Headlines

More than 2,150 jobs are at risk after the UK business of struggling jewellery chain Claire's called in administrators, Reuters reported. Insolvency practitioners Interpath said on Wednesday they had been appointed joint administrators to Claire’s Accessories UK Ltd, the operator of Claire's 306 stores across the UK and Ireland. The move comes a week after its parent filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States. Headquartered in Birmingham, central England, Claire's is known for its trend-led accessories and as a destination for ear piercing.

A Rio de Janeiro court suspended the enforceability of obligations set out in Oi SA’s judicial recovery plan in Brazil, opening the way for the company to potentially seek a chapter 11 filing in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. The court’s decision prevents the imposition of any liens or claims on the troubled Brazilian telecom operator’s assets from Aug. 13 to Aug. 31, the filing reads. It also required the company to present a transition plan to ensure the continuity of its public services.

Brazilian miner Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, has received approval from a court in Minas Gerais state to exit bankruptcy protection proceedings, it said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The process allowed Samarco to reorganize more than 50 billion reais ($9.28 billion) in liabilities involving around 10,000 creditors, the statement said.

The Brazilian government on Wednesday unveiled a plan to support local exporters affected by a 50% tariff imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on several products from the South American nation, the Associated Press reported. Dubbed “Sovereign Brazil," the plan provides for a credit lifeline of 30 billion reais ($5.5 billion), among other measures. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described the plan, which includes a bill to be sent to Congress, as a first step to help local exporters.

Statistics Netherlands reports that, adjusted for court days, 299 businesses (including sole proprietorships) were declared bankrupt in July, CBS.nl reported. That was 109 fewer than in the same month in 2024, a decrease of 27 percent. The number of bankruptcies fell by 4 percent in July, relative to June. The bankruptcy rate, the number of bankruptcies per 100 thousand businesses, was 8.1 in July 2025. In July 2024, 11.3 per 100 thousand businesses were declared bankrupt. Since the start of the series in 2015, the bankruptcy rate peaked at 24.8 in March 2015.

German banks’ asset quality will come under pressure from rising corporate insolvencies in the coming months amid a challenging macroeconomic environment and persistent high interest rates, Fitch Ratings says. Fitch expects banks’ exposure to vulnerable sectors and anaemic economic growth to result in heightened credit losses in corporate and SME loan portfolios.

Pressure is mounting within the Bank of Japan to ditch a vaguely defined gauge of inflation as worries about second-round price effects prompt some board members to call for a more hawkish communication of policy and a clearer path to future rate hikes, Reuters reported. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has justified going slow on rate hikes by explaining that "underlying inflation," which focuses on the strength of domestic demand and wages, remains short of the central bank's 2% target.

Japan's annual wholesale inflation slowed for the fourth straight month in July, data showed on Wednesday, underscoring the central bank's view that upward price pressure from raw material costs will dissipate, Reuters reproted. But the wholesale prices of food and agriculture goods continued to rise in a sign of broadening price pressure that will likely keep alive market expectations of an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

China’s new yuan loans dropped unexpectedly in July, sending yet another sign of weak demand in the economy despite Beijing’s efforts to bolster domestic demand, the Wall Street Journal reported. A measure of new yuan loans shrank by 50 billion yuan last month, according to official data released Wednesday by the People’s Bank of China, suggesting that borrowers rushed to repay funds. It marked the first such decline in about 20 years.

Thailand’s central bank resumed cutting rates to help an economy beset by domestic instability and tariff headwinds, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to cut its policy rate to 1.50% from 1.75%. The committee said monetary policy should be accommodative going forward to boost the economy. “At the same time, it is important to ensure macro-financial stability, while taking into account the limited policy space,” the BOT said.