Headlines

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has left open the possibility of further cuts in UK interest rates this autumn despite acknowledging the risk of recession had receded in the past month, the Financial Times reported. Mr Carney took credit for the bounce in August’s business and consumer surveys, telling MPs during a parliamentary hearing that part of the recovery in sentiment was “because the bank took timely, comprehensive and concrete action and that action has had an impact”.

Australia marked 25 years without a recession in the second quarter, another step closer to the Dutch record for the longest developed-economy expansion of recent decades, The Wall Street Journal reported. The economy grew 0.5% in the second quarter from the first and by 3.3% from a year earlier—the fastest pace in four years, pushed by spending on housing and public investment, government data showed Wednesday. The data also show, though, that growth increasingly relies on policy makers’ pulling out all the stops as the economy tries to reinvent itself.

Former minister for European affairs Lucinda Creighton has said the European Commission “does not have the authority” to rule Apple should pay €13 billion tax to Ireland and “of course” the Government should appeal, the Irish Times reported. Ms Creighton, who lost her seat in the general election in March and now runs a business consultancy company, told The Irish Times business podcast that the commission’s figure of €13 billion tax payable by Apple in Europe is incorrect.

South Korea’s Hanjin Group will put up 100 billion won ($90 million) to help Hanjin Shipping Co., as the troubled shipping affiliate struggles to get its stalled supply chain moving globally, The Wall Street Journal reported. The parent of the country’s largest container operator, and the world’s seventh-largest by capacity, will raise 60 billion won, using its stake in a terminal at Port of Long Beach in California and other assets as collateral, the group said Tuesday. The remaining 40 billion won will come from Chairman Cho Yang-ho’s personal wealth.

When several large state-owned companies in China unexpectedly defaulted on their debts earlier this year, the government seemed determined to send a clear and unified message: it was time to get rid of zombie companies, Reuters reported. But since then, China's signals have become increasingly contradictory and as a result bond market pricing suggests investors see the smallest chance in seven years that many firms will be allowed to go bankrupt.

A breakdown in Clive Palmer’s relationship with administrators of his Queensland Nickel business was evident around the time a dispute flared over a private jet, the company’s former financial chief has told the federal court, The Guardian reported. The court hearing by liquidators into the collapse of Queensland Nickel was shown an email stating that FTI Consulting’s John Park had “upset Clive P on the phone this evening” during a conversation about the administrator’s seizure of a Cessna Citation aircraft.

Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, the Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said on Tuesday that the government is working on a new personal insolvency law that would apply to individuals. His comments follow the news that the UAE’s new bankruptcy law, which protects companies that cannot pay their debts from criminal prosecution, has been approved by the Cabinet and could come into effect early next year. Mr Al Tayer said that the law dealing with personal insolvencies would take about 12 months to draft, giving no indication when it is likely to come into effect.

Eight Chinese centrally-owned state-owned enterprises signed restructuring contracts on Tuesday, the state-run China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported on a Reuters story. These companies are Aviation Industry Corp of China, China National Machinery Industry Corp, China Poly Group Corp, China First Heavy Industries, China North Industries Group Corp, China South Industries Group Corp, China Reform Holdings Corp Inc, and China Nuclear Engineering Construction Corp.

Top British bankers will tell Chancellor Philip Hammond on Wednesday to give them a clearer idea of what the country's divorce from the European Union will mean for them when they hold their first meeting since the Brexit vote. Hammond is to meet with executives from major banks and insurers, including Barclays, HSBC, Standard Life Santander UK, the British arm of Spain's Banco Santander, according to sources.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda signaled his readiness to ease monetary policy further using existing or new tools, shrugging off growing market concerns that the bank is reaching its limits after an already massive stimulus program, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. He also stressed the BOJ's comprehensive assessment of its policies later this month won't lead to a withdrawal of easing.