Headlines

Turkey’s central bank asked some local lenders this week to step in and buy the country’s dollar bonds, which have fallen since the first round of the presidential elections, Bloomberg reported. Some of the country’s banks reportedly were called by officials on Monday and asked to buy the nation’s dollar bonds across multiple maturities in secondary markets. The move was aimed at keeping borrowing costs stable and also preventing a spike in credit-default swaps — a measure of protection against potential credit events, such as default. The lenders were not given purchase targets.

World stocks dropped on Wednesday as U.S. debt ceiling talks dragged on without resolution, stoking a general malaise in markets that saw safe-haven assets such as the dollar hold around recent highs, Reuters reported. But crude oil prices bucked the downtrend and kept rising, after a warning from the Saudi energy minister to speculators that raised the prospect of further OPEC+ output cuts. Negotiators for Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy met again on Wednesday to end an impasse in talks.

Lawmakers in Japan have decided to enforce stricter Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures to trace cryptocurrency transactions from June 1, CoinTelegraph reported. On May 23, the Japanese parliament made the decision to roll out tougher AML procedures from next month, according to a report the same day from local media outlet Kyodo News. The move aims to bring Japan’s legal framework in line with global crypto regulations. Lawmakers revised the AML legislation in December after it was deemed insufficient by the international financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Argentina’s government will tighten access to the foreign exchange market for oil companies that need to import amid a severe shortage of dollars, according to people with direct knowledge, Bloomberg reported. Central Bank President Miguel Pesce, Energy Secretary Flavia Royon and other officials informed oil company executives Wednesday morning that they will be required to finance import payments for 90 days. The policymakers met with executives of Raizen, Axion, YPF and Trafigura at the monetary authority to discuss the changes.

The Mexican peso staged a strong rebound from its recent lows on Wednesday after inflation data spurred expectations that monetary policy would need to stay tight, while the Brazilian real rose to a one-week high, Reuters reported. The peso, the best performing currency in Latin America this year, was up 0.8% against the dollar, snapping a six-day losing streak. Data showed consumer prices in Mexico fell more than expected in the first half of May, with 12-month headline inflation reaching 6.00% — the lowest level since September 2021.

A higher court in Montenegro on Wednesday scrapped bail of 800,000 euros ($880,640) previously granted to Do Kwon, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur charged in the U.S. with a multibillion-dollar fraud, and his ally pending a trial, Reuters reported. Do Kwon, a South Korean national, is the former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD that collapsed in May 2022, roiling cryptocurrency markets.

As it marked its 25th anniversary Wednesday, the European Central Bank is readying a proposed design for a digital version of the euro, responding to pressure from developing technology that could change how money is used over the bank’s next decades, the Associated Press reported. ECB President Christine Lagarde says a digital euro could offer a way for people to buy things without depending on payment service providers controlled by non-European companies. Those could include Mastercard, Visa, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Bankrupt rocket company Virgin Orbit is shutting down after selling its facility leases and equipment to a trio of aerospace companies in an auction, the company confirmed on Tuesday, CNBC reported. “As Virgin Orbit embarks on this path, the management and employees would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders,” the company said in a statement. Spun out of Virgin Galactic  in 2017 by founder Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit reached rarefied air by flying multiple missions.

Business sentiment at big Japanese manufacturers turned positive for the first time this year and service-sector morale hit a five-month high, the Reuters Tankan poll showed, as the economy continued to improve from a COVID-led recession, Reuters reported. Wednesday's monthly poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly tankan survey, found that manufacturers are also upbeat about the coming three months, while service-sector morale was seen down a tad.

In the seven years that it has been around, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature bankruptcy reform has failed to live up to its billing, according to an analysis in the Washington Post. The 2016 insolvency law was crafted when the country was just starting to tackle what would eventually rank among the worst piles of bad loans anywhere in the world: a $200 billion-plus menace. With banks garnering bumper profits in the post-pandemic high interest-rate environment, that baggage is now much lighter, and the urgency to deal with it is lower. It shouldn’t be.