Headlines

Secondary-market prices for legal claims against Brazil’s government tumbled to less than two-thirds their face value on President Jair Bolsonaro’s proposal to delay court-ordered payments on the debt, Bloomberg News reported. The securities had been trading at about 90% of face value as recently as the first half of this year, and are now closer to 60%, according to executives at banks and asset-management firms who trade the debt. The market for legal claims has been attracting investors seeking higher returns after the nation’s benchmark interest rate fell to as low as 2% last year.

Irish government ministers have met to dust off contingency plans in case disagreements between Britain and the European Union trigger major trade disruption, deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The European Union last week said that Britain had made no move to seek a compromise on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland and cautioned London against triggering emergency unilateral provisions Anger, tangle and trouble: Is another Brexit showdown looming? in the Brexit deal.

Norwegian banks are well-equipped if faced with a new downturn and the economic recovery has improved the outlook for financial stability, but risks remain, the central bank said in an annual report on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "The stress test in this report shows that the largest Norwegian banks can weather a sharp downturn without having to tighten lending substantially," Deputy Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement.

Airlines started flying thousands of Europeans and others to the U.S. after Washington reopened its borders to citizens of 33 countries who had been barred by Covid-19 restrictions for more than 18 months, the Wall Street Journal reported. As of Monday, vaccinated non-American citizens from previously restricted countries—predominantly in Europe—are allowed to travel to the U.S. if they have proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test taken within the prior three days. The countries formerly on the banned list accounted for 53% of all overseas visitors to the U.S.

Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes reported on Tuesday a net loss of 884.6 million reais ($160.54 million) for the third quarter as traffic remained below pre-pandemic levels, Reuters reported. That compared with a loss of 872 million reais a year earlier and the company said that while demand for air travel continued to pick up in Brazil, it has still only reached 53% of pre-pandemic levels.

A United Arab Emirates prosecutor has ordered the detention of the chairman of Dubai-based Union Properties PJSC pending an investigation into alleged financial violations at one of the country’s biggest developers, Bloomberg News reported. Khalifa Al Hammadi’s detention was requested by the Federal Public Funds Prosecution and “the case is still under investigation,” the company said in a stock market disclosure, citing a letter from the authorities. A spokesman for Union Properties declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg on Tuesday.

U.K. food prices are rising at their fastest pace since August 2020, figures from data firm Kantar suggest, as supply chain disruption continues, BBC.com reported. Grocery inflation rose to 2.1% in October - the highest rate since last year, when retailers were cutting promotions amid the Covid pandemic. Last week, the Bank of England confounded market expectations by holding interest rates. But with overall inflation heading for about 5%, a rate rise is expected soon. Supply chains have been under pressure from factors including the pandemic and a shortage of lorry drivers.

European Union finance ministers agreed on Monday that the current surge in consumer prices would subside next year and that high public debt created by the pandemic had to be reduced, but in a way that would not hurt economic growth, Reuters reported. Inflation rose 4.1% year-on-year last month in the 19 countries sharing the euro, up from 3.4% in September and the ministers are starting to worry that the rise might fuel stronger wage growth, creating an inflationary spiral.

Sino Ocean Group Holding Ltd., part-owned by the finance ministry, has become the latest property company to see its bonds slump. Its 4.75% note due 2030 fell Monday to as low as 73.48 cents on the dollar, with spreads over comparable Treasuries widening to a record 800 basis points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s despite the firm being rated investment-grade at two global credit assessors and holding about 54 times more cash and equivalents than China Evergrande Group. Sino Ocean’s shares have been doing better, rebounding 35% from their September low. They rose 3.5% Monday.

Germany’s export-oriented economy used to be a reliable engine for pulling Europe out of slumps. Now, as the continent emerges from a pandemic torpor, Germany is lagging behind, the Wall Street Journal reported. German manufacturers are struggling to produce cars and factory equipment because of parts and labor shortages. They face surging energy prices that are making sky-high electricity bills even higher. And they must invest hundreds of billions of dollars over coming years to meet new clean-energy standards.