Headlines

The U.S. Supreme Court review of Purdue Pharma’s $6 billion opioid settlement could open the door for Canada’s municipalities and indigenous First Nations—the only two groups not made up of individual claimants that have opposed the deal—to seek compensation they say has been denied them, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Purdue’s bankruptcy plan would compensate thousands of individuals, healthcare providers, and U.S. state and local governments accusing the maker of the OxyContin painkiller of helping to fuel the opioid epidemic.

The glitzy Victoria Square development, boasting two skyscrapers and a new Hilton Hotel, was to be a new landmark for the London commuter town of Woking. Instead, it stands as a monument to how financial bets by local councils can go badly wrong, Bloomberg News reported. The hotel is yet to open its doors. Work to replace unsafe cladding on the outside of the building, which dominates the skyline of the town of 100,000 people, will only be completed this summer, almost four years after the complex’s scheduled opening was blown off track by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK’s audit and accountancy regulator has opened an investigation into an accountant following solar farm investments made by a now bankrupt local authority, Bloomberg News reported. The Financial Reporting Council is looking into the conduct of one of its members in relation to the activities of Thurrock Council, the watchdog said Wednesday. Thurrock Council, in Essex to the east of London, put hundreds of millions of pounds into solar energy only to later seek a government bailout when the investments soured.

Britain's economy ended 2023 on a stronger footing than previously thought, according to a survey of businesses, amid other signs that the Bank of England's high interest rate campaign might not trigger a recession, Reuters reported. With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hoping for better economic news before an election expected later this year, Thursday's data suggested businesses and households are weathering the storm of high inflation and borrowing costs at a 15-year peak.

French consumer prices rose in December in line with expectations, preliminary data from the national statistics body showed on Thursday, due to an increase in energy and services prices over the year, Reuters reported. The preliminary figures from INSEE showed EU-harmonised annual inflation at 4.1%, up from 3.9% in November. The rise in energy and services prices accelerated to 5.6% and 3.1% respectively, after increases of 3.1% and 2.8% respectively the month before.

The contraction in euro zone business activity continued at the end of 2023 due to a persistent downturn in the dominant services industry, a survey showed on Thursday, indicating the bloc's economy was in recession, Reuters reported. HCOB's Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global and seen as a good gauge of overall economic health, was revised up for December to match November's 47.6 after a preliminary estimate of 47.0, but it remained below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction for a seventh month.

China's local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) are repaying their bonds early at the fastest pace since 2018, taking advantage of a Beijing-backed debt swap programme aimed at slashing localities' borrowing costs, Reuters reported. The redemptions have jumped since October, when Beijing allowed local governments to issue special refinancing bonds, estimated to be worth over 1 trillion yuan ($139.85 billion), which could replace their higher-yielding LGFV debt.

South Korea's government will put its focus on supporting people's livelihoods and managing risk factors, as it cut the country's 2024 GDP forecast and raised its inflation projection, Reuters reported. In its biannual economic policy plan released on Thursday, the finance ministry expected the economy to grow 2.2% in 2024, down from 2.4% seen in July, after expanding 1.4% in 2023 which was a three-year low. The ministry expected consumer prices to rise 2.6% this year, up from its previous forecast of 2.3%. In 2023, prices rose 3.6%.

Japan's factory activity contracted at the steepest pace in 10 months in December as output and new orders slid on market uncertainty, a private-sector survey showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. The final au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) shrank to 47.9 in December from 48.3 in November. It was the weakest reading since the index hit 47.7 in February and stayed below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction for a seventh straight month.

Short-term rates for container shipping between Asia, Europe and the US are climbing on reduced capacity caused by the threats to cargo vessels in the Red Sea, Bloomberg News reported. The spot rate for shipping goods in a 40-foot container from Asia to northern Europe now tops $4,000, a 173% jump from just before the diversions started in mid-December, Freightos.com, a cargo booking and payment platform, said late Wednesday.