Headlines

Investors are coming to terms with the prospect that the Bank of England could scale back support for the gilt market sooner than expected, Bloomberg News reported. Traders are now betting the BOE will raise the key interest rate to 0.5% in February. That’s the threshold after which the bank may let gilts that mature in its 875-billion pound ($1.2 trillion) asset purchase program roll out of the portfolio without being replaced.

Grupo Aeromexico, which operates Mexico's largest airline, reported on Tuesday a net loss of 2.24 billion pesos ($108.7 million) in the third quarter, versus a net loss of 2.88 billion pesos from the same period last year, Reuters reported. Aeromexico, which has been undergoing a reorganization under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S., posted 13.23 billion pesos in revenue for the third quarter, up from 4.67 billion a year earlier.

Indian bonds may not sell off sharply even as the nation’s central bank unwinds stimulus measures because the monetary authority has been communicating its gradualist approach to participants, according to Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s a very transparent and calibrated approach the monetary policy committee is taking,” Jyoti Vaswani, chief investment officer at Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Ltd. said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Salt Lake Potash Ltd. said Wednesday that the company is insolvent or likely to become so in the future, MarketWatch.com reported. The Australia-focused fertilizers company has appointed administrators, receivers and managers to market the company and its assets for sale and recapitalization. The group had warned in July that it needed to raise money before the end of the year in order to continue operating its Lake Way project.

Canada's Competition Bureau watchdog may have to rely more on litigation after its proposed veto of a takeover was overturned, and this could make life harder for companies seeking to merge, the agency head said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Matthew Boswell, commissioner of competition, noted his bureau had tried this year to block western Canadian oil and gas waste firm Secure Energy Services Inc from buying rival Tervita Corp.

The Bank of Canada will raise its benchmark interest rate four times in the second half of next year and another four times in 2023, according to a top economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem will begin a series of eight 25-basis-point hikes in July of next year, Scotiabank’s Derek Holt said Wednesday on BNN Bloomberg Television. That will be followed by moves in September, October, and December.

Frankfurt Hahn Airport, a German international budget flights hub, has filed for insolvency, according to a court filing published on Tuesday, Reuters reported. It was not immediately clear how the insolvency would affect flight operations. The airport, which is primarily used by low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and cargo airlines and served about 1.5 million passengers in 2019, is 82.5% owned by Chinese airport group HNA, while the German state of Hesse has a 17.5% stake.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made no secret of his desire to deflate China’s property bubble. But according to people with knowledge of government deliberations, he is facing resistance over a measure aimed at curbing housing speculation: a nationwide property tax, the Wall Street Journal reported. Many economists and analysts have long argued that such a tax could make it more expensive to speculate on property and help bring down prices. That would help reduce the financial burden on middle-class families, in line with Mr. Xi’s goal of a more even distribution of wealth.

China Evergrande Group's deal to sell a 51% stake in its property services unit has been put on hold, two people with knowledge of the matter said, in a blow to the embattled developer's hopes of avoiding a potentially disruptive default, Reuters reported. Evergrande, teetering on the brink of collapse with more than $300 billion in debt, was in talks to sell the stake in Evergrande Property Services to smaller rival Hopson Development Holdings for around HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion), sources have previously told Reuters.

The European Union began work this week revising its fiscal rules as it considers new exceptions to allow for the massive investments needed to help member states make their economies more climate friendly, Bloomberg News reported. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, launched a public consultation on the so-called Stability and Growth Pact, a fiscal framework that dictates countries’ debt and deficit levels. The EU suspended the SGP in March of 2020 to give member states the flexibility to react to the Covid-induced recession.