Headlines

The European Central Bank is open to considering an interest-rate cut in October if the economy suffers a major setback — though the next comprehensive set of information will only be available at the following meeting, President Christine Lagarde said, Bloomberg News reported. Her remarks, less than a day after the ECB delivered its second quarter-point reduction in the deposit rate since June, offer the clearest signal yet that policymakers are leaning toward waiting until December for their next move.

Eurozone factories failed to produce more goods for a fourth straight month as the sector struggles to turn around a prolonged downturn led by its most important member, Germany, the Wall Street Journal reported. Industrial output was 0.3% lower in July than in June, according to figures set out Friday by the EU statistics authority. In June, output was flat, a slightly better result than the decrease previously estimated, but the currency union has still gone since March without booking any rise in its factory production.

A recent flurry of judicial and economic rule changes has served as a reminder of just how unpredictable operating in Latin America can be, denting the region’s appeal for foreign investors already weary after years of sub-par returns, Bloomberg News reported.

China has for years had one of the lowest retirement ages among major economies. Men started life’s next chapter at age 60, while women did so as early as 50. But now, China’s next generation will have to work longer, the Wall Street Journal reported. To address looming pension-system shortfalls and economic strains, Beijing on Friday moved to gradually raise the statutory retirement age to 63 for men and 55 for blue-collar women. The retirement age for other women will increase to 58 from 55.

Russia's central bank hiked interest rates to their highest since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine more than 2 1/2 years ago, a step aimed at combatting the inflation fuelled by massive government outlays for the military — and by robust spending from Russian consumers in shops, the Associated Press reported. The bank raised its key rate to 19%, just below the level from late February 2022. Then the policy rate reached an unprecedented 20% in a desperate bid by the bank to shore up the ruble and ward off a financial collapse amid sanctions imposed by Western governments.

Russian hacker groups briefly disrupted Taiwanese financial platforms including the stock exchange and lender Mega Financial Holding Co.’s website, exposing the vulnerability of the island to foreign cyberattacks, Bloomberg News reported. Two groups that go by the handles “NoName057” and “RipperSec” on Telegram swamped targeted websites with a so-called Distributed Denial of Service attack, which caused unstable connection issues for the platforms Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said Friday.

The U.K. government has introduced a new bill to Parliament that proposes new legal protections for digital assets such as cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and carbon credits, TechCrunch.com reported. The bill comes as the crypto sector contends with a range of regulatory headwinds: In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ruled that certain crypto assets are securities, and earlier this year, the SEC approved the first U.S.-listed exchange traded fund (ETF) to track Bitcoin.

A court in southern China approved the personal bankruptcy of a local couple who owed 9.28 million yuan (US$1.3 million) late last month, raising hopes of relief for financially struggling individuals as the domestic economy remains languid, the South China Morning Post reported.

Hui Ka Yan, the chairman of China Evergrande Group - the company at the centre of the country's property sector crisis - has been moved to a special detention centre in Shenzhen, Reuters reported. Hui, 65, has not been seen in public since he was taken away by Chinese authorities a year ago and his current whereabouts have not been previously reported. After China's securities regulator found Evergrande's flagship unit had inflated earnings and committed securities fraud, Hui was fined $6.6 million in March and barred from the securities market for life.

Bank of Japan policy board member Naoki Tamura said the central bank should raise interest rates to around 1% in the near future, fueling expectations of several rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a speech Thursday to business leaders in the western prefecture of Okayama, Tamura said short-term interest rates should be raised to at least around 1% in the latter half of the bank’s projection period. Japan’s neutral interest rate is likely around that level, he said.