Netflix Inc. has refinanced part of a $59 billion bridge loan to support its potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

The streaming giant secured a $5 billion revolving credit facility and two $10 billion delayed-draw term loans to refinance part of the bridge facility it took out for its Warner Bros. bid, according to a filing on Monday. That leaves $34 billion for syndication. (Bloomberg – Continue Reading)

Lecornu was named as PM in September to break France’s political deadlock and get a budget passed for 2026.

France's deeply divided lower house, where no one party has a majority, is making that task difficult.

The Prime Minister secured a win last Tuesday when lawmakers narrowly adopted the social security budget, part of the broader spending plan, postponing an unpopular pensions reform until 2028 – a key Socialist demand.

But MPs have been unable to pass the state budget, which has been complicated by a tug of war between the right-leaning Senate that wants to cut costs, and a hung lower house in which the left has demanded more income from taxes.

Last Friday a joint committee of senators and MPs failed to reach a compromise, parliamentary sources said, meaning France will not have a 2026 budget by the end of this year. (rFI – Continue Reading)

Around 26 percent of German companies expect their business to deteriorate in 2026, according to a recent ifo Institute Survey. 59 percent of the companies surveyed do not expect their economic situation to change in the coming year. Only 14.9 percent hope to see an improvement. “Companies remain very cautious – there is no spirit of optimism to be seen anywhere,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo. “Hardly any sector is really optimistic about 2026.”

The skepticism is spread across all sectors of the economy. In 2026, 55.3 percent of manufacturing companies expect the situation to remain unchanged, 26.5 percent expect business to deteriorate, and 18.2 percent expect it to improve. The electrical equipment sector stands out as positive, with the share of optimistic companies (27.1 percent) exceeding that of pessimistic companies (12.7 percent). (Ifo – Continue Reading)

Japan is looking to the country's $7 trillion household savings hoard to support bond demand with plans to launch new products and incentives, building on hot recent retail sales and filling a void left by diminished central bank buying.

Efforts to attract Japanese households are not new -- in 2010, the finance ministry created a mascot Kokusai-sensei, or Professor JGB, to pitch the securities and later even offered gold coins to buyers of special reconstruction bonds. (Reuters – Continue Reading)