Headlines

Canada Jetlines has announced an immediate halt to all flights and the temporary suspension of its operations due to a lack of necessary financing, Proactive Investors reported. The airline plans to file for creditor protection and has advised passengers with existing bookings to seek refunds through their credit card companies. The news comes following the recent resignation of four key executives, including CEO Brigitte Goersch.

China's factory output slowed for a third straight month in July, showing that the recovery in the world's second-largest economy was losing steam, although the battered consumer sector perked up slightly as stimulus targeting households took effect, Reuters reported. A mixed batch of data on Thursday pointed to a patchy start to the second half for the $19 trillion economy and gave policymakers continued cause for concern following dismal export, prices and bank lending indicators earlier this month.

Former Montreal Canadiens player Steve Bégin announced Thursday that he must declare bankruptcy, the Montréal Gazette reported. The 46-year-old former hockey player confirmed the news in a Facebook post. “The civil engineering company in which I had been offered to invest significant sums of money since 2013 went bankrupt, which had negative repercussions on my financial situation and consequently also caused a bankruptcy. I could have tried to avoid the subject, but I chose to talk about it openly, because I believe there are lessons to be learned,” he wrote.

Japan's economy expanded by a much faster-than-expected annualized 3.1% in the second quarter, rebounding from a slump at the start of the year thanks to a strong rise in consumption and backing the case for another near-term interest rate hike, Reuters reported. The Bank of Japan had forecast that a solid economic recovery will help inflation sustainably hit its 2% target, and justify raising interest rates further after it hiked them last month in its continued quest to exit years of massive monetary stimulus.

Toronto-based Sampler has filed for bankruptcy, BetaKit reported. The digital product-sampling startup filed an assignment of bankruptcy on June 27 and held its first meeting of creditors on July 22, according to documents BetaKit obtained from Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. At the date of filing, Sampler had total liabilities of $12.9 million and total assets of more than $300,000. Sampler matches packaged goods companies with consumers who receive packages of free samples by mail.

Defense company Paramount filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. after suffering defeat in a long-running business dispute, Bloomberg reported. The United Arab Emirates-based company, founded by Ivor Ichikowitz in South Africa, filed for chapter 11 Thursday in Delaware. It listed assets of between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in its bankruptcy petition.

Britain's economy recorded a second quarter of strong growth as it recovered from last year's shallow recession but it lost momentum as it entered the second half of 2024, suggesting the Bank of England remains on course to cut interest rates again, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024 after a 0.7% expansion in the first quarter which was the fastest in more than two years, the Office for National Statistics said.

Despite all its recent freight growth and international expansion plans, Ukrainian Railways now finds itself in a problematic situation, railtech.com reported. The Ukrainian operator says that it is facing potential bankruptcy, after a number of companies have succeeded in annulling a 2021 rail tariff hike via a Kyiv court. Ukrainian Railways announces that it is now in troubled waters, according to a post on its Telegram channel. “Private companies using the courts are trying to reduce tariffs for themselves, which will cause the bankruptcy and shutdown of Ukrainian Railways,” it says.

While bankruptcy applications in Singapore were at an 18-year high in 2023, actual bankruptcy orders, and corporate insolvencies, were lower than the application numbers, and also below pre-COVID levels, Yahoo Finance reported. This was noted in a reply by Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member, in Parliament. There were 3,986 bankruptcy applications made by individuals or their creditors over unpaid debts of more than S$15,000 in 2023.

The euro inched toward its highest level against the dollar this year, amid anticipation the Federal Reserve will cut interest-rates by more than the European Central Bank in the coming months, Bloomberg reported. The single currency rose as much as 0.3% to $1.1029, the strongest level since Jan. 2, as markets awaited U.S. inflation data for further evidence the Fed will likely begin easing policy next month. Money markets are currently pricing over 100 basis points of cuts in the US by December, compared to 70 basis points in the euro area.