The default rate among U.S. corporate borrowers of private credit rose to a record 9.2% in 2025, ​according to a report Friday by credit rating agency ‌Fitch Ratings, Reuters reported. In its monitor of 302 companies with outstanding private credit debt, Fitch recorded 38 defaults among 28 different borrowers. The 9.2% default rate in ​2025 follows a previous record 8.1% rate of defaults ​in 2024. Smaller issuers with $25 million or less in earnings made ⁠up the majority of last year's defaults, which were diversified ​among sectors, according to the report.

Hudson’s Bay is sending its coat collection to the auction block, the Canadian Press. The latest sale of the company’s treasures features 56 coats, including many with HBC’s iconic stripes motif. Some of the coats are a nod to the 355-year-old company’s fur trading history and are made of beaver, silver fox or mink fur. Others were made in partnership with Canadian designers Smythe and HiSO. Also part of the auction are dozens of art pieces, a reproduction of the 1670 royal charter that formed the company, vintage cash registers and an HBC piano.

The U.S. customs agency is readying a system within 45 days to process refunds on ​U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs that were struck down as illegal, a customs official said in a court filing on Friday, Reuters reported. The declaration ‌by Customs and Border Protection official Brandon Lord came just before government lawyers met with a federal trade judge to try to hammer out a broad settlement process, as Reuters reported exclusively on Friday, for returning $166 billion in tariff payments to around 330,000 importers. Last month, the U.S.

U.S. and Mexican negotiators will hold bilateral discussions starting the week ​of March 16 as part of the joint ‌review of the United States–Mexico–Canada trade agreement, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Thursday, Reuters reported. U.S.

Leading crypto exchange Binance denied violating Iranian sanctions compliance in a letter sent in reply to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), who recently launched a probe into the firm following media reports on purported violations, Decrypt.com reported. Blumenthal’s probe followed a Wall Street Journal report that alleged that Binance allowed $1.7 billion worth of transactions tied to Iranian entities and sanction-evading trades from Russia to occur on the platform.

Global authorities must step up their surveillance of lending by nonbank players such as hedge funds and institutional investors to minimize risks to financial stability, Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stronger banking regulations introduced following the 2008-09 financial crisis have shifted riskier activities to nonbank participants such as hedge funds, pension funds and asset managers, diversifying risk and improving access to financing, he said.

The United States is expected to increase tariffs on global imports to 15 percent this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, as the Trump administration works to replicate some of the punishing duties struck down by the Supreme Court, the New York Times reported. That rate is an increase from the 10 percent global tariffs that President Trump imposed last month after a court ruling struck down the administration’s emergency tariffs. In an interview on CNBC, Mr.

More than $130bn (€111bn) in tariffs and by some estimates as much as $175bn (€150bn) could now be at stake after a U.S. appeals court moved to fast-track the question of refunds following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling against President Donald Trump’s trade measures, EuroNews reported. In a concise one-page order on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington remanded the matter immediately to the U.S.

British and U.S. regulators are divided over how to ​test blockchain-based versions of financial securities, with Britain pushing for a more cautious approach in talks aimed ‌at boosting crypto collaboration, Reuters reported. The U.S. and Britain announced in September a taskforce for reducing regulation for companies seeking to access each other’s markets and to improve digital asset cooperation. The split shows how financial regulators globally have to contend with a pro-crypto U.S. under President Donald Trump. The ​U.S. has eased crypto regulation and encouraged cryptocurrency adoption.

Mexico remained the United States’ largest trading partner for the third consecutive year in 2025, with two-way commerce reaching a record $872.83 billion, Freight Waves reported. Trade between the two countries increased 3.9% year over year, rising from $840 billion in 2024 to $872.83 billion in 2025, according to a WorldCity analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. It marks the highest annual trade total the U.S. has ever recorded with any nation for the second consecutive year. Canada ranked second among U.S.