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The Reserve Bank of India's central bank-backed digital rupee was used to settle secondary market transactions in Indian government bonds worth 2.75 billion Indian rupees ($33.29 million) as part of a pilot, data on Tuesday showed, Reuters reported. Trades in a total of three securities –– five-year 7.38% 2027 former benchmark 6.54% 2032 and the current benchmark 7.26% 2032 bonds –– were settled under the new route, data as of 4 p.m. IST (1030 GMT) showed. "Since this was the first day, some deals only in liquid bonds were settled using CBDC," a trader with a state-run bank said.

Inflation hit a new record in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, fueled by out-of-control prices for natural gas and electricity due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Economic growth also slowed ahead of what economists fear is a looming recession, largely as a result of those higher prices sapping Europeans’ ability to spend, the Associated Press reported. Annual inflation reached 10.7% in October, the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, reported Monday. That is up from 9.9% in September and the highest since statistics began to be compiled for the eurozone in 1997.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the peak of the current cycle of interest-rate increases must ensure that inflation returns to the 2% target over the medium term, Bloomberg News reported. Without specifying a level for the so-called terminal rate, Lagarde said borrowing costs have further to rise following last week’s second straight 75 basis-point hike. “The destination is clear, and we haven’t reached it yet,” she told the Latvian website Delfi Bizness in an interview published Tuesday.

U.K. house prices fell the most since the start of the pandemic in October as political and market turmoil sent shock waves through the property market, Bloomberg News reported. The figures add to evidence that the property market is now in the grip of a downturn, with experts predicting values could fall by more than 10%. That would erase some of the gains made over the last two years. “The market has undoubtedly been impacted by the turmoil following the mini-budget, which led to a sharp rise in market interest rates,” said Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide.

The head of Australia's central bank on Tuesday said further increases in interest rates would likely be needed to tame inflation, and it was ready to go faster on hikes or to pause for a time if necessary, Reuters reported. In a speech in Tasmania, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said the policy making board was aware that rates had risen sharply in a short period of time and this was combining with high inflation to pressure household budgets.

High-yield corporate bonds in Southeast Asia suffered their biggest monthly blow in more than two years in October, as recession risks and higher rates put pressure on their finances, Bloomberg News reported. The Bloomberg index for the region’s junk corporate dollar debt are set to have lost 6% in October, underperforming a gauge that includes both investment and speculative-grade bonds in the region. That’s the biggest monthly drop in returns since March 2020, if the losses through Oct. 28 hold.

Stellantis said that shareholders of its loss-making joint venture producing Jeep vehicles in China have approved it to file for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The European carmaker said in a statement it had fully impaired the value of its investment in the venture in its results for the fist half of 2022, adding that it will continue to provide services to existing and future Jeep brand customers in China. Stellantis had terminated the joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (GAC) in July, only months after it said it would raise its stake in the business to 75% from 50%.

Argo Blockchain's (ARB) said a deal to raise 24 million British pounds ($27 million) from a strategic investor has fallen through, sending the bitcoin mining company's shares tumbling as much as 72%, CoinDesk.com reported. The London-based firm, which earlier this month signed a letter of intent to sell 87 million shares to the investor as it looked to ease liquidity pressures, didn't say why the agreement had been called off. It is working to secure other deals to provide working capital for the next 12 months.

The annual rate of consumer-price inflation in the eurozone increased to double digits in October, reaching a record and highlighting the challenges facing the European Central Bank after it signaled a coming slowdown in the pace of its rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. The broad measure of consumer prices has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s decision to throttle natural gas supplies to Europe to undermine Western support for Kyiv. By mid-September, Russia had cut its supplies by 80% of their year-earlier total.

Some euro zone countries have eased rules for the banks that manage the trading of their government debt to help them cope with some of the most challenging market conditions in years, officials told Reuters. Out of 11 major euro area debt agencies Reuters contacted, officials in the Netherlands and Belgium told Reuters they have loosened various market-making obligations dictating how actively these banks should trade their debt. France, Spain and Finland said their rules are already structured to automatically take account of market tensions.