Lending to euro zone households and companies contracted for the 28th month in a row in August, though at a slower pace, putting a keener spotlight on European Central Bank efforts to get credit flowing again.
Investors
Dollar hits four-year high, Asian stocks on edge as HK seethes
The dollar hit a four-year peak against a basket of currencies in early Asian trade on Monday, bolstering Japanese shares, but other Asian shares shrugged off Friday's Wall Street rebound in the face of political unrest in Hong Kong.
Dubai's Arabtec says plan for $40 billion Egypt housing scheme nearly completed
Dubai construction company Arabtec ARTC.DU is close to completing the planning and design stage of its $40 billion deal to build one million homes in Egypt, the company said on Sunday.
Fosun ups bid for Portugal's Espirito Santo healthcare unit
China's Fosun International Ltd has upped its bid for Portugal's Espirito Santo Saude (ESS) to 4.82 euros a share or 460.5 million euros ($584 million) in total, stepping up the battle over the hospital business of the indebted Espirito Santo family.
Gross begins second act as bond guru at tiny Janus fund
For Bill Gross, quitting Pimco's $222 billion Total Return Fund to take over a $13 million fund at Janus Capital is like resigning the U.S. presidency to become city manager of Ashtabula, Ohio, population 18,800.
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U.S. companies are increasingly less optimistic about the business outlook in China, and see growing competition from local rivals who get preferential treatment as a key challenge, a survey showed on Friday.
China boosted the quotas it gives foreign institutions to invest in domestic securities by the largest amount in the third quarter since the final quarter of 2012 and regulators may also raise the limit on a parallel yuan-denominated program.
The dollar held near a four-year high against a basket of currencies on Friday, fueled by the biggest yield advantage over the euro in nearly 15 years as the Federal Reserve contemplates hiking interest rates.
China's steel consumption dropped this year for the first time since at least 2000 due to slower economic growth, leading to a surplus of iron ore in the country and a more than 40 percent plunge in prices of the steelmaking raw material.
French oil company Total SA (TOTF.PA) is looking to sell its 17 percent stake in the Gulf of Mexico's Tahiti oil field, which could fetch between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in a deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Japan's legions of retail foreign-exchange traders, popularly known as Mrs Watanabe, are turning into sellers of yen.
New orders for capital goods by U.S. businesses rebounded in August, pointing to underlying strength in the economy. The economic outlook also got a lift from other data on Thursday showing only a marginal increase in the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week.
U.S. stocks ended with sharp losses on Thursday, with the S&P 500 suffering its biggest one-day decline since July, as Apple tumbled and the dollar rose to a four-year high.
The euro hit a 22-month low against the dollar on Thursday on the prospect of diverging monetary policy between the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank as rate differentials swing decisively in the greenback's favor.
