Headlines

China's services activity contracted for a third straight month in May, pointing to a slow recovery ahead despite the easing of some COVID lockdowns in Shanghai and neighbouring cities, a private business survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 41.4 in May from 36.2 in April, edging up slightly as authorities began to roll back some of the strict restrictions that have paralysed the financial city of Shanghai and roiled global supply chains.

The worst is still to come for the Indian rupee after its slide in May to a historic low, according to analysts and forward markets, Bloomberg News reported. The currency may drop to between 79 to 81 per dollar over the next few months, according to analysts from UBS AG to Nomura Holdings Inc. and Bloomberg Economics. Forwards are also pricing in a similar weakness for the rupee. The bearish forecasts -- which will see the rupee drop as much as 4% from current level -- stem from a deterioration in India’s external finances.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Sunday that President Joe Biden has asked his team to look at the option of lifting some tariffs on China that were put into place by former President Donald Trump, to combat the current high inflation, Reuters reported. "We are looking at it. In fact, the president has asked us on his team to analyze that. And so we are in the process of doing that for him and he will have to make that decision," Raimondo told CNN in an interview on Sunday when asked about whether the Biden administration was weighing lifting tariffs on China to ease inflation.

President Emmanuel Macron aims to reform France’s pension system by the summer of 2023, he told French news outlets in his first extended interview since his re-election in April, Bloomberg News reported. The reform, which initially aimed to lift the retirement age from 62 to 65, is essential to financing Macron’s larger ambitions for his second five-year term. He discussed those plans in an interview with Le Parisien and regional French news outlets. Macron, who planned to reform the retirement system in 2020, had to postpone the change when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Pakistan GDP growth will slow to 5% for the upcoming fiscal year beginning on July 1, from 5.9% in the outgoing year, following budgetary tightening aimed at winning International Monetary Fund (IMF) support, the government said on Saturday, Reuters reported. The planning ministry made the estimates ahead of the annual budget to be presented on June 10.

Heichinrou, an iconic Chinese restaurant in Japan founded 138 years ago, became the latest establishment to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic, filing for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. The restaurant’s main branch, an institution of Yokohama’s famous Chinatown, began bankruptcy proceedings at the request of creditors with total debt likely exceeding 300 million yen ($2.3 million), according to research firm Teikoku Databank.

Russia failed to meet its obligations to creditors when it didn’t make a small interest payment in April, according to an industry body overseeing the derivatives market, a ruling that triggers some $2.2 billion in credit-default swaps, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Wednesday’s decision marks the first formal recognition within financial markets of a Russian debt default after its invasion of Ukraine caused the U.S. and its allies to impose broad financial sanctions, severing Moscow’s access to foreign bank accounts and global payment systems.

Lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has emerged from Chapter 11 restructuring process, having eliminated nearly $4.1 billion of debt, Aerotime Hub reported. As part of its restructuring process, the lessor increased its liquidity with access to $537 million in additional capital to fund operations. In December 2021, NAC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In April 2022, NAC received approval for its restructuring plan from the Bankruptcy Court.

Sri Lanka seeks to secure around $5 billion in funding this year to cover repayments for fuel imports and other items bought through credit lines, and another $1 billion to bolster its foreign reserves, the prime minister's office said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The island nation is grappling with its worst financial crisis in over seven decades with a severe foreign exchange shortage that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports including food, fuel, fertilisers and medicines. Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves stood at $1.81 billion in April.

Euro-zone inflation is breaking record after record, but the gap between the highest and lowest rates among the currency bloc’s 19 members has also jumped to its widest ever, Bloomberg News reported. The scale ranges from Malta -- where consumer prices advanced 5.6% last month, to Estonia -- where inflation hit 20.1%. That’s a difference of more than 14 percentage points, more than at any time since the dawn of the euro in 1999.