Headlines

Oil company investment in the North Sea is expected to slump by up to £4bn per year through to the end of 2018 as operators slash costs to compensate for lower prices, the industry trade body has warned. In its latest economic report on the North Sea, Oil and Gas UK said that 15pc of the offshore industry’s workforce - equal to 65,000 jobs - has been lost since the beginning of last year as oil companies cut back amid a 50pc slump in prices to around $50 per barrel, the Financial Times reported.

Tough medicine for China's ailing stock markets has brought stability to prices, at least for now, but it has come at a cost; equities and futures are trading so thinly that they are in danger of flat lining, Reuters reported. Intraday volumes on key onshore equity markets fell and stock futures turnover all but evaporated this week, after exchanges proposed a "circuit breaker" to limit index swings and China altered dividend taxes to favour long term investors.

Japan should consider an extra fiscal stimulus of Y2tn ($84bn) this autumn, the country’s economy minister has said, as fears grow that a Chinese slowdown will hit growth across Asia. In an interview with foreign reporters, Akira Amari said Japan’s tax revenues had come in Y4tn higher than budgeted, and that the question was how to make use of the extra funds. “The ministry of finance would like to use all of the money to speed fiscal consolidation,” said Mr Amari, one of the most senior figures in the administration of Shinzo Abe, prime minister.

Lufthansa failed in a legal bid to halt a pilot strike planned for today which has resulted in about 1,000 flights being cancelled, as the airline’s dispute with crews escalated, the Irish Times reported. Pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) staged a strike on long-haul routes yesterday and has called another walkout for today on short-haul flights – and it warned there could be more pain to come.

Poland's treasury ministry wants to transfer part of its stakes in gas group PGNiG, insurer PZU and utility PGE into state-run investment fund TF Silesia, an official agenda for a cabinet meeting on Monday showed. A treasury spokesman declined to comment on the reason for such a move. Local media, however, said the government wants to use TF Silesia, among other state entities, to rescue state-controlled Kompania Weglowa, the European Union's largest coal miner, which is on the brink of bankruptcy due to high costs and falling coal prices.

It is hard to know what represents prudent diversification and what constitutes capital flight on the part of Chinese groups and wealthy travellers, the Financial Times reported in an insight. But for those who track capital outflows from China, the distinction does not much matter. In the four quarters to the end of June, such outflows, (which do not include debt repayment) have totalled more than $500bn according to data from Citigroup.

Malaysia, which aims to become a "high-income status" nation by 2020, is seeing an increase in the number of young people grappling with higher debts than they can handle, Reuters reported. Gen Ys who borrow for homes, cars and other items have contributed to heavy household burdens. Bad debts at Malaysia banks are still low, but there's been a notable increase in the number of people under age 35 who have declared bankruptcy.

Irish mortgage lenders are set to again come under pressure from the Department of Finance over their standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage offerings, which remain substantially higher than EU averages, the Irish Times reported. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is set to meet with all the banks prior to the October Budget. He will likely ask why there has been no significant movement on lowering SVR mortgages, despite a significantly lower cost of wholesale funding.

Italy is working on a plan to recapitalise three small lenders under special administration by raising cash through a fund financed by healthy banks, a financial source told Reuters on Friday. The banks are Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara (Carife), Banca Marche and Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio, all of which were placed under special administration by the Bank of Italy because of serious capital shortfalls.

Greece’s former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pledged to continue fighting for better bailout terms from the country’s creditors, as opinion polls show that his left-wing Syriza party is tied with conservative rival New Democracy two weeks before snap elections, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr.