Headlines

European natural gas prices fluctuated after three days of declines, with traders weighing if countries’ intensified efforts to ease a crisis will be enough to avoid shortages this winter, Bloomberg News reported. Benchmark futures erased earlier losses, but hovered near the lowest levels since late July. The German government released another 2.5 billion euros ($2.5 billion) of credit lines for gas purchases as it looks to ensure there’s enough supply for winter, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz will chase new deals during his trip to the Middle East this weekend.

Investors have a problem: As the European Central Bank raises interest rates and the eurozone economy edges closer to a recession, they may not have enough places to hide, the Wall Street Journal reported. Over the past week, markets have started to reflect the 0.75 percentage-point increase in interest rates that the ECB announced earlier in September. The euro short-term rate, or €STR, which tracks the price at which banks lend unsecured money to each other overnight, closed Friday at 0.66%, compared with minus 0.083% before the rate increase.

Canada's annual inflation rate eased more than expected in August even as food prices rose at their fastest pace in 41 years, data showed on Tuesday, with economists saying now smaller rate hikes may be best, Reuters reported. The country's annual inflation rate slowed to 7.0% in August, below analyst forecasts of 7.3% and down from 7.6% in July. The deceleration was largely due to lower gasoline prices and slower gains in the shelter index, Statistics Canada said. On the month, the consumer price index fell 0.3%, the largest decline since early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bank of Japan’s outlier status is set to become even more acute this week with central banks from the Federal Reserve to the Swiss National Bank expected to raise borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his fellow board members are seen standing pat at the end of a two-day meeting Thursday that comes just hours after the Fed unleashes what’s likely to be a third-straight interest rate hike of 75 basis points. With the BOJ likely to be clinging to the world’s only negative policy rate, its dovish stance may send the embattled yen sliding again.

Japan's core consumer inflation quickened to 2.8% in August, hitting its fastest annual pace in nearly eight years and exceeding the central bank's 2% target for a fifth straight month as price pressure from raw materials and yen weakness broadened, Reuters reported. The strength of August inflation reinforced growing suspicions among economists that price pressure will last longer than the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been expecting, though many still expect no immediate change to its ultra-easy policy.

Sweden's central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday by a larger-than-expected full percentage point to 1.75% and warned of more to come over the next six months as it sought to get to grips with surging inflation, Reuters reported. Inflation hit 9% - a 30-year high - in August as the effects of soaring energy prices spread through the economy, and has overshot the Riksbank's forecasts.

Regulatory agency Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has allowed splitting of companies to attract more participants into the corporate resolution process as it seeks to provide flexibility and increase realisation, the Economic Times of India reported. The move to split assets is seen to be beneficial in cases involving real estate players and other entities with multiple projects, all of which may not be viable, or there may be some assets which will generate higher value, a senior government official said.

European natural gas futures fell again to their lowest level in almost two months as nations intensify efforts to ease the energy crisis with the start of the heating season less than two weeks away, Bloomberg News reported. Benchmark prices dropped as much as 8.8% on Monday, extending last week’s decline. Germany, the U.K. and others plan to spend billions to ease their reliance on Russian imports, rescue local energy companies, and cap prices to alleviate pressures on businesses and households.

An offshore bondholders' group of cash-strapped Kaisa is offering up to $2 billion to acquire stalled housing projects of the Shenzhen-based developer to facilitate their completion, Reuters reported. The takeover talks are in early stages, according to the people, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media on this subject. If successful, it would be the first foreign investor takeover of Chinese developers' distressed residential assets in the latest wave of crises to hit the property sector over the past year.

China will speed up fund injections to expedite project construction and boost domestic consumption, China's state planner said on Monday, even after the economy showed signs of renewed momentum last month, Reuters reported. The world's second-biggest economy slowed sharply in the second quarter, dragged down by a deepening property crisis, and slowing exports and imports. However, it showed surprising resilience in August, with faster-than-expected growth in factory output and retail sales, although the property crisis continues to hang over recovery prospects.