Headlines

China Vanke Co.’s top executive was taken away by police and the Chinese property giant may be assumed by state authorities, the Economic Observer reported, Bloomberg News reported. A task force sent by the local government of Shenzhen, where the state-backed developer is based, has stepped in to run the company, according to the report. Vanke may be taken over or restructured, the report added. The Observer reported separately that Vanke Chief Executive Officer Zhu Jiusheng was taken by police. Zhu didn’t respond to calls seeking comment about the report.

Donald Trump kicked off a new era of Western economic rivalry with Beijing when he took office in 2017. As he prepares for his second term, China’s dominance of global manufacturing is greater than ever, the Wall Street Journal reported. China just posted a trade surplus with the rest of the world of almost $1 trillion for 2024, according to official data released this week.

Azul and Gol, two of Brazil's largest airlines, are moving a step closer to a sweeping merger that would create a dominant carrier in Latin America's No. 1 economy, a securities filing showed on Wednesday. The union of the two companies, which follows months of talks and market speculation, would hold roughly 60% of the domestic market, far surpassing the local unit of Chile-based LATAM Airlines.

Poland’s central bank refrained from cutting interest rates for another month as policymakers’ rhetoric turned more hawkish despite a softer-than-expected inflation print in December, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Council kept its benchmark at 5.75% on Thursday — the level where it’s been since late 2023 — in line with the forecasts of all 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Inflation — at 4.7% in December — has remained above the central bank’s tolerance range for six months and policymakers are concerned it will stay elevated in the quarters ahead.

The U.K. economy returned to growth in November, but that is unlikely to mark the start of a recovery that will be strong enough to ease concerns about the government’s ability to tame its rising debts, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Office for National Statistics Thursday said gross domestic product was 0.1% higher in November than it was in October, a weaker outcome than the 0.2% rise expected by economists. That marked a modest return to expansion after small declines in output during the two previous months.

Brazil’s economic activity barely grew on the month in November as central bankers try to tame consumer demand by raising interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank’s economic activity index, a proxy for gross domestic product, ticked up 0.1% from the month prior, slightly above the forecast for no change from economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year before, the gauge grew 4.11%, according to a report published Thursday. The bank also revised October’s monthly growth to 0.09% from 0.14% before.

Argentina’s central bank said payment intermediaries will have to enable debit card transactions in US currency by Feb. 28, marking a key step in President Javier Milei’s pledge to dollarize the economy, Bloomberg News reported. The bank also developed a program to allow people to make installed payments in either dollars or pesos. The move aims to “bolster currency competition in order to allow people and businesses to use the currency they wish in their daily transactions,” according to a central bank statement on Thursday.

Global unemployment remained steady last year at an historical low of 5%, where it is set to stay in 2025, the International Labour Organization said in a report on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Russian consumer prices grew by 9.52% last year compared to 7.42% in 2023, final statistical data showed on Wednesday, making the 2024 inflation rate the fourth highest in the last 15 years, Reuters reported. Russian consumer price growth exceeded 10% in 2022, the year Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, and during the economic crisis of 2014-15, following the annexation of Crimea. Inflation has become a major headache in Russia's overheated economy, where growth is fuelled by the state's military spending.

Brazilian airline Gol released a revised five-year strategic plan on Wednesday as it prepares to exit chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, saying that the new forecasts would serve as a base for its reorganization, Reuters reported. Gol said in a securities filing that it expects to emerge from chapter 11 in May, and sees its net leverage "substantially improving" going forward as it rebuilds its network and returns to "normal levels" of core earnings by next year.