Headlines

A wave of African nations looking to restructure debt with China on the eve of a major Beijing summit provides a reality check for the continent, where most countries still view Chinese lending as the best bet to develop their economies, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. China has denied engaging in "debt trap" diplomacy, but President Xi Jinping is likely to use next week's gathering of African leaders to offer a new round of financing, following a pledge of $60 billion at the last summit three years ago.

German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann signaled Thursday that he might support the creation of a common eurozone budget that could help improve the region’s competitiveness and assist crisis-hit countries, but only as part of a fundamental reform of European Union funds, The Wall Street Journal reported. The comments from Mr. Weidmann, a longtime critic of greater risk-sharing across the currency bloc, come amid an intense political debate over reforms that could strengthen the 19-nation currency bloc.

Farmers' cooperative Arla Foods, one of the world's biggest dairy firms, plans to pay out its entire 2018 net profit of up to 310 million euros (278.48 million pounds) to its members after one of the hottest and driest summers on record. The firm, owned by 11,200 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, traditionally pays only a part of its profit to owners, but said it would make an exception this year due to the drought, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Varde Partners Inc. and Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. are creating a joint venture to invest as much as $1 billion in distressed assets in India, according to people familiar with the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the information is private, Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. investment firm and Indian financial services provider, helmed by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, are expected to deploy this sum over three years, one of the people said. The venture, which will scout for deals of up to $100 million, may be announced as early as this week, the person said.

Three months after the political imbroglio around forming a populist government roiled Italian assets, bond investors are contemplating a fresh hurdle: its first budget, due next month. The big risk is that the euroskeptic Five Star Movement-League coalition breaks the 3 percent deficit limit set under European Union rules, putting the country on a collision course with the bloc, Bloomberg News reported. That’s got traders hunting a variety of strategies, from selling bond futures to buying Euribor options, to guard against the kind of market meltdown seen at the end of May.

Mauricio Macri’s presidency was meant to lead Argentina out of a dismal period of debt defaults, currency controls and recession, Bloomberg News reported. Markets show investors are losing faith in the new dawn for South America’s second-largest economy. Argentina’s yield spread over Treasuries -- the extra cost it pays to borrow in the bond market compared with the U.S. -- has climbed this month to the highest since December 2014. The spread surpassed Ecuador’s, which has the dubious distinction of having the second-most defaults in the world since 1800, for the first time since May 2015.

Indian tycoon Anil Ambani has declared a moment of “transformation” for his troubled business empire, after selling a large Mumbai power business for $2bn in his quest to pare a hefty debt burden, the Financial Times reported. Announcing the sale of Reliance Infrastructure’s Mumbai distribution business to Adani Transmission on Wednesday, Mr Ambani said the total proceeds of Rs188bn ($2.7bn) would slash the leverage of his flagship business.

French household spending slowed in July, getting the third quarter off to a sluggish start after a similarly lacklustre first half of the year. Consumer spending increased 0.1 per cent month-on-month, following a 0.3 per cent rise in June and a 1.1 per cent climb in May. A small rise in food consumption offset a similar decline in energy. “Growth in French household consumption remained sluggish at the start of the third quarter,” said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The International Monetary Fund said it was studying a request from Argentina to speed up disbursement of a $50 billion loan program after a collapse in investor confidence in President Mauricio Macri's government sent the peso tumbling more than 7 percent on Wednesday, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. It was the biggest one-day decline in the peso since the currency was allowed to float in December 2015. It closed at a record low of 34.10 per U.S.

Steinhoff's board will meet over the next two days to discuss asset sales to boost cash flow and pay down debt, its chairwoman said on Wednesday, months after creditors of the South African retailer threw it a lifeline, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Steinhoff had been fighting for survival since December last year when it uncovered accounting irregularities that sent its shares crashing and left it scrambling for working capital.