Headlines

Pessimism in France and Spain dragged down economic sentiment across the eurozone, according to official statistics published on Thursday, as a drop in confidence among consumers and industry outweighed a more optimistic outlook from the retail trade and construction sector, the Financial Times reported. The economic sentiment indicator fell 0.7 points to 110.9 in September, flash data from the European Commission showed. Economists polled by Thomson Ruters had expected a shallower drop, to 111.2.

With India’s state-owned banks hamstrung by bad loans, a growing number of non-bank lenders seized the opportunity, using short-term debt funding to fuel breakneck growth in recent years. Now the sector is at the centre of a wave of selling in both bonds and equities, after an unexpected default by a major infrastructure group rattled investors and cast doubt on the credibility of rating agencies’ work, the Financial Times reported.

Saudi Arabia's first comprehensive bankruptcy law went into effect last month, one of many reforms to the legal system that economists say may be more important in the long run than high-profile privatizations, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 push to diversify the economy away from oil has grabbed attention for its big-ticket initiatives, such as a $500 billion business zone and a plan, now shelved, to sell part of the state oil firm.

Alitalia returned to a net profit of 2 million euros ($2.35 million) in the third quarter, Stefano Paleari, one of the commissioners managing the airline, said on Wednesday in a sign that the fortunes of the airline were slowly improving, Reuters reported. Once a symbol of Italy’s post-war economic boom but recently in trouble due to low-cost carriers and high speed trains, Alitalia was put under special administration last year after workers rejected its latest rescue plan.

Europe’s banking watchdog has backed a recommendation by the Maltese financial regulator to withdraw Pilatus Bank’s banking license following the indictment of its chairman for money laundering, Reuters reported. EBA’s move puts pressure on the European Central Bank which is expected to make a decision on whether to withdraw Pilatus’s license as early as this week. A spokesman for the ECB declined to comment. In a letter, dated Sept.

Abraaj, once one of the most influential emerging-market investors, plans to vacate its headquarters in Dubai’s business hub after the embattled buyout firm failed to pay rent, people with the knowledge of the matter said. Dubai International Financial Centre told Abraaj to vacate its main office in the financial freezone by the end of the month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private, Bloomberg News reported. The lease on one of the company’s offices has expired, one of the people said.

Argentina won a promise of extra cash and faster delivery from the International Monetary Fund, which expanded a record bailout to help the country defend its currency and pull the economy out of recession, Bloomberg News reported. Argentina’s credit line will increase to about $57 billion over three years, from the $50 billion announced in June. The Fund will also deliver more of that cash up front. Argentina has already received $15 billion and will have access to another $35 billion by the end of 2019.

Chinese non-financial corporate debt is rising again as a percentage of gross domestic product following a year and a half of deleveraging from its mid-2016 record, according to new data from the Bank for International Settlements, Bloomberg News reported. The ratio jumped to 164.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from 160.3 percent in the final three months of 2017, erasing more than half of the progress Chinese companies had made in reducing debt loads since the ratio topped out at 166.9 percent in the second quarter of 2016, the BIS data, published September 23, show.

For Asia equity investors in search of volatility, there’s no need to buy U.S. pot stocks. India has its own wild ride, Bloomberg News reported. The turmoil in India’s non-bank finance firms has triggered swings in the nation’s stock market that make the recent moves in U.S. pot-related shares look like a walk on the grass. Volatility in the S&P BSE Finance Index has soared to the highest level in almost two years, with stocks such as Dewan Housing Finance Corp. fluctuating an average 26 percent in the past three sessions, more than the 19 percent move in Tilray Inc.

Ecuador’s fiscal discipline is making investors forget about its history of defaults, according to Finance Minister Richard Martinez. The 38-year-old economy chief said his emphasis on budget cuts, transparency and communication since taking office in May is luring foreign fund managers to the nation with the dubious distinction of having the second-most defaults in the world since 1800, Bloomberg News reported. Ecuador’s yield spread over U.S. Treasuries has fallen to 620 basis points, briefly dropping below Argentina for the first time since 2015.