The British Bankers’ Association said its members gave the green light to 44,657 mortgages in January, up from 43,581 in December and the highest number since January last year, when 45,794 were granted. The BBA said low mortgage rates were also driving strong interest from existing home-owners in remortgaging. Source: Reuters
The European Commission said Italy’s draft budget for next year could be in breach of European Union fiscal rules and is seeking clarification from the Italian government by Wednesday, it said in a letter sent to Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri. Source Reuters
- The United Auto Workers and AB Volvo-owned Mack Truck are set to resume contract negotiations on Monday.
- Meanwhile, at least 3,500 hourly employees across three states continue to strike.
- Workers from six factories began their strike on October 12 after the union’s contract expired on October 1 Source CNBC
Deutsche Bank AG <DBKGn.DE> said it is considering substantial cuts to the unit that trades interest-rate securities, a division that survived a large-scale pullback as part of the lender’s sweeping revamp in July, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The bank will likely cut a low double-digit percentage of jobs at the business, which employs several hundred staff, Bloomberg said, adding no final decision had been made. Source Deutsche Bank
