Mexico’s annual inflation slowed past all forecasts in early October as the central bank pledges to hold interest rates at a record high in Latin America’s second-largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.27% in the first half of the month compared to the same period a year earlier, down from 4.47% in late September, the national statistics institute reported Tuesday. The print was below all analyst forecasts in a Bloomberg survey that had a 4.37% median estimate.

A senior U.S. Treasury official on Monday said there were signs of "potential improvement" in sovereign debt restructuring cases and more vulnerable countries were expected to seek help, but further work was needed to accelerate the process, Reuters reported. Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Finance Brent Neiman noted advances in the cases of Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka over the past year, along with development of new technical approaches, adding his hope that Ghana would reach agreement on its external restructuring in the coming weeks.

Mexico's economic activity exceeded expectations in August driven by a strong performance of primary activities, including agriculture, and a rebound in the services sector, data from statistics agency INEGI showed on Monday, Reuters reported. In Latin America's second-largest economy, activity grew 0.4% in August from July and expanded 3.7% on an annual basis, INEGI said, despite the country's restrictive monetary policy with benchmark interest rates at 11.25% to tame high inflation.

Mexico’s new state-owned airline has no planes or scheduled flights registered under its name a little more than a month before it’s supposed to start operations, Bloomberg News reported. Creating the carrier has been a pet project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has promised prices 20% below commercial airlines on 20 routes serving big cities and beach destinations. The plan, announced in dribs and drabs over the past few months, was to initially lease 10 Boeing 737-800 jets, with three deliveries scheduled for late September and the rest for late October.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both the U.S. and Europe borrowed heavily. Now with those emergencies in the rearview mirror, a divergence has emerged: Even as the U.S. continues to let deficits rip, Europe’s are on track to narrow significantly, the Wall Street Journal reported. This is in contrast to a decade ago, when deficits in the wake of the global financial crisis pushed some members of the euro area to the brink of default.

Signa Sports United has closed its U.S. offices, which included operations for the Vitus and Nukeproof bike brands and the Hotlines wholesale distribution business, all based in Park City. Signa, headquartered in Berlin, announced earlier this week that it had lost access to a 150 million euro ($159 million) equity commitment from its parent company, BicycleRetailer.com reported. The company has reported serious liquidity challenges and had begun the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

Canada's main banking regulator has directed lenders to hold more capital against mortgages that have seen their repayment terms extend beyond the original terms due to the record pace of interest rate hikes, to contain risks building in the system, Reuters reported. Canada's nearly C$2 trillion mortgage market has been shaken up by the central bank's interest rate hikes, with many home owners only able to make interest payments, resulting in their mortgage repayment terms getting longer.

Canadian consumers are tightening their purse strings, cementing a case for the Bank of Canada to hold interest rates steady next week, Bloomberg News reported. Receipts for retailers were flat in September, according to an advance estimate from Statistics Canada released Friday. That followed a 0.1% decline a month earlier, which matched the median estimate from economists in a Bloomberg survey. “Flat is soft,” Eric Lascelles, chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada’s asset management unit, said on BNN Bloomberg Television.

Mexico's lower house moved to cut a profit sharing rate owed by state-owned oil giant Pemex to 30%, from its current 40%, as part of a sweeping 2024 tax bill passed by lawmakers early Friday morning, amid attempts to control Pemex's soaring debt, Reuters reported. Pemex's profit sharing rate (DUC), which is effectively a tax paid to the government, has been gradually lowered during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's administration from a high of 65%. The bill, passed after a marathon overnight session, will be sent on to the senate for approval.

Dabur India said on Wednesday its subsidiaries were among companies sued in the U.S. and Canada by customers alleging that the use of hair relaxer products had caused ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and other health issues, Reuters reported. "Currently, the cases are in the pleadings and early discovery phases of litigation," it said in an exchange filing, adding the allegations are based on "unsubstantiated and incomplete" study.