Headlines

Egypt was downgraded further into junk territory by S&P Global Ratings, as the North African nation struggles with a severe shortage of hard currency, Bloomberg News reported. S&P cut the country’s debt to B- from B, with a stable outlook, the ratings company said in a statement. The decision puts the country on par with nations like Bolivia, Angola and Iraq. “The downgrade reflects the recurring delays to the implementation of monetary and structural reforms,” S&P said.

Greece’s credit rating was raised to investment grade by S&P Global Ratings — the first such move by one of the big three assessors since the country was shaken by a debt crisis more than a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Friday’s decision puts Greece at BBB- with a stable outlook. S&P joins Japan’s Rating and Investment Information Inc., Germany’s Scope Ratings and Canada’s DBRS Morningstar in lifting the nation out of junk territory. All did so following June’s resounding re-election of reformist Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Brazil’s troubled fertilizer maker Unigel Participacoes is proposing a two-year halt to all principal and interest payments on its international bonds as it seeks to avoid a looming default, Bloomberg News reported. The company is in talks with global bondholders before the existing 30-day grace period on a $23.2 million missed interest payment expires at the end of Nov. 1. The company has $530 million in outstanding dollar notes due in 2026.

Canada's main banking regulator has directed lenders to hold more capital against mortgages that have seen their repayment terms extend beyond the original terms due to the record pace of interest rate hikes, to contain risks building in the system, Reuters reported. Canada's nearly C$2 trillion mortgage market has been shaken up by the central bank's interest rate hikes, with many home owners only able to make interest payments, resulting in their mortgage repayment terms getting longer.

Canadian consumers are tightening their purse strings, cementing a case for the Bank of Canada to hold interest rates steady next week, Bloomberg News reported. Receipts for retailers were flat in September, according to an advance estimate from Statistics Canada released Friday. That followed a 0.1% decline a month earlier, which matched the median estimate from economists in a Bloomberg survey. “Flat is soft,” Eric Lascelles, chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada’s asset management unit, said on BNN Bloomberg Television.

Mexico's lower house moved to cut a profit sharing rate owed by state-owned oil giant Pemex to 30%, from its current 40%, as part of a sweeping 2024 tax bill passed by lawmakers early Friday morning, amid attempts to control Pemex's soaring debt, Reuters reported. Pemex's profit sharing rate (DUC), which is effectively a tax paid to the government, has been gradually lowered during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's administration from a high of 65%. The bill, passed after a marathon overnight session, will be sent on to the senate for approval.

Country Garden bondholders are seeking urgent talks with the troubled property developer after it missed a $15 million coupon repayment, putting it at risk of default, Reuters reported. Two bondholder groups have emerged seeking discussions about a potential debt restructuring package, with a major one close to appointing either Moelis or PJT as financial advisers, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the information is confidential.

Sri Lanka's sovereign dollar bonds fell more than 2 cents on Thursday, Tradeweb data showed, after authorities from the island nation expressed "serious reservations" about a debt restructuring proposal put forward by international bondholders, Reuters reported. Sri Lanka is in the midst of a debt restructuring after defaulting last year during a punishing economic crisis. The November 2025 maturity fell at the quickest pace, losing 2.45 cents as of 0946 GMT, but most of the country's sovereign dollar bonds had lost 2 cents or more.

The management of bankrupt electric truck maker Volta Trucks is urgently seeking a buyer to take the company out of administration and help it complete the ramp-up to mass production, a source familiar with the issue told Reuters. Volta, which is headquartered in Sweden and has operations in the United Kingdom, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday citing the bankruptcy in August of its supplier Proterra and uncertainty over its battery supplier, which had made it hard to raise sufficient capital.