMI in data going back to 2010 is 52.4. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. U.S.