Headlines

Just when Britain seemed to be moving beyond its inflation problem, the new government's spending splurge and the risk of a global trade war triggered by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tariff plan are threatening to extend it, Reuters reported. British inflation peaked above 11% two years ago after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, the highest among the world's big rich economies. It then took longer to fall than in many other countries, in part because of a shortage of workers following Britain's exit from the European Union. No one expects another double-digit price leap.

It was announced as almost a footnote. But a change to the way the Bank of England’s bond portfolio is managed has freed up as much as £10 billion ($12.7 billion) for UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in coming years, helping to keep a lid on borrowing, Bloomberg News reported. Reeves wrote to BOE Governor Andrew Bailey on Tuesday to agree that the cash buffer held to protect the central bank against unexpected losses on its holdings should be “slightly recalibrated and reduced.” It means the Treasury will transfer less money to the BOE as the reserve is allowed to run down.

Mexico’s president lashed out Friday at Moody’s ratings service, after it downgraded the Mexican government’s debt outlook to “negative,” the Associated Press reported. Moody’s said that it had downgraded the government's debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” because newly approved laws in Mexico could weaken the judiciary branch and checks and balances. It reaffirmed Mexico’s Baa2 overall credit rating, but said increased government debt represented a risk for Mexico.

China’s beleaguered solar industry, wracked by a glut and fierce price war, is already on the road to recovery, according to one of the country’s largest panel manufacturers, Bloomberg News reported. “We’re at a turning point,” Li Zhenguo, founder and president of Longi Green Energy Technology Co., said in an interview.

In ways big and small, Beijing’s takeover of Hong Kong’s financial sector is looking irreversible. With stunning speed, the world’s pre-eminent East-meets-West investment hub has become more Chinese as international financial institutions, corporations, and expatriates retreat, the Wall Street Journal reported. Foreign banks played major roles in one-fifth of Hong Kong’s initial public offerings this year, compared with roughly half just two years ago. Chinese banks have taken the places of Western ones as top earners in the city’s debt-capital market.

China has made a $1.3 billion bet that a new port in Peru will boost access to South America’s agricultural bounty. Cashing in on the investment may be harder than expected, Bloomberg News reported. China’s President Xi Jinping and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte officially inaugurated Chancay port during a ceremony at Peru’s presidential palace in Lima on Thursday. The move epitomizes Beijing’s ambitions to strengthen commerce with South America as the world braces for more restrictive trade measures under US President-elect Donald Trump.

Thailand is working on a raft of fresh fiscal measures to sustain an economic recovery, foster new foreign investment and lower the near-record household debt, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s top aide said, Bloomberg News reported. The economic stimulus panel chaired by the premier is set to consider the second phase of a cash handout plan and other steps at a meeting next week, according to Paetongtarn’s Secretary-General Prommin Lertsuridej. Easier rules for long-term land leasing and credit restructuring led by government banks are also on the anvil, he said.

Planet Fitness lost its bid in bankruptcy court to acquire budget fitness chain Blink Holdings, according to court filings viewed by CNBC. Planet Fitness placed its competing eleventh hour bids early this month during a 48-hour challenge window. The two higher bids came after it lost out in a bankruptcy auction to U.K.-based, privately held fitness chain PureGym. Late Tuesday, Delaware’s bankruptcy court formally accepted PureGym’s $121 million offer, which initially won at auction in late October. Bankruptcy Judge J.

Mexico plans to set aside about $6 billion for state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos in its 2025 draft budget, people familiar with the matter said, as the government signals continued support for the indebted oil producer, Bloomberg News reported. The budget will include support for Pemex’s debt obligations next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing details of the proposal that’s scheduled to be released on Nov. 15. The company has around $9 billion in debt coming due next year and roughly $13 billion in 2026, when maturities will peak.

Mexico delivered a third straight interest rate cut as a key measure of underlying inflation retreats and concerns mount over the slowdown in Latin America’s No. 2 economy, Bloomberg News reported. Banxico, as the central bank is known, reduced borrowing costs by a quarter-point to 10.25% in a unanimous decision on Thursday. The move was forecast by 25 of 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Two of them saw policymakers holding the rate at 10.5%.