Headlines

Eight out of 10 British companies think pulling out of the European Union would be bad for business, according to a poll published on Thursday, Reuters reported. Talk of Britain breaking its 40-year ties with the EU gathered pace in January when Prime Minister David Cameron said he would negotiate a new role in Europe and hold a referendum by 2017 asking voters whether they wanted to stay in or leave. Of 415 firms surveyed by the research company YouGov, 78 percent thought staying in the EU would be in their best interest.

A plan to tax financial transactions in 11 European Union member states from 2014 is illegal, the bloc's lawyers have concluded, dealing what could be a final blow to the measure as proposed, Reuters reported. The opinion is not binding and Germany which backs the tax aimed at making banks pay governments about 35 billion euros a year after receiving taxpayer aid during the 2007-09 financial crisis, said it still wants swift introduction of the levy.

European lawmakers were close to a deal with the European Central Bank that would pave the way for the Parliament's approval of a single supervisor for European Union banks, after the ECB agreed to provide more details to lawmakers of the proposed agency's board meetings, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Investors have made billions betting against economies in which debt is rising and home prices are soaring. They have had particular success targeting the banks that fund these booms. Right now, their target is China, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some compare China to the U.S. in 2007. Others cite Japan before the 1989 real-estate bust. China bulls acknowledge the risks but say the government has the money and expertise to defuse the problems.

In an effort to improve the country’s woeful infrastructure, long seen as a drag on Asia’s third-largest economy, India Inc. has pumped billions of dollars into new power plants, roads, rail lines and airports over the past decade. The investment was largely financed with foreign-denominated debt, a choice that seemed reasonable enough as recently as 2010, when the Indian economy expanded by 9.3 percent in real terms and the rupee remained relatively strong. But it doesn’t seem so reasonable anymore, The Financialist reported.

The Italian economy shrank more than initially estimated in the second quarter as rising exports failed to offset a continued slump in consumer demand amid the longest recession since World War II, Bloomberg reported. Gross domestic product dropped 0.3 percent from the previous three months, national statistics institute Istat said in Rome. That compares with the Aug. 6 preliminary reading of a 0.2 percent contraction. Consumer spending declined 0.4 percent, with sales abroad increasing 1.2 percent.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) has denied claims it will allow hospital consultants, accountants or solicitors will automatically be allowed to retain ownership of “trophy homes” they can’t afford, the Irish Times reported. Speaking on RTE radio last night, insolvency practitioner Jim Stafford said new personal insolvency practitioners (PIPs) would be given leeway by the ISI to assess the “type of house that might be needed for a professional person... as opposed to a house that’s needed by someone who is in the PAYE sector”.

Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista’s OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA is asking a group of investors for at least $250 million in fresh capital in an effort to avert bankruptcy, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reported. The capital injection for OGX would be part of a restructuring in which Batista will ask bondholders to convert $3.6 billion of debt into OGX stock, diluting Batista in the company, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA hopes to approve a new restructuring plan, which will include a €2.5 billion capital increase to be launched in 2014, within the month, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Italian bank said Monday that its board would meet on Sept. 11 to review the new plan, which is being drafted in coordination with Italy's Economy Ministry and the Bank of Italy, and aims to comply with guidelines set down by the European Commission. Monte dei Paschi di Siena said it expects its board to approve the plan by Sept. 24.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister has accused international bailout lenders of treating his country like an economic experiment and said €3.1bn in budget cuts and tax hikes demanded by them for next year should be scaled back, the Financial Times reported. Eamon Gilmore, leader of Labour, the Irish government’s junior coalition partner, said imposing that level of austerity risked damaging the country’s fragile economic recovery and society more broadly. “We will not let the Irish economy become some type of economic experiment for austerity hawks,” he said in an interview.