Headlines

Austrian anti-corruption and economic crime prosecutors have wrapped up their initial investigation into the collapse of the Signa property empire and filed a report so that a decision on potential prosecutions can be made, they said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. In a statement, they said there were four new strands, including an investigation into Signa founder Rene Benko and persons unknown on suspicion of favourable treatment to a creditor over a roughly 15 million euro ($17.4 million) repayment relating to a loan to Signa Prime at a time when that Signa unit was insolvent.

Bento shops have been hit hard by inflation and a weak economy as stagflation takes hold in Japan and makes business difficult for even the most humble of establishments, the Japan Times reported. According to Teikoku Databank, 22 bento shops went bankrupt from January to May, compared to 21 in the same period last year. Bentos — set lunches normally served in box-like containers — are popular in Japan with students, workers and businesspeople on the go and others looking for a quick and cheap meal. They are available at supermarkets, convenience stores and dedicated bento shops.

The conflict in the Middle East increases the risk that businesses and households in the U.K. will expect the rate of inflation to remain high, and raise their prices and wage demands, a policymaker at the Bank of England said Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. While U.S. President Trump announced a cease-fire on Monday evening, it is unclear whether the conflict between Israel, Iran and the U.S. will soon be resolved. While it continues, there is a risk that energy prices will surge again.

The Bank for International Settlements issued its starkest warning yet on the risks posed by stablecoins and urged countries to move rapidly towards the tokenisation of their currencies, Reuters reported. The BIS, often dubbed the central bankers’ central bank, outlined its concerns, including stablecoins' potential to undermine monetary sovereignty, transparency issues and the risk of capital flight from emerging economies. It comes less than a week after the U.S.

Turkey is taking steps to prevent the laundering of criminal proceeds from illegal betting and fraud through cryptocurrency transactions, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. On his X account, he reposted an article by state-owned Anadolu news agency saying Turkey was preparing to introduce transfer limits and mandatory waiting periods for withdrawals on crypto assets.

Almost a third of the eurozone’s goods trade surplus with the U.S. is accounted for by sales of products manufactured by the affiliates of American businesses, which also account for most of the eurozone’s deficit in the trade in services, the European Central Bank said Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. In its latest Economic Bulletin, economists at the central bank said that should the activities carried out by those affiliates be moved back to the U.S. in response to higher tariffs or changes to U.S.

Thailand’s central bank makes its rate decision on Wednesday against a tense backdrop marked by political tension at home and uncertainty abroad, the Wall Street Journal reported. The exit of the second-largest party in Thailand’s ruling coalition has left Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party hanging by a thread, amid calls for her resignation, analysts say. “Political uncertainty now casts a pall on an already weak economy,” Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Securities said in a note, adding that it exacerbates the threat posed by ongoing tariff-related tensions.

China's auto industry has inflated car sales for years through a burgeoning government-backed grey market that registers new cars right off the assembly line and then ships them overseas as "used" vehicles, Reuters reported.

Brazil's central bank said on Tuesday that much of the impact from its "particularly quick and very firm" tightening cycle is yet to be felt, which is why it now foresees a pause in interest rate increases to assess those effects, Reuters reported. In the minutes of last week's decision, when the monetary policy committee Copom raised rates by 25 basis points to 15% and signaled a "very prolonged" pause ahead, the central bank also stressed that it will still assess whether the current rate is appropriate to bring inflation back to target.

Mexico's headline inflation rose in line with expectations in the first half of June, reinforcing expectations that the central bank should continue to steadily bring down interest rates in Latin America's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. Mexican consumer prices rose 0.10% during the first half of June, data from the national statistics agency showed on Tuesday, in line with the 0.11% increase projected by economists in a Reuters poll. The closely watched core price index, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, climbed 0.22% in early June compared to the prior month.