Headlines

The British economy flatlined in the third quarter, entering what is expected to be a protracted period of stagnation on the cusp of a recession, the New York Times reported. Gross domestic product recorded no growth in July to September compared with the previous quarter, when it grew 0.2 percent. The economy was 0.6 percent larger in the third quarter than a year ago, when many businesses closed for the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.

The Bank of England said on Friday it would start the second leg to its first system-wide stress test of how banks, insurers, pension schemes and clearing houses collectively cope with shocks involving interest rates and risky asset prices over 10 days, Reuters reported. The BoE announced in June it was launching its first sector-wide stress test or system-wide exploratory scenario (SWES), kicking off with information-gathering from over 50 firms.

UBS is facing scrutiny from Finma, Switzerland’s chief financial regulator, as it integrates with Credit Suisse following the merger of the two global banks this year, the regulator said, adding that it will appoint outside monitors to oversee the process, the Wall Street Journal reported. The risks of cyberattacks, information-technology disruptions and fraud have significantly increased during the integration of UBS and Credit Suisse, Finma said Thursday in an annual risk outlook report.

Embattled Swedish landlord SBB is facing an inflection point after one of its creditors demanded its money back, the first time such a written notice has been given, Bloomberg News reported. Stockholm-based Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — as the firm is officially known — has been at the center of Sweden’s property crisis as landlords scramble to find ways to refinance billions of dollars of bonds amassed in the cheap-money era. Now one of those bondholders has run out of patience, saying repayment is needed on the grounds SBB breached a key term in its debt.

he Reserve Bank of Australia sharply revised up its forecasts for core inflation in the near term and warned that inflation pressures are cooling at a slower pace than anticipated against the backdrop of an economy that is proving more resilient than expected, the Wall Street Journal reported. Trimmed mean inflation, which is central to policy decisions at the RBA, is now expected to be running at 4.0% on-year by mid-2024, up from a forecast of 3.25% on-year in August.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that keeping the deposit rate at 4% should be enough to tame inflation, but officials will consider raising borrowing costs again if they need to, Bloomberg News reported. Weeks after policymakers refrained from a further increase for the first time since their tightening cycle began last year, she signaled to an event organized by the Financial Times that the central bank is gaining confidence that current monetary settings should do the trick.

Brazil’s annual inflation rate dropped more than expected, nearing the target range after policymakers committed to maintaining their current pace of interest rate cuts for the coming months, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Friday showed consumer prices rose 4.82% in October from a year earlier, below the 4.87% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Monthly inflation hit 0.24%. The central bank is set to deliver two more half-point cuts in as many meetings and bring the benchmark Selic to 11.25% by the end of January.

The International Monetary Fund has hardened its view on how Argentina is running a $44 billion loan programme that has gone off track ahead of the country's key presidential vote later in November, Reuters reported. The IMF's board of executive directors met in a previously unreported meeting on Oct. 30 for an informal briefing on Argentina by the Fund's staff, as the South American nation is battling triple-digit inflation and with net reserves in the red in the run-up to the presidential vote.

JKN Global Group Pcl, a Thai media company that owns the Miss Universe beauty-pageant brand, has petitioned for debt rehabilitation as it seeks to solve a liquidity crunch, Bloomberg News reported. JKN submitted the business rehabilitation request with Thailand’s Central Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, it said in an exchange filing. The company petitioned to adjust interest rates on existing debt and extend its debt repayment period, and proposed itself as a planner for the process.

China slipped back into deflation in October after a brief reprieve, highlighting how hard it is for Beijing to reinvigorate domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. In contrast to the U.S. and many advanced economies where taming inflation remains a high priority for central banks, China has struggled to revive inflation through most parts of the year—the latest evidence that a string of stimulus measures so far have failed to boost consumer confidence in the midst of a drawn-out property downturn.