Headlines

Chinese firms for years were among the most aggressive buyers of U.S. luxury hotels, office towers and other commercial real estate. Now they are running for the exits, the Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese companies have sold a net $23.6 billion of U.S. commercial properties since the start of 2019, according to data provider MSCI Real Assets. That marks a dramatic turnaround. Between 2013 and 2018, Chinese firms were net buyers of nearly $52 billion of U.S. commercial properties, according to MSCI. Buyers from China snapped up aging U.S.

Inflation in Canada remains "too high" but is headed in the right direction, a Bank of Canada official said on Tuesday, adding that the central bank will do whatever is needed to bring price increases back to target, Reuters reported. Deputy Governor Paul Beaudry, speaking to university students in Waterloo, Ontario, said while some have suggested a recession might be needed to tame climbing prices, the central bank believed it could lower the risk of a hard landing by clearly communicating its intentions. "In August, inflation stood at 7%.

The Central Bank of Bahrain said on Wednesday it raised its key policy interest rate on its one-week deposit facility by 75 basis points (bps) to 4%, moving in parallel with the U.S. Federal Reserve's hike as the Bahraini dinar is pegged to the dollar, Reuters reported. CBB also hiked by 75 bps the overnight deposit rate to 3.75%, the four-week deposit rate to 4.75% and the lending rate to 5.25%. Read more.

The Bank of Italy has cleared a multi-billion euro buyout bid for infrastructure group Atlantia proposed by the Benetton family and U.S. fund Blackstone, the two bidders said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Benetton family and the U.S. fund, who have joined forces through investment vehicle Schema Alfa, aim to take the Italian airport and motorway operator private by the end of this year. They are offering Atlantia's investors 23 euros per share and a proposed dividend of 0.74 euros a share.

Qatar's central bank said on Wednesday it will raise its interest rates by 75 basis points as of Thursday, moving in parallel with the U.S. Federal Reserve's third straight hike of that size, Reuters reported. The central bank increased its lending rate to 4.5%, the deposit rate to 3.75% and the repo rate to 4.0%, the central bank said in a statement. Read more.

An insurance company that was ordered to pay more than a billion dirhams in damages for a 2015 New Year’s Eve fire in Dubai has lost a civil lawsuit that it filed to try and recover the money, the Associated Press reported. Two years after the massive fire rocked the Address Downtown hotel, Orient Insurance was ordered to pay Dubai’s state-backed developer Emaar 1.25 billion dirhams (more than $340 million) in a settlement. Emaar is behind projects like the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa.

Hakle has been a German household name since 1928, but the Duesseldorf-based toilet paper manufacturer said all it took was this summer's gas price shock to drive it into insolvency, Reuters reported. Energy-intensive firms such as Hakle were particularly vulnerable after Russian gas supply cuts to Europe, which Moscow has blamed on Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in February.

The German government is planning to inject about 8 billion euros ($8 billion) into Uniper SE as part of a historic agreement to nationalize the gas giant in a push to stave off a collapse of the country’s energy sector, Bloomberg News reported. A provisional deal between Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration, Uniper and its main shareholder, Finland’s Fortum Oyj, has been reached and could be announced as soon as Wednesday. As part of the deal, Germany will buy Fortum’s 78% stake in Uniper and take full ownership of the German company.

High energy prices are lashing European industry, forcing factories to cut production quickly and put tens of thousands of employees on furlough, the New York Times reported. The cutbacks, though expected to be temporary, are raising the risks of a painful recession in Europe. Industrial production in the euro area fell 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, the biggest drop in more than two years.

German producer prices rose in August at their strongest rate since records began both in annual and monthly terms, driven mainly by soaring energy prices, raising the chances that headline inflation will surge even higher, Reuters reported. Producer prices of industrial products increased by 45.8% on the same month last year, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday. Compared to July 2022, prices rose 7.9%, it added. The surge was considerably stronger than expected, with analysts having forecast a 37.1% year-on-year rise and a 1.6% monthly rise, according to a Reuters poll.