Headlines

Small and medium-sized businesses and developing economies are likely to be at particular risk of a slowdown in investment due to ongoing tariff uncertainty, the Secretary-General of the UN Trade and Development Agency told Reuters on Monday. "We fear that there will be more lagging numbers in terms of investment," UNCTAD's Rebeca Grynspan said in an interview at her office in Geneva.

The number of corporate bankruptcies involving liabilities of ¥10 million or more in Japan in the April-September period has hit the highest level in 12 years, partly due to labor shortages, Tokyo Shoko Research said on Wednesday, the Japan Times reported. In the first half of fiscal 2025, which began in April, business failures rose 1.5% from a year earlier to 5,172, up for the fourth consecutive year. The figure was close to the 5,505 recorded in the same period of fiscal 2013.

Solar glass producer Haikong Sanxin New Energy Materials will apply for bankruptcy to curb mounting losses, in the latest sign of the financial difficulties facing the solar industry in China, home to around 80% of global production, Reuters reported. Haikong Sanxin posted a net loss of 194.5 yuan ($27.3 million) for January-June 2025 and 659 million yuan in debt, parent company Hainan Development Holdings Nankai said in a filing on Thursday.

A watershed moment for U.K. insolvency practices came in a recent ruling in the long-running Core VCT claim that is set to reshape engagement practices and risk management, according a commentary in The Times. Sitting in the High Court, Mr Justice Thompsell ruled that liquidators cannot contractually limit their liability as statutory officeholders. The case involves claims brought by three venture capital trusts and allegations that assets were transferred out of the funds at undervalue and in circumstances of conflict involving the investment manager.

The Philippine central bank delivered a fourth straight rate cut, surprising markets as it flagged a weaker growth outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas cut its benchmark overnight reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.75% from 5.00% on Thursday. It also lowered its benchmark lending rate to 5.25% from 5.50%. Backing the case for easing: a seven-month streak of below-target inflation and sluggish economic growth. The central bank said in a statement that the outlook for domestic growth has weakened.

Mexico's annual inflation rate quickened in September at a pace slightly below expectations, official data showed on Thursday, but remained within the central bank's target range of 3% plus or minus a percentage point, Reuters reported. Consumer prices in Latin America's second-largest economy rose 3.76% in the year through September, according to national statistics agency INEGI. Consumer prices rose 3.57% in the previous month.

Brazil's central bank monetary policy director Nilton David said on Thursday that the decision by policymakers to interrupt the monetary tightening cycle requires keeping interest rates unchanged for longer than if they had continued raising them, Reuters reported. "This decision was made by the committee and it is being applied now, which is why we are in the very prolonged period (of unchanged rates)," he said at an event hosted by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo.

German exports unexpectedly declined in August, hampered by weaker trade with other European nations and the uncertainty prompted by U.S. tariffs over the summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exports of goods fell 0.5% on month in August, while imports fell 1.3%, German statistics agency Destatis said Thursday. Exports of goods to other European Union countries dipped 2.5%, while to outside the bloc they increased 2.2%, the data showed. However, despite the U.S.

The Bank of Japan should be cautious about raising interest rates again as the economy is still fragile, said Etsuro Honda, a close economic adviser to Sanae Takaichi, who is likely to become the country's next prime minister, Reuters reported. "Japan is at a delicate stage right now, where the long-standing deflationary mindset is gradually giving way to a more positive inflationary outlook," Etsuro Honda, who advises Takaichi on economic policy, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

The Bank of Canada’s No. 2 official endorsed a competition shakeup in the highly concentrated financial-services industry, saying the country’s banking sector is an oligopoly and changes could help lift Canada’s prolonged productivity slump, the Wall Street Journal reported. Carolyn Rogers, the central bank’s senior deputy governor, on Thursday said Canadian authorities have done a stellar job in regulating banks by ensuring they have enough capital to survive shocks such as the 2008-09 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.