Headlines

Growth momentum in Europe is fading, with a broad measure of eurozone industrial production flagging in September, the Financial Times reported. Industrial output in the Eurozone decreased by 0.3 per cent in September from August, data from the European Union statistics agency Eurostat showed on Wednesday. The slowdown was better than the 0.4 per cent month-on-month decline economists had predicted in a poll for Reuters, but followed a 1 per cent rise in August. Economic growth in the Eurozone was confirmed at just 0.2 per cent in the third quarter.

Italy’s government debt sold off sharply on Wednesday with the benchmark 10-year yield rising to a three-week high after the country’s government told the European Commission that it would forge ahead with its fiscally aggressive budget, the Financial Times reported. The yield on the 10-year bond hit a session high of 3.547 per cent, an increase of 9.8 basis points, after Italy’s populist coalition government defied calls from Europe to reverse its plans to sharply increase public spending.

The German financial sector is ill prepared to weather a recession, as the long era of economic growth may have inflated asset prices and lured lenders into underestimating future credit risks, Bundesbank has warned in its Financial Stability Review, the Financial Times reported. Germany’s central bank said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned that a surprise recession and a collapse in asset prices could kick off a downward spiral.

Emaar Properties PSJC reported the lowest quarterly profit in almost three years, showing that Dubai’s lengthening real estate slump is starting to weigh down even its most resilient builders, Bloomberg News reported. Emaar, which built the world’s tallest tower in the Persian Gulf emirate, said third-quarter profit dropped by 29 percent, missing estimates. That follows earnings slumps and losses at competitors amid signs that the slowdown may continue for years longer than anyone had predicted.

European Union states are still divided over an overhaul of rules for the supervision of banks against money laundering, two EU sources said on Wednesday. EU confidential documents show countries had agreed a preliminary common stance on the reform proposed by the European Commission in September which would give more powers to the European Banking Authority (EBA) to counter financial crime, Reuters reported. But one EU source said states were still divided on this issue and it was unclear whether they could reach a deal by the next meeting of EU finance ministers scheduled on Dec. 4.

Food group Barilla said on Wednesday it had presented an offer to buy the second-largest pasta plant in Italy from domestic rival Pasta Zara to boost its production capacity, Reuters reported. Family-owned Pasta Zara has started court proceedings to get creditor protection after its debt spiralled out of control. The factory, which is located near Tieste, in northern Italy, can produce up to 280,000 tonnes of pasta a year, according to one source close to the matter. “The factory ...

Indian developer rupee bond sales have slumped to the lowest in almost four years as investors become more cautious about default risks after the shock from non-payments by Infrastructure & Leasing Financial Services Ltd, Bloomberg News reported. With just two deals in October, issuance dropped to 3.9 billion rupees ($54 million), the least since November 2014. That was down from 18.9 billion rupees the previous month, according to Bloomberg data. No new bonds have priced this month. Dwindling sales may make it harder for developers to repay $4.9 billion of debt that comes due in 2019.

Two sugar mills in Brazil owned by India’s Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd, which filed for bankruptcy protection three years ago, will be put up for sale in a judicial auction on Dec. 18, according to court documents seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Reuters reported. U.S.-based fund Castlelake is among the interested parties in the auction, two sources following Renuka’s court case told Reuters. Brazil’s Grupo Teston, which makes equipment for the sugar industry, is also a potential bidder, the sources said. Castlelake and Teston had no immediate comment.

Why is Italy’s economy so sickly and has the country’s new government found the cure for its economic ills? As Rome locks horns with Brussels over a draft Italian budget that the European Commission has rejected for breaching EU rules, the Financial Times has consulted leading economists, academics and industrialists about the root causes of the country’s sluggish growth, the Financial Times reported.

In India, NBFCs and lenders to the housing sector have become increasingly important in supporting consumer spending as the nation’s formal banking sector is weighed down by bad loans, Bloomberg News reported. Nomura Inc. estimates that the loan books of NBFCs and housing lenders have grown at a compounded annual rate of 17 percent in the past two years, compared with 8 percent for banks. Such growth looks difficult to sustain as liquidity dries up, with the Bloomberg Economics India Banking Liquidity Index showing a nearly 1 trillion rupee shortfall of cash in the banking system.