Headlines

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, has hired law firm White & Case to protect its interests in the pending Citgo Petroleum sale as the country girds for a debt restructuring, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday authorized Venezuela and PdVSA to hire advisers to help execute what is considered one of the largest and most complex sovereign-debt restructurings in history.

A judge at the Tel Aviv District Court has granted a request by AnyClip to freeze legal proceedings against the company and signaled support for the appointment of a temporary trustee, CalcalisTech.com reported. The court instructed the Insolvency Commissioner to submit, within three days, a list of candidates for the role, individuals with proven experience in selling the assets and operations of technology companies, and the ability to work with creditors and potential buyers globally.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose to a six-month high in April to 6.9 per cent as the economy lost a net 17,700 jobs, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday, indicating continued weakness in a labor market that has struggled in the face of U.S. tariffs and trade uncertainty, Reuters reported. The Bank of Canada said in its Monetary Policy Report last month that indicators such as the employment rate, hours worked and job vacancies suggest there is slack, or underutilized capacity, in the labor market, although layoffs remain modest.

A recent report from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute has raised alarm bells over the growing incidents of fraud against Canadian seniors, according to a commentary in BNNBloomberg. Canadians reported being scammed out of more than a record $704 million last year following another record $645 million in 2024, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Since 2022, reported losses have topped $2.4 billion. Angus Reid notes the real figure is much higher because only five to ten per cent of fraud cases are believed to be reported to authorities.

Eurozone retail sales slipped in March as the war in Iran drove fuel prices higher, while falling consumer sentiment points to a broader weakening of demand in the sector over coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Volumes were down 0.1% on month compared with a 0.3% decline in February, the European Union’s statistics agency said Thursday. The unexpected decline was driven by the largest fall in automotive-fuel sales since August 2023, as the outbreak of war in Iran sent petrol and diesel prices sky-rocketing across the eurozone.

German industrial production retreated in March, as the start of the conflict in the Middle East sent energy prices climbing, a setback for any recovery for manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Germany’s industrial sector had been expected to rebound in 2026, after a downturn that stretches back into the last decade. Pandemic-era supply issues were exacerbated by the pivot away from cheap Russian gas, increased competition from China for German goods, and an expensive green-energy transition.

The U.S. trade court on Thursday ruled against U.S. President Donald Trump's latest 10% global tariffs, finding they were not justified under a 1970s trade law. However, the court only blocked the levy on two small businesses and the state of ​Washington, Reuters reported. The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled in favor of the two businesses and Washington ‌state ‌that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on Feb. 24. The ruling ​was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs.

Australia's corporate regulator has urged the country's financial sector to take urgent action on tackling potential cyber risks from frontier AI systems such as Mythos, Reuters reported. The Australian Securities and ‌Investments Commission on Friday published a letter sent to the financial services industry saying greater action needed to ‌be taken to ensure cybersecurity practices were as strong as possible.

Australia's financial intelligence unit AUSTRAC has launched two targeted supervisory campaigns into the country's virtual assets sector as landmark anti-money laundering reforms take effect, Decrypt.com reported. "AUSTRAC is checking how well crypto businesses in Australia are managing money-laundering risks, ahead of major new laws coming into force," said the regulator’s Chief Executive Officer Brendan Thomas in a statement. AUSTRAC is conducting two distinct supervisory campaigns targeting crypto businesses across Australia.

Japanese authorities likely refrained from intervening in the currency market on Thursday, the first business day of this week, after multiple apparent actions during the long holiday weekend, according to a Bloomberg analysis of central bank accounts. The latest figures come as analysts try to gauge the scale of the latest salvo of yen buying and compare it with a similar campaign of intervention in 2024.