North America

Mexico’s inflation eased more than economists expected in early March, likely boosting the odds that the central bank will slow a record monetary tightening cycle at next week’s meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 7.12% in the first two weeks of the month from the same period a year earlier, down from 7.48% in late February, the national statistics institute reported Thursday. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as fuel, was 8.15% on an annual basis, below the previous measure of 8.21% and matching economists’ estimate.

Mexican consumer prices rose less than expected in early March, the national statistics agency said on Thursday, backing bets the central bank could slow the pace of its monetary tightening later this month, Reuters reported. Annual headline inflation in the first half of March hit 7.12%, down from 7.48% in the second of half of February and below market expectations. Mexican core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy products and has in recent months been more stubborn than headline inflation, was 8.15% in annual terms.

A cohort of TV Azteca SAB’s creditors filed a petition to force the Mexican broadcaster into involuntary bankruptcy in the U.S., the latest twist in drawn-out debt talks, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of about $63 million of unsecured Azteca bonds filed an involuntary chapter 11 petition against the company in New York, according to court papers on Monday. The move marks the second attempt by bondholders to get traction for their claims against Azteca after it defaulted on the $400 million of notes in 2021.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday sued Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, accusing him and other defendants of illegally selling crypto securities and scheming to artificially inflate trading volume in crypto assets, Reuters reported. Beginning around August 2017, Sun and his companies Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Limited and Rainberry Inc engaged in a scheme to distribute billions of crypto assets known as Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT), the SEC said.

The Bank of Canada was concerned about inflation sticking above its 2% target and agreed there might be a need to tighten monetary policy further when officials decided to leave rates on hold this month, Reuters reported. On March 8, the bank became the first major central bank to pause its tightening campaign, leaving the key overnight interest rate on hold at 4.50%.

Canada's inflation rate slowed more than expected in February to its lowest level in 13 months, data showed on Tuesday, backing up the central bank's plans to hold off on further interest rates hikes, Reuters reported. The annual inflation rate fell to 5.2% in February from 5.9% in January, the biggest single-month decline in almost three years, Statistics Canada said. That beat a median analysts' forecast for a decline to 5.4%. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 4.8% versus a year ago compared with a 4.9% increase in January.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Sunday sued the liquidators overseeing the wind-down of its Bahamian affiliate FTX Digital Markets, accusing them of wrongly claiming ownership of the exchange's assets, Reuters reported. FTX's U.S. based bankruptcy team, led by new CEO John Ray, said in its lawsuit that the liquidators were laying claim to FTX.com’s cryptocurrency, intellectual property, and customer relationships. FTX called FTX DM a "fraudulent enterprise", initially set up only to be a "local service company", which did not own the FTX.com exchange or any of the cryptocurrency seized.

Bank of Mexico's main focus is tackling inflation, deputy governor Galia Borja said on Thursday, when asked how fears of a banking crisis roiling U.S. and European markets could impact monetary policy at the central bank, Reuters reported. "Many variables come into play," Borja told Reuters on the sidelines of a banking convention in the city of Merida in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. "But the main one is inflation, which is our mandate." "The behavior of inflation is more important, but we take everything into account," she added.

Canadian holidaymakers jetting south for spring break on red-eye flights with Flair Airlines Ltd were in for a surprise on March 11 when the Boeing Co. 737s they were about to board were seized by agents acting on behalf of a jet leasing firm that manages the planes, Bloomberg News reported. The episode emerged from a $50 million lawsuit filed by Flair in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in which the budget carrier alleges Airborne Capital Ltd.

Canada's competition watchdog called for stronger merger review rules on Wednesday and recommended some 50 improvements to what it said was outdated antitrust legislation, Reuters reported. "Canada needs more competition. And Canadians need a modern and effective competition law to support that," the Competition Bureau said in a statement. Canadians have been left with fewer and pricier choices in everything from telecoms to banking after decades of industry consolidation, consumer advocates say. Soaring inflation has worsened the issue of affordability.