Headlines

Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa said on Monday the country will not use "a single dollar" of its own reserves to make a $2.7 billion repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due this week, Reuters reported. Massa, who is also a presidential candidate in this October's election, said in a speech that it would be possible because of an extended swap deal with China and a new loan from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

Mexico’s economy grew more than expected in the second quarter as private consumption remains robust and the country benefits from strong exports to the US, its largest trading partner, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product rose 0.9% from the previous three months, above the 0.8% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. From the same period a year ago, GDP grew 3.7%, more than economists’ 3.3% forecast, according to preliminary data released by Mexico’s national statistics institute Monday.

Rising borrowing costs and stagnating Chinese demand for European goods could pave the way for another miserable economic winter for the eurozone this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. These headwinds, which also include the continuing war in Ukraine and stubbornly high inflation, mean the region is likely to keep underperforming the U.S. for now, according to fresh data and recent sentiment surveys.

Britain's banks and building societies have until the end of August to justify to regulators why some of their savings rates are low or face sanctions, the markets watchdog said on Monday, as Bank of England rates look set to rise to their highest since 2008, Reuters reported. While the sector has been passing on higher interest rates rapidly to mortgage customers, lawmakers have criticised lenders for not upping rates on savings worth around 1.5 trillion pounds ($1.9 trillion) at a similar speed, amid a cost-of-living crisis.

A German data watchdog has been investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Worldcoin project since late last year due to concerns over its large-scale processing of sensitive biometric data, the regulator's president told Reuters. Worldcoin, which launched last week, requires users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create a new "identity and financial network".

Signs of deflation are becoming more prevalent across China, heaping extra pressure on Beijing to reignite growth or risk falling into an economic trap it could find hard to escape, the Wall Street Journal reported. While the rest of the world tussles with inflation, China is at risk of experiencing a prolonged spell of falling prices that—if it takes root—could eat into corporate profits, sap consumer spending and push more people out of work. Its effects would ripple across the globe, easing prices for some products that countries like the U.S.

Rising interest rates, stubborn inflation and squally economic conditions are familiar foes to seasoned commercial property buyers, who typically ride out storms waiting for rental demand to rally and the cost of borrowing to fall. Cyclical downturns rarely prompt fire sales, so long as lenders are confident the investor can repay their loan and the value of the asset remains above the debt lent against it. This time though, analysts, academics and investors interviewed by Reuters warn things could be different.

China’s 200-million-strong army of individual investors has turned away from the stock market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The country’s benchmark CSI 300 index lost around a fifth of its value last year, and has risen much less than major indexes in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere in 2023. That is creating a sense of despair among the office workers, civil servants and other ordinary citizens who are responsible for the bulk of trading in China’s stock market.

Two of Japan’s largest lenders posted profits that beat analysts’ forecasts in their fiscal first quarter, marking a solid start to the year that is projected to deliver bumper results, Bloomberg News reported. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said net income for the quarter ending June 30 was 248 billion yen ($1.75 billion), above an average estimate of 236.1 billion yen by six analysts. This was about 1.8% lower than the same period a year ago.

Hong Kong's economic growth slowed in the second quarter from a year earlier, advance government data showed on Monday, with the momentum softening after a strong rebound in the preceding quarter, Reuters reported. Total exports of goods continued to plummet as the external demand for goods remained weak, and overall investment expenditure saw a mild decline amid tightened financial conditions, the government said.