Headlines

The European Union is considering unlocking billions of euros for Hungary that were frozen over rule-of-law concerns as it seeks to win Budapest's approval for aid to Ukraine including a start to membership talks for Kyiv, senior officials said, Reuters reported. Hungary cultivates closer ties with Russia than other EU states, and is seen as the key potential opponent to a decision due in December on whether to open accession talks with Kyiv, which would require unanimous backing of the union's 27 members.

Industrial production in Brazil rose slightly less than expected in August, data from government statistics agency IBGE showed on Tuesday, as the sector struggles to gather speed amid high interest rates, Reuters reported. Output was up 0.4% in August from July, IBGE said, recovering part of the losses seen a month earlier but below forecasts as the median estimate in a Reuters poll projected an increase of 0.5%.

Italy intends to scale back its current set of state guarantees and create a new scheme to boost private investment in strategic infrastructure, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The move is part of Rome's efforts to phase out the expansionary policies adopted since 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis exacerbated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. As of Dec. 31, 2022, state guarantees amounted to 15.8% of Italy's gross domestic product (GDP), Treasury data showed in April, marginally below the 16.1% of 2021.

Singapore authorities seized or froze assets worth more than S$2.8 billion ($2 billion) in one of the city-state’s largest money laundering investigations, a senior official said on Tuesday while signaling the government could tighten immigration rules to curb illicit inflows, Bloomberg News reported. The amount disclosed to parliament by Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo is higher than the S$2.4 billion previously announced. The assets included 152 properties, 62 vehicles, thousands of bottles of liquor, cryptocurrencies, gold bars and jewellery.

A Bank of Canada official said there’s a risk firms will continue to raise prices more frequently and more sharply, complicating efforts to bring inflation back to 2%, Bloomberg News reported. In a speech in Montreal, Deputy Governor Nicolas Vincent said that while the bank sees signs that corporate pricing behavior is gradually returning to normal, it’s still not what it was before the pandemic and progress is slow. “If recent pricing behavior settles into a new normal, it could complicate our return to low, stable and predictable inflation,” he said on Tuesday.

Traders of bank bonds are no longer penalizing UBS Group AG for Swiss risk. That’s opportune as the country’s largest lender considers a new issue of additional tier 1 notes, Bloomberg News reported. UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse in a government-brokered rescue that left investors in Credit Suisse’s AT1s with $17 billion of worthless notes, saw its risk premium soar to 450 basis points relative to non-Swiss issuers. Six months later that penalty has nearly vanished as confidence returns for AT1 notes in general, and UBS in particular.

Turkish inflation accelerated to the fastest this year as higher energy costs complicate efforts to contain domestic demand with jumbo interest-rate hikes, Bloomberg News reported. With services and food costs on the rise, the pace of annual price gains jumped to 61.5% last month from almost 59% in August, according to Turkey’s statistical office. It accelerated for a third straight month and came in line with forecasts.

Pressure is building on Beijing to intervene more forcefully to restore confidence in its reeling property market, the Wall Street Journal reported. In the latest sign of stress for the market, people with knowledge of Beijing’s decision-making said authorities are investigating whether Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire founder of heavily indebted property developer China Evergrande Group, attempted to transfer assets offshore while the company was struggling to complete unfinished projects.

Pressure is building on Beijing to intervene more forcefully to restore confidence in its reeling property market, the Wall Street Journal reported. In the latest sign of stress for the market, people with knowledge of Beijing’s decision-making said authorities are investigating whether Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire founder of heavily indebted property developer China Evergrande Group, attempted to transfer assets offshore while the company was struggling to complete unfinished projects.

The number of businesses becoming insolvent has surged by a third in the first nine months of the year but remains below pre-Covid levels, the Irish Independent reported. Insolvency levels rose by 33pc in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer. The retail and construction sectors account for the highest number of business failures, but the failure rate is highest in the arts, entertainment and hospitality sector, according to Ken Tyrrell, business recovery partner, PwC Ireland.