Headlines

Brazil's government is not considering providing specific aid for Azul as the airline faces financial hurdles, but money from a local fund will soon be available for carriers, tourism minister Celso Sabino said on Monday, Reuters reported. "The Brazilian government does not intent to grant any kind of benefit to a particular company. The government thinks of the sector as a whole," Sabino said on the sidelines of an event in Rio de Janeiro.

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday upheld NCLT's order admitting Future Ideas Company Limited (FICL), part of the Future Group, into insolvency over dues of ₹122.83 crore, the Economic Times of India reported. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, admitted FICL into insolvency last month in an insolvency petition filed by Axis Trustee Services, representing Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd as its debenture trustee. A debenture trustee is a body representing the interests of debenture holders while holding debentures for them.

Norwegian urban mobility brand Podbike filed for bankruptcy on Friday, citing financial hurdles including increasing production costs, supply chain disruptions, and a stagnant global economy, BicycleRetailer.com reported. According to a Podbike news release, efforts to obtain additional funding through investment rounds and partnerships failed to make up for the shortfall.

China cut benchmark lending rates for the first time since October on Tuesday, while major state banks lowered deposit rates as authorities work to ease monetary policy to help buffer the economy from the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war, Reuters reported. The widely expected rate cuts are aimed at stimulating consumption and loan growth as the world's No. 2 economy softens, while still protecting commercial lenders' shrinking profit margins.

Canada's annual inflation rate fell to 1.7% in April due to a drop in energy prices, but analysts said a rise in closely watched core measures would make life hard for the Bank of Canada as it ponders its next rate move, Reuters reported. The overall inflation rate fell from 2.3% in March after the removal of a federal consumer carbon tax, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. Analysts had forecast the annual rate would ease to 1.6% while the Bank of Canada last month predicted it would fall to about 1.5%, mainly due to the removal of the carbon tax and lower crude prices.

Australia's central bank on Tuesday cut interest rates to a two-year low as cooling inflation at home offered scope to counter rising global trade risks, and left the door open to further easing in the months ahead, Reuters reported. Wrapping up a two-day policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85%, saying that upside risks to inflation had diminished as the international developments are set to weigh on the economy.

Japan on Tuesday clarified its stance on U.S. tariffs, saying it wants all new levies put into place by the administration of President Donald Trump completely removed, confirming a hard-line position ahead of high-level negotiations that might be held later this week in Washington, the Japan Times reported. “As we have repeatedly stated, we find the series of U.S. tariff measures — including those on automobiles, auto parts, steel, aluminum, and reciprocal tariffs — extremely regrettable,” said Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, at a news conference.

The EU plans to levy a flat fee of €2 on billions of small packages entering the bloc, mainly from China, in a fresh blow to online retailers such as Temu and Shein, the Financial Times reported. Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told the European parliament he had proposed a handling fee on Tuesday to deal with the challenges of the 4.6bn items annually imported directly to people’s homes. The European Commission draft proposal, seen by the Financial Times, says the €2 fee will apply to direct sales but that items sent to warehouses will be taxed at €0.50.

The surge in popularity of U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins as a way of transferring money abroad is increasing the volatility of Brazilian capital flows, Brazil's central bank deputy governor said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Brazilians' crypto asset usage has surged over the past two to three years, with around 90% of the flow linked to stablecoins - digital money pegged to leading currencies like the U.S. dollar - its central bank estimates.