Headlines

A downturn in Canadian housing starts helped push wholesale distributor Coast Appliances into court-ordered protection to fend off insolvency, and economic forecasts cloud the likelihood that the business will emerge from the process intact, the Vancouver Sun reported. The large Vancouver-based distributor of home and kitchen appliances filed for protection from its creditors citing rising inflation, poor consumer confidence, and a downturn in new housing starts, a core market for the company’s sales. On April 17, B.C.

Indonesia’s central bank held interest rates steady again, as the war in the Middle East casts a shadow over the Southeast Asian country’s economic outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. Like its peers, Bank Indonesia is grappling with the economic fallout from the war, which has roiled energy markets, raised inflation risks and pressured the oil-sensitive rupiah. On Wednesday, the Indonesian central bank opted to leave its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 4.75%, extending a pause stretching back to its last cut September.

Private credit risks a crunch akin to the squeeze suffered by the banking sector in the wake of the financial crisis, the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said, while playing down the prospect of wider contagion, Bloomberg News reported. Breeden said on Wednesday that there is a risk of a leverage “layer cake” and a loss of confidence due to the market’s opacity. Read more. (Subscription required.)

U.K. inflation climbed in March as the war in the Middle East drove up energy prices, although it is unlikely to prompt the Bank of England to raise its key interest rate at next week’s meeting of policymakers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The annual rate of inflation rose to 3.3% last month from 3.0% in February, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Wednesday, the highest level since December.

After securing a majority government in Canada last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney faces his biggest challenge: redefining trade with the U.S. under President Donald Trump, Reuters reported. Canada, the U.S. and Mexico must agree by July 1 ​to keep the deal as is, insulating most Canadian goods from U.S. tariffs, renegotiate it, or hold annual reviews until its 2036 expiry. Carney, under U.S. pressure for concessions, will push ‌for a revised deal this year that addresses tariffs against Canadian steel, aluminum and autos.

The European Union proposed measures such as optimizing jet fuel distribution and cutting energy taxes to navigate the Iran war-driven crisis that it said could reverberate for years, Bloomberg News reported. “AccelerateEU” — announced by the European Commission on Wednesday — gives member states the tools to curb energy prices and address potential fuel shortages, without undermining the bloc’s climate ambitions or triggering damaging competition between nations. A longer-term objective is to electrify the economy to get rid of dependencies and avert future fossil fuel shocks.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz opens again, energy executives and analysts say the industry will no longer be able to count on it as it used to. For the strait, there is no going back to normal, the New York Times reported. Countries across the region are exploring building, expanding or rehabilitating infrastructure that would bypass the strait. And nations that import fuel from the region are racing to secure oil and gas from elsewhere, putting conservation measures in place and turning to alternatives like coal. Those strategies are likely to shift over time.

Europe’s executive arm has outlined a fourth deal to shield its banks from the full force of new capital rules so major lenders like BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank won’t be at a disadvantage to rivals in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. The European Commission said in a press release on Wednesday it would consult on a draft delegated act that would allow lenders to neutralize the negative capital impact of the FRTB for a period of three years.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Wednesday swooped on eight London addresses suspected ‌of illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading in its first ‌such operation with other agencies, the financial regulator said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Working ​with tax officials and police under money laundering and terrorist financing regulations, the FCA said it had issued cease and desist letters at each site. "Evidence obtained during the ‌on-site inspections is supporting ⁠a number of ongoing criminal investigations," the FCA said in a statement.

Russia's State Duma passed a comprehensive crypto regulation bill in its first reading, establishing the country's first formal framework for digital asset regulation while maintaining restrictions on domestic cryptocurrency payments, Decrypt.com reported. Per reports in local media, the legislation would classify cryptocurrency as property, enabling legal protection in court proceedings including bankruptcy and divorce cases. Non-qualified investors would face annual purchase limits of 300,000 rubles (around $3,900), while professional participants would encounter no such restrictions.