Headlines

Europe's solar power industry warned on Monday of a "precarious" situation for European solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers as solar PV prices reached record lows, Reuters reported. Industry trade group SolarPower Europe said in a letter sent to the European Commission that European companies risk bankruptcies, which they said would hurt the EU's goal of reshoring 30 GW of the solar PV supply chain. Prices of PV modules have dropped by more than a quarter since the beginning of the year, according to SolarPower.

China's largest private property developer Country Garden won approval from its creditors to extend repayments on six onshore bonds by three years, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, sending shares up as much as 10%, Reuters reported. The bondholder reprieve came as investors are closely monitoring whether China's latest government stimulus measures including lowering existing mortgage rates and offering preferential loans for first-home purchases in big cities might be enough to restore consumer confidence and sow the seeds for an eventual property market recovery.

China's economy is resilient and has not collapsed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, rejecting claims from the West that its economy is faltering and could cause wider problems, Reuters reported. Officials from countries including Australia and the United States have publicly raised concerns about the world's second-largest economy. U.S. President Joe Biden called China's economic situation a "crisis" while Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said a slowing Chinese economy could in turn weigh on Australia's.

British discount retailer Poundland said on Tuesday it would buy up to 71 Wilko stores and convert the collapsed homeware and household goods chain's sites into its own brand, Reuters reported. Poundland, which is owned by Warsaw-listed Pepco and has 800 stores in Britain, plans to offer roles to Wilko workers and expects the rebranded stores to open in the fourth quarter of 2023, it added. Wilko fell into administration last month having failed to secure emergency funding to get through a slowdown in trading.

The global economy is shifting toward a higher-for-longer period for interest rates, making the coming flurry of monetary decisions across the developed world pivotal in mapping out that plateau, Bloomberg News reported. In the next week or so, borrowing costs will be set for seven of the world’s 10 most-traded currencies — including the dollar and the euro — with a picture of prolonged policy constriction set to emerge. There’s suspense on the outcome for some of those decisions, with the European Central Bank’s Thursday meeting too close to call.

Investor confidence in Germany’s economy improved for a second month, while lingering at a level that will do little to dispel intensifying concerns over the country’s status as Europe’s growth laggard, Bloomberg News reported. The ZEW institute’s gauge of expectations rose to -11.4 in September from -12.3 in August. While that’s better than economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted, it’s still well below a longer-term average for the indicator. An index of current conditions worsened to -79.4.

Britain’s red-hot labor market showed signs of cooling as unemployment hit the highest level since 2021, the number in work declined and private-sector wage growth eased, Bloomberg News reported. The portion of people out of work and looking for a job rose to 4.3% in the three months through July, the highest since September 2021, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. The report also showed average earnings excluding bonuses rose 7.8% from a year earlier, maintaining the fastest pace since the series began in 2001.

Most Canadians are prepared to see home values fall, according to a new poll, suggesting some homeowners are willing to give up a bit of their own wealth to improve affordability for others, Bloomberg News reported. Some 70% of respondents said they would be happy (40%) or somewhat happy (30%) to see home prices go down, says the poll conducted by Nanos Research for Bloomberg News. When asked about solutions to the high cost of shelter, Canadians’ preferred option is to build more homes, faster — including government-subsidized ones. But 12% said the best answer is to curb immigration.

The steep rout in eastern European currencies is raising speculation among market strategists that policymakers will have to slow their plans to ease monetary policy, Bloomberg News reported. The Polish currency dropped 0.7% against the euro, extending its decline to 4% in the past week after a bigger-than-expected rate cut roiled markets. With Hungary already months into an easing cycle and the Czech Republic weighing when it should embark on its own, the three countries led losses across emerging markets.

Israel's Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday against a bid by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to curb the court's powers, part of a judicial overhaul that has divided the nation, sparked months of protests and worried Israel's allies, Reuters reported. The court's 15 judges were hearing challenges by watchdog groups against a amendment passed in July ending the Supreme Court's ability to overturn some government decisions when it deems them "unreasonable".