Headlines

More than 700 Swedish companies went bankrupt in September, with real estate companies among the hardest hit, according to data from credit reference agency Creditsafe, Bloomberg News reported. The 17% increase from last year is a sharp turn for the worse, following a 3% annual decrease in August. Property owners had another rough month, as bankruptcies in the sector more than doubled. While hopes have increased about an economic recovery in Sweden as the central bank has reduced borrowing costs, an uptick in sentiment has yet to translate into rising activity.

Thai Airways International Pcl plans to issue new shares worth at least 42 billion baht ($1.3 billion) to creditors and other investors by December, a major step toward exiting a court-monitored debt restructuring and resumption of trading in its shares, Bloomberg News reported. The carrier will offer about 6.81 billion new shares to creditors under a debt-to-equity swap, according to its regulatory filing Monday. These stocks are priced at 2.5452 baht each, valuing the offering at 17.3 billion baht, it said.

Cinema chain operator Cineworld's restructuring plan was approved by London's High Court on Monday, despite opposition from two landlords, Reuters reported. Cineworld, whose brands include Regal, Cinema City, Picturehouse and Planet, set out a plan in July to restore to profitability, including addressing its lease portfolio and rental terms with landlords in Britain. Like other operators, Cineworld, which operates in 10 countries with 9,189 screens, was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many movie releases were postponed or went directly to streaming platforms.

BlackRock Inc. is set to become the largest shareholder in SellerX as part of a deal to slash the former unicorn’s debt load, Bloomberg News reported. BlackRock, an existing lender to the Berlin-based firm, will take a stake in the business as part of a debt-for-equity swap and refinancing, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. Existing equity investors will retain a share of the business, they added.

The European Central Bank is more confident that inflation is going to settle at its target after a series of recent data releases, and will take that into account when it next sets policy, President Christine Lagarde said Monday, WSJ Pro Central Banking reported. Figures released on Friday and earlier Monday by the eurozone’s largest economies all point to a big decline in the inflation rate during September. Economists expect figures for the eurozone as a whole that will be released Tuesday to record the first drop below the ECB’s 2% target since mid-2021.

The United States is raising new concerns about China’s practice of making emergency loans to debt-ridden countries, warning that a lack of transparency surrounding such financing can mask the fiscal predicaments facing fragile economies that have turned to China for help, the New York Times reported. A senior Treasury official, Brent Neiman, will publicly air concerns about the practice on Tuesday during a speech in which he will urge the International Monetary Fund to push China for greater clarity about its lending terms.

Colombia’s central bank cut borrowing costs to a two-year low while ignoring President Gustavo Petro’s calls for an even bigger reduction. The board also elected Governor Leonardo Villar for a second four-year term, Bloomberg News reported. The board split once more as it lowered its benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 10.25%, Villar told reporters on Monday. The move was correctly forecast by 20 of 27 economists in a Bloomberg survey, while the others expected a deeper cut, to 10%.

Mozambique remained the only African central bank this year to reduce borrowing costs at each of its rate-setting meetings and signaled more easing to come, Bloomberg News reported. The Banco de Moçambique on Monday lowered its benchmark rate, known by its Portuguese acronym Mimo, to 13.5% from 14.25%, Governor Rogerio Zandamela said, matching the scale of its four prior cuts in 2024. “The assessment of risks and uncertainties associated with inflation projections remains favorable,” Zandamela said.

The Bank of Mexico's governing board may consider larger cuts to its benchmark interest rate going forward as inflation in Latin America's second largest economy cools, bank governor Victoria Rodriguez told Reuters in an interview late on Monday. Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, lowered its key rate by 25 basis points to 10.50% on Thursday, the second straight cut as price pressures ease. It previously cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point in March.

Chile’s economic activity unexpectedly contracted in August on a decline in services, corroborating the central bank’s message that more interest rate cuts are on the way, Bloomberg News reported. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, fell 0.2% on the month, matching the worst estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts that had a median forecast of 0.3% growth. From the year earlier, activity gained 2.3%, the central bank reported on Tuesday.