Headlines

Poland’s central bank on Wednesday made its second interest rate hike in as many months as consumer prices surge, the Associated Press reported. The National Bank of Poland raised the rate to 1.25%, indicating that it intends to move more forcefully against rising prices after facing criticism for not acting soon enough. The move “suggests to us that it is taking the fight against inflation much more seriously than we had thought,” Capital Economics said in a note.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd on Wednesday forecast a return to profitability in the second half of 2022, as the U.S. travel and tourism industry claws back from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Cruise operators recorded billion-dollar losses last year as many ships anchored offshore without passengers, but pent-up demand for leisure travel and roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines have helped cruise lines pull thousands of guests again. U.S. health officials earlier this year allowed them to resume sailings albeit at reduced occupancy.

Euro zone unemployment eased to 7.4% of the workforce in September as expected, the EU's statistics office said on Wednesday, as the economy continues to recover from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. The statistics office said 12.079 million people were without jobs in the 19 countries sharing the euro in September, compared to 12.334 million, or 7.5% of the workforce, in August.

Inmarsat’s private equity owners are considering an exit from their investment in the U.K. satellite communications group, Bloomberg News reported. Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus have held early discussions about a possible sale of the business after receiving approaches from potential suitors, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. An exit from Inmarsat would mark a quick turnaround for its owners, which took the company private in 2019.

Germany’s future government plans to let the country’s pension system invest in the capital markets for the first time in what would be a small revolution in how Europe’s largest economy manages money for its growing ranks of retirees, Bloomberg News reported. Negotiators for the Social Democrats, Greens and the market-oriented Free Democrats are seeking to hammer out details that would allow the $400 billion pension system to start investing some of its reserves into stocks and bonds, which would bring it more in line with other advanced economies.

Traders have had a mixed view for most of this year about when emerging-Asia central banks will begin to normalize policy. Suddenly though, they are rushing to price in rate-hike bets across the region, Bloomberg News reported. The hawkish shift is most evident in South Korea and India, where markets are now anticipating at least a quarter-point increase in the next three months, while they are also building in Malaysia and Thailand over a two-year horizon.

Kenya’s shilling depreciated to its weakest level against the dollar on record as increased demand for foreign exchange added pressure on the currency of East Africa’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. The shilling weakened as much as 0.3% to 111.63 per dollar before paring the loss to trade at 111.49 by 5:00 p.m. in the capital, Nairobi. The shilling depreciated for a fifth straight month in October, its worst stretch of losses in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Argentina, one of the world’s most prominent defaulters, is pushing for a new way to service debt: Instead of paying creditors with cash that’s on short supply in Buenos Aires, it wants them to recognize the country’s efforts to tackle climate change, Bloomberg News reported. “We need more flexibility to honor that debt,” President Alberto Fernandez said, at a United Nations climate summit, of about $46 billion that Argentina owes to the International Monetary Fund.

Governments in the U.S., Europe and other developed nations are embarking on a climate-change experiment: using tariffs on trade to cut carbon emissions. The idea has the potential to rewrite the rules of global commerce, the Wall Street Journal reported. Policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic are looking at targeting steel, chemicals and cement. The tariffs would give a competitive advantage to manufacturers in countries where emissions are relatively low. It’s an idea that is gaining acceptance among U.S.