Headlines

The Bank of Japan’s governor struck a less cautious tone about the outlook as the central bank delivered a widely expected rate hold and reaffirmed that it’s on track for stable inflation and economic growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Japanese central bank maintained its target for the overnight call rate at 0.25%, the level reached after the last hike in July. Thursday’s decision came as no surprise to most BOJ watchers as Gov. Kazuo Ueda had flagged concerns about the uncertain global economic outlook and said that the bank needed to spend time analyzing risk factors.

China’s residential property sales rose in October, the first on-year increase of 2024, as the government’s latest stimulus blitz brought back buyers, Bloomberg News reported. The value of new-home sales from the 100 biggest real estate companies rose 7.1% from a year earlier to 435.5 billion yuan ($61.2 billion), reversing from a 37.7% slump in September, according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp. Sales surged 73% from a month earlier.

The eurozone’s annual rate of inflation was in line with the European Central Bank’s target in October, increasing the likelihood that policymakers will lower borrowing costs for a third straight meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.0% higher than a year earlier across the 20-member currency area, a pickup from September, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week had expected to book a smaller rise to 1.9%.

South Africa’s government is still considering whether to adopt a new fiscal anchor that will provide a sustainable long-term path for public finances, despite opposition from within the country’s biggest political party, Bloomberg News reported. The National Treasury said it is consulting with academics, international experts and other interested parties “to make inputs on fiscal-anchor policy options.” A discussion document will be released by the end of March, according to the budget update released in Cape Town on Wednesday.

In the race to secure copper for the clean energy transition and artificial intelligence applications, a range of companies are firing up abandoned assets once seen as financial liabilities to fast-track significant volumes of supply, Reuters reported. The call for copper is poised to surge in coming years due to its role in electric vehicles, renewable energy and data centers for artificial intelligence. Demand is expected to outstrip supply by 1.7% in 2035, and copper prices have scaled record highs this year. So companies are looking to revitalize older mines.

Countries in Asia-Pacific will need to spend big to adapt to climate change. But the cost of inaction could be higher, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. Left unchecked, climate change could punch a 17%-sized hole in the region’s economic growth over the next decades, the Manila-based bank said Thursday. “The window to stay within the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement is rapidly closing,” the ADB said.

Azul SA’s credit score was cut one notch by S&P Global Ratings, which called the airline’s agreement with bondholders for additional financing a distressed transaction, Bloomberg News reported. S&P downgraded the Brazilian carrier to CC from CCC+ with a negative outlook, according to a statement released Wednesday. Azul inked a deal with its creditors this week for as much as $500 million in new senior secured debt, with $150 million to be provided initially and $250 million by the end of the year.

Italy's economy minister on Thursday defended his decision to raise taxes on cryptocurrency capital gains as part of next year's budget, despite pressure from some lawmakers in his own party to backtrack, Reuters reported. Giancarlo Giorgetti said savers should make a distinction between investments that finance tangible projects and cryptocurrencies, whose value he said is completely disconnected from underlying assets. "Cryptocurrencies present a very high level of risk," Giorgetti said.

The bankruptcy court has rejected Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking’s application to direct the liquidator of Spark Green Energy (Satara) Ltd to categorise it as a secured financial creditor and also admit its claim of Rs 156 crore, the Economic Times of India reported. The city-based public utility undertaking had approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after the liquidator of Spark Green Energy (Satara) rejected the company’s claim to admit the amount.