Headlines

Hungary's central bank-linked foundations are facing renewed scrutiny over their investment practices after a scathing report from the State Audit Office (ASZ) triggered a sell-off in assets linked to their portfolio, IntelliNews.com reported. The scandal has spread to Polish-based real estate developer Globe Trade Centre, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. After the report by ASZ, yields on a 2026 euro bond issued by the company surged from 8.4% to 13% in a week, and its shares fell 7%.

German restaurant chain Sausalitos has filed for bankruptcy after more than 30 years of operation, MAGL reported. The company cites a decline in profitability and changes in customer behavior as the reasons for its insolvency. Despite its insolvency, the company seeks a new investor to return "at the right time." The restaurant chain is considered a leader in the Mexican-American gastro-bar concept in Germany and is known for its cocktail bars and Tex-Mex cuisine.

Europe’s economic engine might finally be shifting into gear, as a rebound in German manufacturing and easing price pressures across the euro area offered a glimmer of hope that the continent’s economy could be turning a corner, EuroNews.com reported. The latest business surveys, known as Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMIs), revealed that the eurozone's private sector expanded for a third consecutive month in March.

India will scrap a tax of 6% on digital advertisements online, the finance minister said on Tuesday, easing costs for U.S. tech giants such as Alphabet's Google, Meta and Amazon as a way of soothing U.S. trade concerns, Reuters reported. The move responds to concerns raised by Washington after President Donald Trump threatened reciprocal tariffs from April 2 on trading partners, including India, that fuelled alarm among exporters.

China’s central bank unveiled a new method for pricing its one-year loans to banks, the latest move in policymakers’ efforts to revamp their monetary toolkit, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China announced in a statement that banks will be able to bid for different prices on its one-year loans, known as the medium-term lending facility. Qualified lenders will be able to pay different interest rates for the loan starting from Tuesday, and the loans will come in a fixed amount each month, according to the statement.

For a symbol of the chaos engulfing world trade since the Trump administration walked into the White House, look no further than a pile of 16,000 metric tons of steel pipes. Stevedores in Germany should be preparing to load the first batch on a ship bound for a massive energy project in Louisiana. Instead the cargo is sitting in a German warehouse after Washington proposed putting million-dollar levies on Chinese ships docking in the US, Bloomberg News reported.

Brazil’s central bank said it was important to signal that its cycle of interest rate hikes will continue in the face of an adverse inflation outlook, according to the minutes to its March 18-19 policy meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Local food prices are high and can also drive up costs in other sectors, while services inflation has accelerated in recent readings, policymakers wrote in the minutes to the meeting. Last week, they raised the benchmark Selic by a full percentage point to 14.25%, and signaled a smaller rise ahead.

Hungary held interest rates at the first policy meeting under Governor Mihaly Varga, with attention now shifting to the central bank’s monetary-policy guidance, Bloomberg News reported. The National Bank of Hungary kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 6.5% on Tuesday, tied with Romania for the highest key interest rate in the European Union. Annual price growth reached a 15-month high of 5.6% in February, bolstering bets that little to no room remained for monetary easing this year.

The UK’s top financial watchdog has promised a “less intensive approach” to firms whose intentions are pure, signaling a more pragmatic stance in a new five-year strategy that leans heavily into the government’s growth agenda, Bloomberg News reported. The Financial Conduct Authority, responsible for supervising some 42,000 firms, is trying to cut back on excessive form-filling and other hurdles that the industry says makes the UK a less attractive market.

President Donald Trump appeared to invent a new weapon of economic statecraft on Monday by threatening what he dubbed “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations, Bloomberg News reported. The threat, delivered via Truth Social post then confirmed in an executive order, said countries could face 25% tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions.