Headlines

China's exports and imports fell more than expected in July in a rocky start to the third quarter, pointing to further weakness in global demand in the aftermath of Britain's decision to leave the European Union, The International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Imports fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier, the biggest decline since February and suggesting China's domestic demand may be faltering despite a flurry of measures to stimulate economic growth. "I think (the drop in imports) is mainly from the demand side," said Ma Xiaoping, an economist at HSBC in Beijing.

One of the briefest sovereign defaults in history? The Republic of Congo today made a belated but full interest payment on a $478m bond, after mysteriously failing to do so on the due date on June 30, resulting in rating agencies declaring a sovereign default at the end of last month, writes Robin Wigglesworth in New York, the Financial Times reported.

A Chinese shipbuilder failed to make a bond payment due Monday, becoming the second such company to default in the onshore market this year. Wuhan Guoyu Logistics Industry Group Co., which is based in the central province of Hubei, didn’t transfer funds for interest and principal payment to the Shanghai Clearing House before the due time, according to a statement Monday. The firm issued the 400 million yuan ($60 million) of one-year bonds at 7 percent in 2015.

Société Mondiale, a minority shareholder of Brazilian telephone company Oi SA, said on Monday it would formally call a shareholders' meeting next month to discuss changes to the company's board of directors, according to a statement sent to Reuters. The activist investor, which began to acquire Oi stock around the time of the company's bankruptcy filing on June 20, is proposing the replacement of six members of Oi's board, including five appointed by Oi's majority owner Pharol SGPS SA. The meeting should take place on Sept. 8, Société Mondiale said in the statement.

Singapore Inc is facing mounting concerns as the city-state’s long-successful oil and gas sector turns sour with the oil price slump, the Financial Times reported. Oil and gas services have been a lucrative niche for the country. It is the world’s biggest maker of jack-up rigs, which are used to drill for oil in shallow ocean waters. But the plunging price of oil, currently hovering around $40 a barrel, has turned this strength into a source of economic pain as rig builders have been forced to slash jobs while smaller oil services providers face bankruptcy.

Crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, which lost $72 million to hackers last week, told customers on Sunday they would lose just over 36 percent of the assets they had on the platform but would be compensated for these losses with tokens of credit, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The Hong Kong-based exchange said losses from the theft would be shared, or "generalized", across all the company's clients and assets, widening the group of those affected announced last week.

South Korea's financial watchdog on Sunday said 32 big local firms should carry out restructuring, a move that could be aimed at keeping financially troubled companies from further hurting Asia's fourth-largest economy, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) made the announcement after conducting a credit risk analysis on 602 companies, which were selected out of 1,973 owing over 50 billion won (US$44 million) to banks and showed signs of financial health problems.

The 10 poorest performers in the EU bank stress tests have paid almost €20bn in dividends since 2011, increasing the potential burden on bondholders and taxpayers should they fail, according to a new study, the Financial Times reported. The analysis found that bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland were the only ones out of the 34 publicly listed banks in the stress tests that paid no dividends for the financial years 2010-2015.

The Bank of England has acted. Next up, the U.K. treasury, The Wall Street Journal reported. Economists say that new treasury chief Philip Hammond may need to relax a longtime spending squeeze or cut taxes to counter signs of a slowdown since voters’ surprise decision to exit the European Union. The BOE cut its benchmark interest rate to a historical low on Thursday and restarted bond purchases in an unexpectedly broad package of measures, reflecting its deep concerns over the potential cost of Brexit. In announcing sharply lower growth forecasts, Gov.

Local insolvency house CITR has put up for sale warehouses, plots, apartments and cars owned by the pharma distributor ADM Farm, which is under insolvency, Romania-Insider.com reported. Their value amounts to EUR 5.5 million, without VAT, reports local Profit.ro. The most valuable asset is a 10,200 sqm land plot located in Ilfov county, which sells for EUR 3.5 million. The company’s warehouse and the office, located in Craiova, are up for sale with EUR 188,000. A pharma storehouse and an office, located in the village of Carcea, Dolj county, can be bought for EUR 506,000.