Headlines

China’s export growth weakened in September as global consumer demand cooled while imports rebounded from a contraction after Chinese economic growth improved, the Associated Press reported. Exports rose 5.7% over a year earlier to $322.8 billion, down from August’s 7% growth, official data showed Monday. Imports gained 0.3% to $238 billion, recovering from the previous month’s 0.2% contraction.

Fresh economic data points to a slowdown in global growth, as higher prices and interest rates weigh on consumer demand, Europe enters a critical phase of its economic conflict with Russia, and China faces headwinds, the Wall Street Journal reported. With German factories making the biggest output cuts since the early part of the pandemic due to soaring costs, European business activity fell again in October, according to new surveys. Europe is grappling with the fallout from Russia’s decision to throttle energy supplies in response to sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

South Korean assets rallied on Monday after the government pledged at least 50 trillion won ($34.8 billion) to prop up credit markets, easing concerns about rising default risks in key sectors including real estate, Bloomberg News reported. The Kospi index advanced as much as 2%, with shares of brokerages and builders such as Kiwoom Securities Co., Meritz Securities Co. and Dongbu Corp. notching up gains. Government bonds rose across the curve while the won jumped as much as 0.8% against the dollar before paring its rise.

Japan's economic revitalisation minister stepped down on Monday after growing criticism of his failure to fully explain his ties to a church group that critics say is akin to a cult, a move that will be a blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Reuters reported. Daishiro Yamagiwa, the first person to resign from Kishida's government since he took power last year, became the highest profile political casualty thus far from a widening scandal sparked by the July killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Ukraine's economy is expected to shrink by 30% this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Monday, as Russia's invasion enters its ninth month, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, the economy ministry said the economy had shrunk by an estimated 30% in the first three quarters of this year compared to the same period in 2021. Svyrydenko also told a Ukraine-Germany business conference that inflation and unemployment were both seen at 30% this year. Read more.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) said on Monday it would reshape its ownership structure and also create a blockchain platform to allow more trading of crypto currencies in an effort to match international standards, Reuters reported. TASE, which went public in 2019, said it would create a new publicly traded holding company that will own 100% of the bourse, which will become a private firm. Subsidiaries of the exchange will be units of the new holding company. It said its board had given the nod to the plan but approval from the regulator and TASE shareholders were still awaited.

European Union leaders struggled to find immediate practical solutions on how to deal with an energy crisis but avoided an open rift between Germany and France on Friday that would have exposed a divided bloc as it confronts Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. After daylong talks in Brussels dragged well into early Friday, the 27 EU leaders papered over divisions between some of the biggest member states and at least agreed to continue working on ways to impose a natural gas price cap in case of volatility.

The German parliament on Friday cleared the way for the government to provide up to 200 billion euros ($195 billion) in subsidies to households and businesses to ease the strain of high energy prices, a plan that has been greeted with suspicion elsewhere in Europe, the Associated Press reported. Lawmakers agreed to let a government economic stabilization fund borrow the money and approved an exemption from a rule that imposes severe limits on running up new debt.

British government debt rose to the highest level in almost 60 years last month and retail sales slumped, underscoring the scale of the economic challenges facing whoever replaces Prime Minister Liz Truss after her administration imploded under the weight of its failed financial plan, the Associated Press reported. Public borrowing rose to 98% of economic output in September as rampant inflation increased interest payments on what the government owed, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.

The Japanese yen made a thumping 4 yen jump for a second straight session on Monday on suspected early intervention by the Bank of Japan, but struggled to hold its gains against a robust U.S. dollar, Reuters reported. The yen hit a low of 149.70 per dollar in early deals before being swept to a high of 145.28 within minutes in a move that suggested the BOJ had stepped in for a second successive day. The currency, however, dropped back to near 148 soon.