Headlines

Wejo, a Manchester, England-based company that deals in connected vehicle data, has filed a notice of intention to enter administration to save it from liquidation, InsideRadio.com reported. The company, whose largest shareholder is General Motors Ventures, says it does not expect the move to impact its operations or business, according to BusinessLive. Wejo has been supplying connected car data to at least one U.S. broadcaster and has been working on signing others as clients.

Ireland's High Court on Wednesday ordered the winding up of two sanctions-hit state-owned Russian leasing firms based in Ireland after a group of creditors said the companies had no prospect of clawing back an almost $1.6 billion net deficit, Reuters reported. GTLK Europe DAC and GTLK Europe Capital DAC, whose main business is aircraft leasing, had sought to prevent the appointment of liquidators by applying for court protection from creditors, citing a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin to relieve $1.5 billion of debt.

Hong Kong kicked off a new crypto regulatory regime in a bid to nurture a digital-asset hub, a pivot that’s stirred interest but has yet to win big investment pledges from an industry chastened by a market rout last year, Bloomberg News reported. The rules apply from Thursday and let crypto exchanges offer trading services to individuals and institutions if they secure and comply with licenses designed to shield investors from the risky practices exposed in the 2022 crash.

Inflation in the eurozone declined to a 15-month low in May, opening a window for the European Central Bank to pause its aggressive interest-rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. The data is unlikely to deter the ECB from increasing rates by another quarter percentage point at its June 15 policy meeting, but it could tee up a pause over the summer. Major central banks including the Federal Reserve are trying to judge if and when to halt rate increases as inflation declines and economic growth slows.

Brazil’s economy roared back in the first months of 2023, lifted by bumper harvests that outweighed the drag of double-digit borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released on Thursday showed gross domestic product expanded 1.9% in the January-March period from the previous quarter, much more than the 1.2% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. From a year ago, the economy grew 4%. A rebound in Brazil’s agriculture and a strong labor market helped deliver far better results than economists had forecast at the start of 2023, though few see it lasting.

Chile’s economic activity remained flat in April, stoking bets that the central bank will start to lower the benchmark interest rate from an over two-decade high as early as July. Swap rates tumbled. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, was unchanged on the month, below the 0.1% median estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. From a year prior, it decreased 1.1%, the central bank reported on Thursday. Chile’s central bank has stuck to its hawkish stance, emphasizing that headline and core inflation remain well above its 3% target even as the economy stagnates.

Peru's inflation rate based on the metropolitan region of the capital Lima fell to 0.32% in May, government data showed on Thursday, but the rate of creeping consumer prices still came in above the 0.25% estimated by a Reuters poll. The slight uptick for inflation in May slowed from 0.56% in April, while inflation in the last 12 months reached 7.89%. Peru's central bank, as well as many economic analysts, use the metro Lima inflation rate as an accurate reference for prices nationwide.

The Irish High Court will decide on Wednesday to either wind up or appoint an examiner to two Russian State-owned aircraft and shipping leasing firms – GTLK Europe DAC and GTLK Europe Captial DAC – which are registered in Ireland, the Independent reported. Mr Justice Conor Dignam said that he would give his decision after considering petitions from several creditors of the company to have the two firms wound up, in what would be among the largest liquidations in the history of the State.

China's factory activity shrank faster than expected in May on weakening demand, heaping pressure on policymakers to shore up a patchy economic recovery and knocking Asian financial markets lower, Reuters reported. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a five-month low of 48.8, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday, down from 49.2 in April and below the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction. The PMI also dashed forecasts for an increase to 49.4.

The Canadian economy started off strong in the second quarter, extending a streak of better-than-expected growth and boosting the likelihood of another Bank of Canada rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. Preliminary data suggest gross domestic product rose 0.2% in April, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa, led by mining, oil and gas, transportation and real estate. That followed a flat reading in the previous month, exceeding expectations for a 0.1% contraction in a Bloomberg survey of economists.