Headlines

UK manufacturers reported cutting jobs at the fastest pace since 2012 as they were “squeezed between a rock and hard place”, and reducing their stocks as new orders faltered, according to a closely watched industry survey, the Financial Times reported. The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing slipped to 48.9 in November, down from 49.6 in October, but above the earlier flash estimate of 48.3.

Nissan’s new chief executive has shelved talks on levelling the ownership structure on its alliance with Renault, saying the two carmakers will focus on reviving their struggling businesses, the Financial Times reported.

A recent apology to Mario Draghi by Germany’s top central banker has highlighted a pressing concern in the eurozone’s largest economy about the European Central Bank: that criticism of its monetary policies is going too far and risks creating a domestic backlash, the Financial Times reported. Jens Weidmann, the Bundesbank president, said sorry to Mr Draghi after a broadside against the ECB’s stimulus package in September, which was delivered in an interview with Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper.

Yes Bank Ltd., an Indian lender caught in the country’s deepening shadow banking crisis, boosted its target for a capital raising to $2 billion after receiving commitments from new investors, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s fourth-largest private lender said its board signed off on the capital increase, which is higher than the previous figure of $1.2 billion, at a meeting on Friday. Investors including Canada’s Erwin Singh Braich, SPGP Holdings and Citax Holdings Ltd.

Schmolz + Bickenbach AG’s shareholders voted in favor of a capital increase to keep the company afloat after the two largest investors ended weeks of feuding over the proposal, Bloomberg News reported. Almost 80% of shareholders attending an extraordinary meeting near the Swiss city of Lucerne approved the share sale plan of at least 325 million Swiss francs ($326 million), removing a key hurdle towards rescuing the company from insolvency.

For years, defaults were few and far between in China's corporate bond market. Most investors thought that the Chinese government would never let companies — whether they be state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or private businesses — actually default on their debt, Bloomberg News reported. But times have changed. Defaults by private companies have been rising and there's even a question mark over the implicit government guarantee in debt sold by SOEs.

Cell C Pty Ltd.’s creditors aren’t giving up on a takeover offer from rival Telkom SOC Ltd., which South Africa’s third-largest mobile-network operator rejected last week, Bloomberg News reported. Senior debt holders have hired investment-banking firm Moelis & Co. and corporate lawyers Linklaters LLP and DLA Piper LLP to lobby for the Telkom proposal, people familiar with the matter said.

Two Chinese companies failed to repay bonds worth a combined half a billion dollars on Monday, underscoring rising debt risks in the highly leveraged nation as the economy slows, Bloomberg News reported. Peking University Founder Group was unable to secure sufficient funding to repay a 270-day, 2 billion yuan ($285 million) bond, according to a company filing to the National Interbank Funding Center. Tunghsu Optoelectronic Technology Co. failed to deliver repayment on both interest and principal on a 1.7 billion yuan bond, according to Shanghai Clearing House.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hit back at opponents inside and outside his government, denying that he violated lawmakers’ demands by striking a deal on reforms to the European Union’s bailout fund, Bloomberg News reported.

South African Airways said it’s waiting for the government to tell it whether it will provide the national carrier with the money needed to keep flying, rendering it unable to publish its results for the year through March, Bloomberg News reported. “SAA cannot finalize its annual financial statements within the prescribed time until the going concern status is confirmed,” the carrier said in a document submitted to lawmakers on Monday and circulated by the main opposition Democratic Alliance.