Headlines

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other top Communist Party officials used 22,000 characters in laying out a blueprint for reviving the country’s flagging economy in the coming years and signaling an intention to rev up growth in the coming months. On some of the thorniest issues, however, the document had little new to say—fueling concern among some economists about the country’s longer-term prospects, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ukraine struck a deal with creditors that could save it more than $11 billion over the next three years, a boost for the war-torn country as it scrambles to keep funding the war with Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported. The preliminary deal, unveiled Monday, came after months of contentious negotiations with a committee representing Western bondholders such as BlackRock and Pimco, which had balked over how much debt relief Ukraine and its Western backers were requesting.

Patchy progress on implementing reforms to make money market funds and other types of "non banks" safer has left the global financial system vulnerable to more shocks, the G20's risk watchdog said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Financial Stability Board said that many of the underlying vulnerabilities that contributed to incidents, such as central banks having to inject liquidity to stabilise money market funds during a "dash for cash" at the outset of COVID-19 lockdowns, are still largely in place.

Brazil's central bank said on Monday a new feature for its popular Pix instant payment system aimed at automatically paying recurring bills will be launched next June instead of this October, as had been originally scheduled, Reuters reported. The delay follows repeated calls from the Brazilian central bank's governor, Roberto Campos Neto, for the approval of a constitutional amendment granting financial autonomy to the institution. Campos Neto argues that given the central bank's current budgetary situation, there may come a time when policymakers face difficulties in operating Pix.

Canada’s retailers faced a further pullback in sales in recent months, yet another sign of the stresses consumers are under that argues for additional rate relief from the central bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales dropped by the most in more than a year in May and an early tally of receipts points to further belt-tightening by Canadians in June, data released Friday by Statistics Canada showed.

Trans Mountain Corp. plans to borrow in the bond market to refinance some of its outstanding debt ahead of the Canadian government’s eventual sale of the oil pipeline operator, Bloomberg News reported. The debt deal may still be months away from coming to the market, with size and structure yet to be set, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. The company hasn’t issued debt previously and does not currently have a credit rating. The company reported that it had C$25.3 billion ($18.4 billion) debt as of March 31.

Turkey’s central bank will probably focus on draining excess lira liquidity and alternative tightening measures as it looks to keep interest rates on pause for a fourth straight month, Bloomberg News reported. With official borrowing costs unlikely to rise further, policymakers have turned their attention to the side effects of their efforts to replenish foreign-exchange reserves that resulted in billions of liras being pumped into the economy.

England and Wales recorded the second-highest number of company insolvencies since 2009 last month, government figures showed, reflecting high interest rates and increased costs caused by rapid inflation in 2022 and 2023, Reuters reported. June saw 2,361 company insolvencies on a seasonally adjusted basis, Britain's Insolvency Service agency said, 17% more than a year earlier and the most since May 2023. The high total partly reflects an increase in the overall number of companies.

Defaulted builder Sino-Ocean Group Holding Ltd. is working to garner enough support to help secure approval for its debt restructuring plan, but remains far short of the needed backing amid opposition from a key bondholder group, Bloomberg News reported. The company has support from a lender group representing about half of the company’s so-called Class A debt, Sino-Ocean said in a Thursday filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Lenders have either entered into a restructuring support agreement or are going through internal procedures to obtain the relevant approvals to do so.

Ontario's self-described Crypto King will likely remain bankrupt until criminal fraud and money laundering charges are resolved against the 25-year-old, CBC.ca reported. Justice William Black dismissed Aiden Pleterski's application for a discharge from his nearly two-year-long bankruptcy in a ruling released on Thursday. "Mr. Pleterski's conduct warrants an emphasis on public protection and accountability," wrote the Ontario Superior Court judge.