Headlines

Spain’s centre-right government, shaken by last week’s fall in Spanish sovereign bond prices and the stock market after its first budget, has signalled an immediate drive to restore confidence among investors and European leaders with further economic reforms, the Financial Times reported.

Europe is searching for something to get growth going again and pull the eurozone’s heavily indebted countries out of their troubles — but with little luck, the Daily Herald reported on an Associated Press story. Unemployment and manufacturing indicators suggest the 17 countries that use the euro are headed for an official recession. Adding to these worrying signs is the realization that many of the traditional tools to give growth a shove — government spending, tax cuts and lower central bank interest rates — are off the table.

The National Asset Management Agency approved 113 of 114 applications for rental reductions sought by tenants of Nama debtors last year, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has confirmed, the Irish Times reported. Last December, Nama issued a guidance note on upward-only commercial leases, following Mr Noonan’s announcement that the Government had abandoned plans to scrap upward-only rent reviews.

Ernst & Young LLP has resigned as Sino-Forest's auditor, days after a Canadian court granted creditor protection to the embattled Chinese forestry company and months after fraud allegations triggered a stampede out of its stock, Reuters reported. Sino-Forest's Toronto-listed shares tanked last June after a short-seller accused it of exaggerating the size of its forestry assets. The company says the allegations have paralyzed its business.

Switzerland agreed Thursday to a revised tax deal with Germany under which it would pay billions of dollars on funds hidden in its banks by German tax dodgers, the latest step in an international charm offensive that is meant to salvage at least some of the country’s famous banking secrecy, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Dubai Holding, an investment vehicle owned by the emirate's ruler, said Thursday its private equity arm Dubai International Capital has reached an agreement with lenders on a $2.5 billion debt deal, while it is confident that the Dubai Group restructuring will be concluded successfully, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the terms of the DIC restructuring, lenders will extend $2.15 billion of the debt for five years and receive a 2% cash interest coupon, according to a Dubai Holding statement.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi maintained a cautious public stance yesterday on the Government’s effort to restructure some of its banking debt, saying the State must meet standing contracts and commitments, the Irish Times reported. While senior euro zone sources say technical work is ongoing on a deal to revise Anglo Irish Bank’s promissory note scheme, Mr Draghi declined two opportunities to say whether he supported Dublin’s campaign.

Spain continued to find itself in the market's cross hairs Thursday, as mounting concerns over the economy sparked a sharp slide in the country's bonds and led to an evaporation of the effect of the European Central Bank's generous cash injection, The Wall Street Journal reported. The rout in Spanish bonds weighed heavily on financial markets, with the euro coming under pressure, stocks falling and Italian bond yields rising sharply.

Toshiba Corp. has been removed from the list of prospective sponsors to back the rehabilitation of elpida Memory Inc., it was learned Thursday, the Daily Yomiuri Online reported on a Jiji Press story. As a result, the Japanese chipmaker may be acquired by a foreign company. Micron Technology Inc. of the United States, SK Hynix Inc. of South Korea and a foreign-affiliated investment fund remain on the list of possible sponsors, informed sources said.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi Wednesday warned that "downside risks" to growth remained and any discussion of how and when the ECB will unwind its unconventional measures to fight the crisis was premature, Dow Jones reported. Striking a cautious balance between taming stubbornly high inflation amid rising commodity prices and supporting the still-weak euro-zone economy, the ECB left its main interest rate unchanged at a 1% record low for the fourth straight month earlier Wednesday.