Headlines

European energy extended its blistering rally as the worst supply crunch in decades heightens pressure on politicians to do more to rescue industries and households, Bloomberg News reported. German and French power soared to fresh records on further nuclear reactor outages, as benchmark natural gas futures jumped as much as 11%. The fuel is near the level last seen in the early weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when prices had hit unprecedented intraday highs.

Germany will keep exporting electricity to neighboring France despite calling on people to help fend off winter shortages by saving energy at home, officials said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Problems at French nuclear plants have driven up electricity prices there in recent months, prompting power companies in neighboring countries to sell excess energy to France. “Only half of France’s nuclear power plants are operating,” said Patrick Graichen, Germany’s deputy economy and energy minister.

Pilots at Lufthansa have rejected a wage offer by Germany's flagship carrier and could go on strike anytime, union VC said on Thursday, as a dispute over pay continues, Reuters reported. They had voted in favour of industrial action last month, threatening further disruption during the busy summer travel season. VC said that Lufthansa's most recent offer had been a step in the right direction but remained short of the union's demands, which include a 5.5% pay rise this year for its pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

Thailand's oldest lender, SCBX Pcl, said on Thursday that it was pulling out of a $500 million deal to buy crypto exchange Bitkub, saying the start-up needed time to fix regulatory issues, Reuters reported. "Bitkub is currently in the process of resolving various issues as per the recommendations and orders of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand, which are uncertain in terms of timeframe in resolving those issues," SCBX said in a statement. "As a result, the buyer and the seller have agreed to terminate the transaction," it said.

Canadian employers continue to report record levels of job vacancies, pointing to a drum-tight labor market that’s likely to keep the central bank on an aggressive hiking path, Bloomberg News reported. Unfilled positions rose by 32,500 in June to 1.03 million, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. It marks the fourth straight month of vacancies near or above the 1 million threshold. The job vacancy rate -- the number of unfilled jobs as a share of all positions -- was 5.9% in June, matching a record high.

Australia's companies are split, as big miners and airlines expect higher profits on soaring commodities prices and a rebound from COVID-19, while supermarkets, banks and manufacturers are hurt by inflation and stagnant wages, Reuters reported. Annual business results and profit forecasts reveal a divide in the world's 13th-biggest economy between companies, largely international, that collect on rising prices and those, largely focussing on the domestic consumer, that are forced to absorb the higher costs.

Three Arrows Capital Ltd.’s liquidators secured a key court decision in Singapore that may give them greater insight into the collapsed crypto hedge fund’s remaining assets in a major jurisdiction, Bloomberg News reported. The Singapore High Court on Monday granted a petition by advisory firm Teneo, which in June was appointed by a British Virgin Islands court to liquidate Three Arrows, to recognize the liquidation order in the country, the people said, asking not to be named as the proceedings were private. Teneo is trying to round up and preserve the hedge fund’s assets.

Commodity trader Noble Group Ltd will pay a S$12.6 million ($9.03 million) penalty for releasing 'misleading' information in its financial statements between 2012 and 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The company, which was once the biggest commodity trader in Asia, saw its market value all but wiped out from $6 billion in 2015 after accusation of inflating its assets, forcing it to sell billions of dollars of assets, taking hefty writedowns and cut hundreds of jobs.

Debt-ridden Future Enterprises is now facing a second insolvency plea filed by an operational creditor before National Company Law Tribunal, the Economic Times of India reported. The latest petition was filed by Retail Detailz India, claiming default of Rs 4.02 crore before the Mumbai bench of the NCLT. "The Company has received e-filing confirmation from NCLT with respect to the filing of an application by an Operational Creditor Retail Detailz India Private under section 9 of the IBC for an alleged default amount of Rs 4.02 crore," Future Enterprises said in a filing.

China's unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market as the economy has been badly hit by COVID-19 outbreaks and a property crisis, Reuters reported. Payments by China's unemployment insurance fund jumped 256.6% in June from a year earlier to 37.19 billion yuan ($5.42 billion), according to Reuters' calculations based on data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. That was the highest since the data series began in January 2013.