Canadian manufacturing activity expanded at a faster pace in February as measures of output and new orders both rose to nine-month highs, while inflation pressures continued to ease, data showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.4 in February from 51.0 in January, posting its highest level since July. Before January's reading, the index had been below the 50 threshold that separates growth from contraction for five consecutive months.

The Canadian economy unexpectedly stalled in the final three months of 2022, but likely rebounded in January, data showed on Tuesday, a result that backs up the Bank of Canada's aim to keep interest rates on hold at its next policy meeting in March, Reuters reported. Annualized fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was flat versus the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said, ending a streak of five consecutive quarterly increases. It was far below analysts' median forecast for a 1.5% increase.

Toronto-Dominion Bank said Monday it agreed to pay more than $1.2 billion to settle a lawsuit by investors claiming it aided R. Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme more than a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Settlements also were reached with HSBC Holdings Plc, which will pay another $40 million, and Independent Bank Group Inc., formerly known as Bank of Houston, which will pay $100 million, according to Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver for Stanford International Bank.

Bank of Mexico board member Jonathan Heath said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that he does not see the central bank's benchmark interest rate reaching 12%, Reuters reported. "In my very personal opinion and based on the data available today, I do not see the terminal rate reaching 12%, but rather I estimate that it will be located in a range of 11.25% to 11.75%," Heath told newspaper El Financiero. The central bank's governing board raised its key interest rate to a record 11% this month amid stubborn inflation.

U.S. subsidiaries of Australian coal mining company Allegiance Coal Ltd. filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 filing includes the New Elk and Black Warrior coal mines located in Colorado and Alabama, respectively, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., by Allegiance Coal USA Ltd. The Australian parent company said last week that it is switching away from the production of thermal coal because of a decline in prices for thermal coal delivered to Europe.

Mexico's headline inflation decelerated more than forecast by analysts in early February, data from the national statistics agency showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Annual headline inflation in the first half of the month came down to 7.76% from 7.94% a month earlier, while economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.80%. Meanwhile the core index, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, hit 8.38% on an annual basis, with a surprise of -0.04%. However, annual inflation still remains above the Bank of Mexico's target rate of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point.

Shares of Cineworld slumped as much as 22% on Wednesday after media reports said the world's second-largest cinema operator had received 40 non-binding bids, but none for its UK and U.S. assets or nearing its $6 billion secured debt load, Reuters reported. The reports cited company counsel Joshua Sussberg's comments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on Tuesday, where he also said the initial bids received by a Feb. 16 deadline were all for the rest of Cineworld's global assets, mainly for theatres in central Europe, eastern Europe and Israel.

In the realm of global economic policy, Friday Nov. 13, 2020, was meant to be about hope — not the trigger for another pandemic-era fright. That’s when Group of 20 finance ministers announced final agreement on a blueprint for the US, China and other relatively new creditor countries like India to cooperate on debt relief for more than 70 low-income nations facing a collective $326 billion burden, and deliver it in a “timely and orderly” way, Bloomberg News reported.

Canadian inflation pressures eased in January, leaving the Bank of Canada some room to hold interest rates at current levels next month even after a blockbuster jobs report, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 5.9% from a year ago, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa, slower than the 6.1% gain expected in a Bloomberg survey of economists and down from 6.3% in December. On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.5% in January, versus expectations of 0.7%.