Headlines

Levels of stress at German companies hit the highest level in almost four years, as Europe’s biggest economy faces a sustained period of slower growth, Bloomberg News reported. German corporate distress was the highest since 2020 at the start of this year, according to research published on Thursday. The study, by law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, aggregates data from more than 3,750 listed European firms. “German corporates continued to experience the highest levels of distress,” when compared to the UK, France, Spain and Italy, the Weil report said.

The Swedish construction industry is facing a severe downturn, with an increase in bankruptcy filings signaling a broader economic turmoil within the sector, according to PressKraft.se. Credit reference agencies have observed a significant uptick in the number of companies seeking bankruptcy protection. Data from January indicated a 47% increase compared to the same period a year prior, with 622 companies filing for insolvency. This surge in bankruptcies is symptomatic of a deeper crisis affecting builders and has notable repercussions for the Swedish economy at large.

Switzerland called on Wednesday for changes to global measures to prevent liquidity crunches which were introduced after the global financial crisis, to make bank runs less calamitous, Reuters reported. A year after the collapse of Credit Suisse, which was bought by UBS in an emergency rescue, Swiss officials and regulators are examining how to change liquidity rules to make banking deposits more stable and avoid bank runs. The Swiss government said in a report on how to regulate banks deemed "too big to fail" (TBTF) that liquidity requirements should be addressed internationally.

Hiring in Canada ground to a halt last month even as the population continued to boom, pushing the country’s unemployment rate to its highest in years in a further sign the labor market continues to loosen, the Wall Street Journal reported. Employment nationally slipped by 2,200 in March from the month before, the first decline since a similar dip last July, while the unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage point higher at 6.1%, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Argentina's monthly inflation rate likely edged down to 12% in March, analysts polled by Reuters estimated, which would mark a third straight month of deceleration for prices and a boost for new libertarian President Javier Milei's economic reform drive, Reuters reported. The South American country has the world's highest inflation with the annualized rate running over 275%, which hurts consumer spending power and dampens the economy. Milei has made curbing prices a focus via an austerity package of cuts.

Global goods trade should rebound this year, but more slowly than previously expected, after only its third decline in 30 years in 2023, the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Geneva-based trade body said easing inflationary pressures should help the volume of merchandise trade increase by 2.6% in 2024 and by 3.3% in 2025, after a 1.2% decline last year. The WTO had previously forecast a 3.3% rise in 2024.

Uruguay’s central bank resumed its easing cycle with a half-point cut to its benchmark interest rate after inflation rose at the slowest pace since 2005, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank said it lowered the key rate by 50 basis points to 8.50% following a pause in February thanks to a gradual drop in inflation expectations and a sustained slowdown in consumer price increases that’ve stayed within the 3% to 6% target. The move on Wednesday marked the central bank’s biggest since a half-point reduction last October.

German manufacturing orders edged up in February, reflecting only a moderate rebound as demand for goods remains sluggish, the Wall Street Journal reported. Orders were 0.2% higher than the prior month, German statistics office Destatis said Friday. Orders collapsed by a revised 11.4% on month in January, a large decline that evened out a steep rise in December that was primarily driven by aircraft orders from manufacturer Airbus. In a less volatile three-month-by-three-month period, orders climbed 2.8%.

Austrian tycoon Rene Benko and one of his companies faces a probe by Liechtenstein prosecutors into suspected insolvency fraud and money laundering, Bloomberg News reported. “It can be confirmed that preliminary investigations have been initiated against a natural person and a legal entity as well as against unknown perpetrators,” prosecutor Gregor Hirn said in an emailed response to Bloomberg questions. The prosecutor confirmed the investigation, and pointed to earlier reports by the Swiss finance blog Inside Paradeplatz that named Benko and the allegations.

A Vietnam court sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death for her role in a $12 billion fraud case, underscoring the Communist Party’s determination to crack down on corruption, Bloomberg News reported. Lan, the chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, was arrested in 2022 and eventually faced charges including bribery of government officials and violation of bank lending rules. The main case against her was that she embezzled funds from Saigon Commercial Bank between February 2018 and October 2022.