North America

El Salvador intends to issue the world’s first sovereign Bitcoin bonds and build Bitcoin City, which will be free of income, property and capital gains taxes, President Nayib Bukele announced in the beach town of Mizata to a crowd of cheering Bitcoin enthusiasts, Bloomberg News reported. El Salvador plans to issue $1 billion in tokenized U.S.-dollar denominated 10-year bonds to pay 6.5% via the Liquid Network, according to Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Blockstream.

Creditors to Fortuna Silver Mines will give the Canadian miner three months to obtain additional legal permission to keep operating in Mexico after the denial this month of a key environmental permit, the company said on Friday, Reuters reported. Over the past decade Fortuna has operated one of Mexico's top silver mines, but it faces possible closure due to the regulatory denial. The company said in a statement its lenders have agreed to waive the requirement that the company secure "a permanent injunction or equivalent protection" for three months until Feb. 18, 2022.

Bermuda-based offshore drilling company Seadrill Limited has announced that a new, independent, seven-member board of directors will assume leadership of the new parent company of the Seadrill group upon emergence from chapter 11, the Royal Gazette reported. The company said that it received confirmation of its plan of reorganisation on October 26 and is targeting emergence early in 2022. Julie Johnson Robertson is chairwoman of the board, and Mark McCollum will chair the audit committee.

Surging inflation and rising bond yields are set to offer a shot in the arm for Canadian banks' profit margins, which have languished during the pandemic, but an aggressive response by central banks could derail a nascent lending recovery and increase defaults, investors and analysts said, Reuters reported. Canadian banks' loan growth outside of mortgages all but disappeared during the pandemic as lockdowns and surging deposits slowed consumer and business borrowing. Although spending has increased after lockdowns were lifted, that has so far failed to translate into robust credit growth.

Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated again in October, matching a February 2003 high, led by sharp rises in gasoline and housing prices, data showed on Wednesday, with analysts expecting more heat ahead. Inflation rose to 4.7%, in line with expectations, up from 4.4% in September, Statistics Canada data showed. It was the seventh consecutive month in which headline inflation topped the Bank of Canada's 1-3% control range. Prices rose in all eight major component groups for the second month in a row. Analysts said that trend was likely to continue.

Richter Advisory Group has announced that it has been named trustee for Toronto’s Junction Craft Brewing, which has declared insolvency and entered a bankruptcy protection period during which it is soliciting buyers to take over the business, Canadian Beer News reported. Junction operates primarily as a brewer and seller of hand-crafted beers and other beverage products from an approximately 16,513 square foot leased premises located at 150 Symes Road, Toronto, Ontario.

Canadian retailer Le Chateau is making its comeback from bankruptcy today with the online launch of an evening wear collection ahead of the holidays, the Canadian Press reported. The so-called glamour capsule offers shoppers a hint of what to expect with the brand’s relaunch under new owner Suzy’s Inc., the company behind Suzy Shier, set for this spring. Franco Rocchi, senior marketing director of Suzy/Le Chateau, says the curated, limited-edition collection highlights the brand’s focus on high-fashion occasion wear.

The Bank of Canada will not raise its benchmark interest rate until the slack in the country's economy is absorbed, which has not yet happened but is getting closer, Governor Tiff Macklem said in a newspaper opinion piece on Monday, Reuters reported. Macklem also noted that while inflation risks have increased - driven by pandemic-induced demand shifts, supply disruptions and higher energy prices - the central bank continues to view the recent dynamics as transitory.

Airline Grupo Aeromexico SAB received a proposal to emerge from bankruptcy by having lead lender Apollo Global Management Inc. convert some debt into equity. A previous exit package didn’t include the U.S. firm getting a stake, Bloomberg News reported. The carrier, which filed for chapter 11 in 2020 after the pandemic decreased travel, said that a group of new and existing creditors and investors will repay the rest of the loan held by Apollo, which led the carrier’s debtor-in-possession financing. Amounts were not disclosed.