Headlines

Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, unexpectedly shrank in the three-month period from July to September, as a weak yen and high inflation eroded Japanese consumers’ buying power and sapped businesses’ strength, the New York Times reported. The economy contracted at an annualized rate of 1.2 percent during the third quarter, government data showed on Tuesday, ending nine months of growth and setting back the country’s recovery just as Japan was adjusting to life with looser coronavirus restrictions.

Chinese consumer spending contracted in October and factory activity weakened as anti-virus controls following a rise in infections weighed on the economy, the Associated Press reported. Retail sales sank 0.5% compared with a year ago, down from September’s 2.5% expansion, as millions of people were confined to their homes, government data showed Tuesday. Growth in factory output decelerated to 5% from the previous month’s 6.3%. The performance was even weaker than expected by forecasters who said activity would cool as Chinese anti-virus controls and interest rate hikes by the U.S.

Russia will allow Belarus to postpone debt payments totalling $1.4 billion for 10 years, while also setting a fixed interest rate, according to draft laws approved by Russian lower house of parliament, or Duma, on Tuesday, Reuters reported. At the start of the year, Belarus has asked Russia to restructure and refinance Minsk's 2022 debt obligations and Moscow would move all payments, redemptions and debt servicing due between March 2022 and April 2023 to 2028-2033, Timur Maksimov, Russian deputy finance minister, told Duma.

Peru's economy expanded by 1.66% in September compared with the same month a year earlier, figures from the national statistics institute (INEI) showed on Tuesday, a slight dip from an increase of 1.68% in August, Reuters reported. INEI said growth in the world's No. 2 copper producer was driven by most sectors of the economy in September, pointing to gains in construction, transportation, hotels and restaurants, commerce, agriculture, power utilities and other services.

Customers pulled funds from Crypto.com over the weekend after the company’s chief executive said the cryptocurrency exchange mishandled a roughly $400 million transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported. Crypto.com Chief Executive Kris Marszalek said on Twitter that the transfer was sent to the wrong type of account on another exchange. The transfer of a large chunk of ether, a popular cryptocurrency, took place on Oct. 21, but came to light after Twitter users flagged the transfer as unusual, based on publicly available blockchain transaction records.

Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao said the cryptocurrency exchange plans to launch a fund to help crypto projects facing a liquidity crisis as the collapse of rival FTX ricochets through the industry, Reuters reported. The recovery fund will help "reduce further cascading negative effects of FTX," Zhao said in a tweet on Monday, targeting projects that are "otherwise strong, but in a liquidity crisis". Binance, which abandoned a mooted rescue of FTX, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the size of the planned fund.

Joules Group Plc is set to file for insolvency after the British retailer failed to secure bridge financing or raise equity, putting around 1,600 jobs at risk, Bloomberg News reported. The clothing chain, known for its colorful coats and Wellington boots, said it will appoint Interpath Advisory as administrators to protect the interest of creditors. Shares have been suspended. Joules warned last week that it would struggle to repay a £5 million ($5.9 million) loan due at the end of this month amid weaker-than-expected sales and reduced cash flow.

The French government, which plans to retake full ownership of Electricite de France SA, has no plan to subsequently dismantle the utility after the €9.7 billion ($10 billion) buyout, according to the Finance Ministry, Bloomberg News reported. The state, which already owns 84% of the nuclear giant, wants the company to keep growing its output of renewable energy alongside building new nuclear plants, Finance Ministry officials said at a press briefing on Monday. Earlier, a lawmaker had said the government was still pursuing a project to spin off minority stakes in some of EDF’s activities.

Germany will nationalise gas importer Sefe, formerly known as Gazprom Germania, the economy ministry said on Monday, in a move to protect it from bankruptcy and force Russia out of the company, Reuters reported. Sefe was dropped by Russia's Gazprom earlier this year and put under German state trusteeship. It has since received close to 10 billion euros ($10.31 billion) in state-backed credit lines.