Headlines

Bankrupt Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA won court permission to investigate whether its rival Latam Airlines Group SA sought to take unfair advantage of its recent chapter 11 filing by improperly soliciting major Boeing Co. aircraft suppliers, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Martin Glenn said Monday there is merit in investigating allegations Latam tried to either poach or interfere with Boeing 737 aircraft lessors doing business with Gol after the Brazilian budget airline filed bankruptcy last month.

Euro zone banks face a permanently changed risk landscape that requires lenders to alter how they operate, the European Central Bank's new top supervisor said in her inaugural speech on Monday, Reuters reported. Surging interest rates, rising geopolitical risk, quicker deposit movements, multiplying cyber attacks and climate risk are all changing the fundamental nature of the business, and lenders may not be sufficiently prepared, said Claudia Buch, who took over from Andrea Enria at the start of the year.

An acrimonious legal battle over the fate of the insolvent Harbour Grace shipyard ended in a St. John's courtroom Monday morning after a judge approved the sale of the yard to fishing industry executive Blaine Sullivan, CBC.ca reported. The deal is expected to close later this month. Sullivan has committed to making investments into the yard and protecting the workforce as he tries to return the business to profitability.

U.K. wage growth eased a little less than forecast in the fourth quarter, while unemployment unexpectedly ticked down, signaling a stubbornly tight labor market and reflecting still-significant inflationary pressures as the Bank of England weighs when to start cutting interest rates, the Wall Street Journal reported. Average pay growth, excluding bonuses, was 6.2% in the three months to December, down from 6.7% in the three-month period to November, according to data published Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics.

Swiss inflation eased to its lowest level in nearly two and a half years in January, official data showed on Tuesday, feeding expectations that the Swiss National Bank could cut interest rates in March, Reuters reported. Consumer prices rose by 1.3% in January compared with the same month last year, the lowest annual increase since October 2021, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office.

The EU adopted a law to set aside windfall profits made on frozen Russian central bank assets, it said on Monday, in a first concrete step towards the bloc's aim of using the money to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, Reuters reported. The EU and the Group of Seven nations (G7) froze some 300 billion euros ($323 billion) of Russian central bank assets following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The EU and G7 have been debating if and how these funds can be used for over a year.

Australian consumer confidence fell last week after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold while signaling that all policy options remain on the table including further interest rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer confidence fell 1.2 points from the prior week, according to a survey by ANZ and pollster Roy Morgan. The four-week moving average was down 0.5 points.

Thailand’s government raised its new borrowing target by 560 billion baht ($15.7 billion) for the current fiscal year to finance budget deficit and new projects, Bloomberg News reported. Under a revised public debt management plan approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, new borrowing for government, state enterprises and other agencies will increase to 754.7 billion baht from 194.4 billion baht cleared by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government soon after it took power in September, according to an official statement.

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that, adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 24 fewer bankruptcies in January 2024 than in December 2023, CBS.nl reported. This is a decrease of 6 percent. However, there has been an upward trend in the number of bankruptcies for nearly two years. In January 2024, over 60 percent more businesses were declared bankrupt than one year previously. This is an increase of 138 businesses. The number of corporate bankruptcies (adjusted for court session days) fluctuates substantially, with rapidly alternating ups and downs.

The troubled used car supermarket Cazoo is scrambling for a lifeline as it sinks further into a funding crisis, the Telegraph reported. The online dealer hopes to persuade shareholders to agree to an urgent cash injection but is preparing contingency measures. A source involved in the discussions said all options are on the table, including new investors, a sale or break-up of the company, and asset sales. However, if fresh funds can’t be found then it will be forced to consider administration. A team of restructuring and insolvency experts is being called in to navigate the crisis.