Mexico’s annual inflation eased roughly in line with expectations in August, as the central bank says it’s not yet ready to discuss lowering record high borrowing costs given the “complex and uncertain” global outlook, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.64% from the same month a year earlier, down from 4.79% in July, the national statistics institute reported Thursday.

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday is expected to keep rates on hold at a 22-year high of 5% after the economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter, analysts said, Reuters reported. The central bank hiked rates by a quarter point in both June and July, and then said it was prepared to raise rates again to tame inflation that has remained above the bank's 2% target for 27 months. While the economy turned negative in the second quarter, inflation has been stubborn, unexpectedly rising to 3.3% in July as core measures remained well above 3%.

Nubank, one of Latin America's biggest fintech companies, announced on Tuesday the launch of personal loans for the Mexican market, aiming to boost its financial services portfolio in the region's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. The new product will allow customers to obtain personal loans in less than five minutes through its platform, the digital bank's Mexican arm, known as Nu Mexico, said in a statement. The service will be available to employees on a test mode before hitting the market in the following months, it added.

A surprise second-quarter contraction and a flat growth estimate for July suggests that the Bank of Canada has probably done enough to bring inflation to heel, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank at a 0.2% annualized pace last quarter, and economic growth at the beginning of the third didn’t look much stronger. While the contraction was partly due to wildfires and drought, household consumption was weak, suggesting aggressive increases to interest rates have already reined in spending by heavily indebted Canadians. First-quarter growth was revised downward.

Concerns about the shaky US office market ate into Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s earnings, which fell far short of analyst estimates as the lender set aside more than expected for souring loans, Bloomberg News reported. Provisions for credit losses totaled C$736 million ($543 million) in the fiscal third quarter, according to a statement Thursday, more than the C$456 million analysts had predicted. The bank had put aside C$438 million in the previous three months. The Toronto-based bank’s C$1.52 of adjusted earnings per share missed an average analyst estimate of C$1.68.

Mexico’s central bank raised its growth projection for the country’s economy for this year and next, signaling that activity is surpassing policymakers’ expectations in large part due to strong trade with the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. Banxico, as the central bank is known, revised its estimate for 2023’s expansion to 3% from the prior reading of 2.3%, according to its quarterly report released Wednesday. For 2024, the bank now expects a 2.1% GDP expansion compared to the previous 1.6% estimate.

TV Azteca SAB agreed to negotiate with U.S. bondholders owed $400 million after a U.S. judge warned the second biggest broadcaster in Mexico that it could be forced to participate in a bankruptcy case in New York, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lisa G. Beckerman told the company that it was obvious to her that TV Azteca had to restructure its debt, despite strong resistance from the company. TV Azteca opposes a U.S. bankruptcy and has used court rulings in Mexico to try to block bondholders from collecting on the defaulted bonds.

Bank of Montreal set aside more money for potentially sour loans and severance costs as it absorbs Bank of the West during a difficult period for U.S. regional lenders, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian bank earned C$2.04 billion ($1.89 billion) on an adjusted basis in the fiscal third quarter, weighed down by weaker results in its US personal and commercial division. The profit of C$2.78 per share was short of the C$3.13 expected by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Canada's second-quarter GDP report, due on Friday, is likely to show a sharp slowdown in economic growth, a Reuters poll of economists showed, which could lead the Bank of Canada to pause its interest rate hikes despite recent hotter inflation data, Reuters reported. The GDP report will be the last major piece of domestic data before the Canadian central bank makes its next policy decision on Sept. 6. It is expected to show the economy growing at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter, down from 3.1% in the first three months of the year, and below the BoC's 1.5% estimate.

Mortgage data from Canada’s two biggest banks are painting a picture of homeowners straining under high borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender, disclosed that 43% of its Canadian residential mortgages had an amortization period of longer than 25 years, as of July. That’s up from 40% a year earlier, and just 26% in January 2022. Canadian banks have allowed customers to stretch payments for longer periods to help them bring down their monthly payments after a rapid rise in rates.