Headlines

A group of senior Biden administration officials is traveling to Shanghai this week for a round of high-level meetings intended to keep the economic relationship between the U.S. and China on stable footing amid mounting trade tensions between the two countries, the New York Times reported. The talks will take place on Thursday and Friday and are being convened through the U.S.-China Financial Working Group, which was created last year.

SG Investments, America, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of German-based manufacturer Dürkopp Adler (DA), has acquired ICON Aircraft assets — the result of a chapter 11 § 363 sale in ICON’s chapter 11 case filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, according to a Procopio press release. Procopio Restructuring and Bankruptcy Partner William Smelko represented DA in the transaction with the assistance of Procopio’s Asia Pacific team. Local Delaware Counsel Evan Miller of Saul, Ewing also assisted SG in acquiring the assets.

Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group Corp. reported a smaller loss for the last quarter compared to a year earlier, the Associated Press reported. Tokyo-based SoftBank’s losses totaled 174 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the April-June quarter, the company said Wednesday. It racked up nearly 478 billion yen in red ink in the same period of last year. Quarterly sales rose 9% at SoftBank, which has investments in various technology companies including American office-space-sharing WeWork; Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce company, and telecommunications company T-Mobile.

Sweden’s economy has, in many ways, suffered from the same tribulations as the rest of Europe: recent bouts of crushing inflation and recession, and now the prospect of meager growth in a world split by geopolitical and economic conflict. Nevertheless, the Nordic country has a roster of high-tech entrepreneurs that is the envy of its neighbors, according to a New York Times analysis. Spotify and Skype are globally recognized brand names.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest lender, is expected to unveil a small decline in annual earnings on Wednesday, with investors focused on whether rising deposit payouts and bad loans will outweigh gains in mortgage revenue, Reuters reported. The earnings will be closely watched to see if the lender's share price surge of one-third since late 2023 is justified, especially considering the broader banking sector in July posted its strongest rally in nearly two years.

Stocks in Asia followed a rally on Wall Street after the latest U.S. inflation data reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve will be able to start its monetary easing in September, Bloomberg reported. Equity benchmarks in Japan and South Korea advanced more than 1% at the open, extending their recovery from a historic Aug. 5 selloff. The gains came after the U.S. producer price index rose less than forecast, helping to fuel a 1.7% rally in the S&P 500 that was led by gains in big tech. The easing of price pressures has bolstered confidence U.S.

As Sir Keir Starmer seeks to deliver economic growth, the worklessness crisis he inherited from Rishi Sunak is getting markedly worse, The Telegraph reported. Around 9.5m people of working age are neither in work nor looking for work – they are economically inactive, in the parlance of the Office for National Statistics. That is terrible news for the Prime Minister, who will struggle to drive up GDP if so many of the nation’s adults are not even interested in working. The figures also show the causes of another crisis: migration levels.

Mexican steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (Ahmsa) announced that it will enter bankruptcy after failing to reach an agreement with creditors, although it continues to work to attract investors to capitalize the company, Bnamericas reported. A second 90-day extension period to negotiate with creditors to end the bankruptcy proceedings came to an end on August 4 without sufficient agreements being hammered out on the sums owed by the firm.

In a story that reads like the script of a Hollywood film, one of the world’s most famous musicians, Canadian rapper Drake, emerged as the unlikely hero for an Italian club on the brink of financial collapse, World Soccer Talk reported. Venezia, a club steeped in history but battling financial turmoil, found an unexpected lifeline in Drake. His intervention was crucial in saving the club from bankruptcy and ensuring its survival. The Winged Lions, based in the iconic city of Venice, experienced a rollercoaster ride in recent years.

Glas Trust Company has filed the plea challenging the NCLAT order which quashed the bankruptcy proceedings against BYJU in the Supreme Court, LegalWorld.com reported. The matter will be heard on August 12. The NCLAT quashed the bankruptcy proceedings against BYJU after a settlement was reached between Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and BYJU, wherein the ed-tech agreed to pay off its dues of INR 158 Cr. Glass Trust opposed the settlement on the grounds on possibly jeopardizing of their financial interest while settling the BCCI debt.