Headlines

Norwegian power trader Einar Aas has reached an agreement with creditors, including Nasdaq Clearing, after his default in September forced members of the clearing house to stump up around 100 million euros ($113 million) to cover his losses, Reuters reported. Nasdaq Commodities, which operates the Nordic power exchange, said on Thursday that Aas had agreed to sell his assets to help the clearing house and its members recover the money they had to put into a default fund.

India’s top hedge fund is exploring opportunities in state-run banks, a sector shunned by most investors till now, as valuations turn attractive and the backlog of bad loans that have riddled lenders start to dwindle, Reuters reported. State-run banks will also benefit if the economy continues to grow at about 7 percent, Andrew Holland, chief executive of Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies LLP, said at the Reuters Global Investment 2019 Outlook Summit.

The cost of insuring exposure to Britain’s sovereign debt rose to its highest level in almost two years on Thursday as political turmoil in the country over its exit from the European Union ripped through UK currency, bond and equity markets, Reuters reported. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) jumped 3 basis points (bps) from Wednesday’s close to 34 bps - the highest level since December 2016, data from IHS Markit showed. Read more

Italy's government is looking to avoid European sanctions over its 2019 budget, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday while stressing he did not want Italians to have to foot the bill, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "When they ask us to respect all the rules, they are asking us for a blood and tears budget," Di Maio said. On Wednesday, Italy re-submitted its draft 2019 budget to the EU Commission with the same growth and deficit assumptions as a draft previously rejected for breaching EU rules, stepping up its showdown with Brussels.

In a car park near Berlin’s unfinished Brandenburg airport, 10,000 unsold Volkswagens are testament to the woes of the eurozone’s largest economy — and to a conundrum for Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported. The German economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the three months to September, the first time it has gone into reverse in three years, after its car industry — normally such a smooth engine of growth — sputtered badly.

Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc’s bond risk quadrupled this year as the automaker plays catch-up on electric vehicles and is hit by weakened demand in China. Moody’s Investors Service is warning of more tough days ahead, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s on Nov. 13 cut its rating on Jaguar, owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd., to Ba3, three levels below investment grade. Jaguar’s weak operating performance “will likely continue over at least the next 12-18 months” and it will weigh on the parent’s performance too, it said.

U.K. markets were thrown into turmoil after Prime Minister Theresa May faced the biggest challenge to her leadership since she took office, Bloomberg News reported. Sterling slid the most in more than 17 months after ministers including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey quit May’s top team, while Brexiteer Jacob Rees Mogg called for a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister. Investors priced out the prospect of a rate increase by the Bank of England next year on concern that any revolt against May could ultimately imperil the chances of the U.K.

Italian construction company Salini Impregilo said on Thursday it had presented a non-binding expression of interest for Astaldi, which has filed for creditor protection, Reuters reported. Astaldi, one of Italy’s leading contractors with more than 10,500 employees, filed for court protection in September after delays to the sale of its 33.3 percent stake in the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey. Last month sources told Reuters that Salini was working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Vitale & Co on options for a possible full or partial takeover of Astaldi.

An Indian tribunal has ruled that UltraTech Cement Ltd’s more than $1 billion bid for the cement unit of Binani Industries Ltd was valid, UltraTech said on Wednesday. UltraTech offered to buy Binani Cement in March after its parent Binani Industries approached UltraTech to arrange funds for paying-off bank debts and other liabilities, in a bid to terminate the insolvency proceeding against its unit, Reuters reported.

Has Increased It is slightly over the last six months, in part due to unease over the global economic outlook, the Bank of Canada said on Wednesday. A semiannual central bank survey of risk management professionals showed that 44 percent felt the chances of a high-impact event with potential to severely impair the financial system had grown slightly, while 50 percent saw no change, Reuters reported. The survey added that 95 percent of respondents were at least fairly confident that the financial system would be resilient in the face of such a shock.