Headlines

Argentina's Congress on Thursday passed a new bill designed to enable the government to resume debt payments to bondholders in defiance of a U.S. court ruling which tipped the country back into default, Reuters reported. President Cristina Fernandez's leftist government is in a race against the clock to make a $200 million coupon payment due on Sept. 30 to prevent the default spreading across bond series, which could raise the risk of investors calling for immediate payment on the principal value of their bonds. But she needs to route the funds through channels beyond the reach of the U.S.

France announced on Wednesday it was breaking the latest in a long line of promises to European Union partners to cut its public deficit, conceding it now would take until 2017 to bring its finances in line with EU rules, Reuters reported. The statement by Finance Minister Michel Sapin follows weeks of hints by Paris that weakness in the euro zone's second-largest economy would prevent it bringing the deficit below the EU ceiling of 3 percent of output next year as promised.

New Zealand shake and pour cocktails company VnC Cocktails has gone into liquidation after failed attempts to sell it, Sharechat.co.nz reported. The company went into voluntary administration on June 30, was then tipped into receivership a few days later by secured charge holder Bank of New Zealand, and has now been put into liquidation following a creditors' vote this month. VnC Cocktails hit the headlines in 2011 when it was named on reality television show 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' as the drink of choice by Kourtney Kardashian's husband Scott Disick, a brand ambassador the company.

Argentina is tightening its grip on the country’s currency market as international reserves decline following its second debt default in 13 years, Bloomberg News reported. Argentine banks must now seek government authorization for dollar purchases of $150,000 or more, down from a previous threshold of $300,000, according to three bank officials with direct knowledge of the matter. Central bank officials communicated the measure through telephone calls and instant messages to currency traders yesterday, two of the people said.

Li Keqiang, Chinese premier, has assured global investors they are still welcome in China and said a rash of recent fines and regulatory investigations into their businesses were not specifically targeting them, the Financial Times reported. Mr Li’s comforting words to global companies, made on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, came as revised government figures showed that, in 2013, outbound Chinese investment exceeded $100bn for the first time.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney can’t get away from the housing market, Bloomberg News reported. As he argues there is no immediate need to raise interest rates, central to his case is the mountain of debt financing property. Home loans account for almost 90 percent of the 1.45 trillion pounds ($2.3 trillion) owed by U.K. households. In London, where the average home costs 500,000 pounds, first-time buyers are paying almost nine times their annual income to get onto the housing ladder.

Scotland's two biggest banks are joining a growing chorus of businesses warning about the impact of the breakup of the U.K.'s more than 300 year-old union, The Wall Street Journal reported. Lloyds Banking Group PLC said Wednesday it would move the bank's legal headquarters to London from Edinburgh in the event of a "Yes" vote for Scottish independence on Sept. 18. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC will make a similar announcement Thursday morning, according to a person close to the bank.

Tuesday marked another milestone in the topsy-turvy world of monetary easing in Japan: The Bank of Japan bought short-term Japanese government debt at a negative yield for the first time, according to market participants, The Wall Street Journal reported. The BOJ scooped up some of the three-month No. 477 Treasury bill, which has traded at a negative yield for the past two trading days amid strong demand, the market participants said. Normally, people who buy debt expect to get their money back plus some interest. Negative yield means the buyer gets back less than he or she puts in.

Tehnologica Radion, one of the largest local construction companies in Romania, filed for insolvency on September 4, according to data from the Bucharest Court. The court will rule on the company’s request on September 15, Romania-Insider.com reported. The request came a few weeks after Theodor Berna, the company’s administrator and one of its main shareholders, was arrested in a tax evasion and money laundering case. The damages in this case are estimated at some EUR 100 million.

A steering committee of creditors of Saudi Arabian conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) has been formed to negotiate its debt restructuring, Algosaibi said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The family group, which collapsed in 2009 during the global financial crisis, said in May this year that it had direct liabilities to financial institutions worth around $6 billion, and proposed a restructuring plan that would repay creditors a minimum of 20 cents on the dollar.