europe virus Archives

1. Stocks Slump on Rising Covid Cases; Dollar Gains

U.S. equities slumped along with European shares on concern that rising coronavirus cases will weaken the global economy and as prospects dimmed for fiscal aid from Washington before the presidential election. Energy and materials companies were among the worst performers on the S&P 500 Index. In Europe, a gauge of tech stocks fell the most since March after German software maker SAP SE plunged 20% following a cut to its revenue forecast and warnings that the pandemic will hurt business through mid-2021. Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp. slid on China’s plan to sanction the companies after the U.S. approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan last week.

The S&P 500 Index decreased 0.9% as of early morning New York time.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1.1%.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.3%.

2. China to Sanction Boeing, Raytheon Over U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan

China will impose unspecified sanctions on Boeing Co.’s defense unit, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp. after the U.S. State Department approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan last week. The sanctions will be imposed “in order to uphold national interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday in Beijing. The action follows the U.S. State Department’s approval last week of $1.8 billion in sales of new weapons for Taiwan and submission of the package to Congress for a final review. The deals, and an earlier one involving Lockheed F-16 fighters, are taking place amid rising tension between the superpowers ahead of the U.S. election next week.

3. Pelosi Awaits Virus Stimulus Offer Today as Hope for Vote Fades

The three months of squabbling over a new round of virus relief moved no closer to a resolution over the weekend, all but extinguishing the prospects of a stimulus bill being written, voted on, and signed into law by President Donald Trump before the election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s waiting for another counter-offer on Monday from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, as she and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows accused each other of “moving the goalposts” in negotiations. Much of the weekend was devoted to work by congressional committees with the goal of writing legislation, but aides in both parties said little progress was made despite the pledges from both sides that they want to quickly deliver $1,200 (89,000 INR) stimulus payments to most Americans along with aid to struggling businesses.

4. Europe Struggles to Regain Control from Second Covid-19 Wave

Europe took a step closer to the strict rules imposed during the initial wave of the pandemic, with leaders struggling to regain control of the spread while confronting growing opposition to restrictions. The Czech Republic — the European Union’s worst hot spot — and Poland signaled more curbs may be near, and Belgium is mulling a lockdown. AstraZeneca said its vaccine candidate produced a robust immune response in elderly people, while Johnson & Johnson said the first batches of its shot could be available in January. Both companies are resuming trials that had been paused due to safety concerns. U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said his “central expectation” is there will be a vaccine to roll out in the first half of 2021. The World Health Organization’s director general said some countries in the northern hemisphere are facing a “dangerous moment.”

5. Dubai announces $136 million extra stimulus package

Dubai has announced a new 500 million dirhams (INR 1000 cr) stimulus package to support the local economy, taking Dubai’s total stimulus measures this year to 6.8 billion dirhams, the crown prince of the emirate said on Twitter on Saturday. “The private sector is a major partner in Dubai’s development process, and we have adopted a set of new exemptions for some fees and a reduction in rents for some sectors, as well as an extension of the validity of a previous set of exemptions from fees,” said Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al-Maktoum.

6. U.S. appeals WTO ruling on its multi-billion tariffs on China

The United States lodged an appeal on Monday against a WTO ruling last month that found U.S. tariffs imposed on China in 2018 breached global trade rules, a World Trade Organization (WTO) official said. A three-person panel had ruled that U.S. had not justified why the tariffs imposed after a Section 301 investigation against China were a justifiable exception to its obligations. The U.S. delegation, in a speech seen by Reuters announcing its appeal, said that the panel report “reflects a major, missed opportunity for the WTO to begin to address the most serious problem faced by every member that seeks a balanced and fair world trading system: namely, aggressive, state policies that seek to dominate broad industrial sectors.”

7. Fiat, PSA to win EU approval for $38 billion merger

Fiat Chrysler and PSA are set to win EU approval for their $38 billion (INR 2.8 lakh cr) merger to create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, as they strive to meet the industry’s dual challenges of funding cleaner vehicles and the global pandemic. The green light from the European Commission would formalise the creation of Stellantis, a carmaking group that could tap hefty profits from selling RAM pickup trucks and Jeep SUVs to U.S. drivers to fund the expensive development of zero-emission vehicles for sale in Europe and China. The all-share merger announced late last year would unite brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Maserati with the likes of Peugeot, Opel and DS.

8. Bond Defaults Deliver 99% Losses in New Era of U.S. Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy filings are surging due to the economic fallout of Covid-19, and many lenders are coming to the realization that their claims are almost completely worthless. While few could have foreseen the pandemic’s toll on the economy, the depth of investors’ pain from corporate distress was all too predictable. Desperate to generate higher returns during a decade of rock-bottom interest rates, money managers bargained away legal protections, accepted ever-widening loopholes, and turned a blind eye to questionable earnings projections. Corporations, for their part, took full advantage and gorged on astronomical amounts of debt that many now cannot repay or refinance. It’s a stark reminder of the long-lasting repercussions of the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented easy-money policies. Ultralow rates helped risky companies sell bonds with fewer safeguards, which creditors seeking higher returns were happy to accept. Now, amid a new bout of economic pain, the effects of those policies are coming to bear.

9. Jack Ma Wealth Surges Above Walmart Heirs’ With Record Ant IPO

Jack Ma, the former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is poised to become the world’s 11th richest person after Ant Group Co. priced shares for a record IPO. Ma’s 8.8% stake is worth $27.4 billion based on the stock pricing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. That will take the 56-year-old’s fortune to $71.6 billion (INR 5.3 lakh cr) on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, exceeding that of Oracle’s Larry Ellison, L’Oreal’s heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and individual members of the Waltons, whose family own Walmart Inc. Ant’s mammoth listing is poised to boost the fortunes of a group of early investors and employees. The company has granted staff share-based awards since 2014 and at least 18 other people have become billionaires from the IPO.

10. Brexit decision entirely separate from U.S. election outcome

Britain’s decision on whether to agree a Brexit deal with the European Union is entirely separate to the outcome of the U.S. election next month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.

“The two things are entirely separate,” Johnson said, when asked about an Observer newspaper report that he was waiting to see the U.S. result before making a Brexit decision, and whether he was concerned about the prospect of a Joe Biden presidency.

1. European Stocks Drop; U.S. Futures Recovers

Global stocks retreated as worries about a delay to U.S. economic stimulus, the impact of surging virus cases across Europe and the possibility of American election interference weighed on market sentiment. U.S. futures recovered losses and Treasuries steadied as investors also considered earnings data. Tesla climbed in pre-market trading after beating analysts’ estimates. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.5% to the lowest level since Oct. 2.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.5%.

The dollar was little changed, while gold declined.

2. AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial Brazil volunteer dies, trial to continue

Brazilian health authority Anvisa said on Wednesday that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had died but added that the trial would continue. Oxford confirmed the plan to keep testing, saying in a statement that after careful assessment “there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial.” Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the volunteer had been given a placebo and not the trial vaccine, citing unnamed sources.

3. Tesla posts its most profitable quarter ever as it blows past analyst estimates

Tesla on Wednesday posted its fifth consecutive profitable quarter, putting the electric automaker on track to turn its first-ever annual profit this year. The company said it earned an adjusted $0.76 per share for the three months that ended September 31 on $8.77 billion in revenue. Wall Street analysts expected $0.55 of earnings per share on $8.26 billion in revenue. The company’s stock price rose about 3% in late trading following the release. Shares have soared nearly 400% higher this year as investors clamor for a piece of Tesla’s growth. Tesla is on track to deliver 500,000 cars this year, with factories in Shanghai and Berlin expected to begin production next year.

4. New Virus Records Across Europe; Spike in South Africa

Poland joined Germany and Hungary in reporting another record highs in coronavirus infections, while Spain and France became the first countries in Western Europe to pass 1 million cases. South Africa is concerned over a sharp resurgence after the country eased movement curbs at the beginning of the month. Hospitalizations in the U.S. have reached a two-month high, led by the Midwest. New York state’s new cases exceeded 2,000 for the first time since May. AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson may resume U.S. trials as soon as this week for vaccines that are backed by the government’s Operation Warp Speed program. The companies previously halted testing for the shots because participants fell ill.

5. COVID & technology could disrupt 85 million jobs by 2025: WEF

The coronavirus pandemic has deepened inequalities across labour markets and accelerated the urgency with which the public and private sectors must act to ensure millions of people remain employable in a changing jobs market, the World Economic Forum (WEF) stressed yesterday. Within the next five years, automation and a new division of labour between humans and machines will disrupt 85 million jobs around the world, WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2020 found. Remote work is here to stay and going forward, workers should expect to change careers and hone skills multiple times throughout their careers to adapt to new labour trends.WEF’s report found that the pace of technological adoption is expected to remain accelerated during the next five years with the continued adoption of cloud computing, big data and e-commerce. The pandemic-induced economic crisis has only accelerated the process and continued to clobber entire sectors on a far worse level than the 2008 global financial crisis.

6. More than half of small European firms fear closure: McKinsey

The finding comes as warnings multiply of an impending wave of business insolvencies and as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others urge the region’s governments to boost state support to help companies weather the coronavirus pandemic. The McKinsey survey of more than 2,200 companies in five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain – found that 55 percent expected to shut down by September next year if their revenues remained at current levels. In Europe, they employ more than 90 million people, but their small size makes them vulnerable to cash flow crisis. In Spain, for example, 83 percent of the 85,000 businesses that have collapsed since February employ fewer than five workers.

7. US approves USD 1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan amid tensions with China

In a move that will irk China, the United States on Tuesday approved the potential sale of three weapon systems to Taiwan, including missiles and artillery, that could have a total value of USD 1.8 billion. The move comes at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan are heightened. The relations between China and the US have also deteriorated in recent times due to various reasons including Indo-Pacific and coronavirus pandemic.China has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with invasion and has adopted an aggressive policy to intimidate the self-governing island.For decades, the Chinese government has claimed authority over Taiwan. Though Taiwan is not recognised by the UN, its government maintains a relationship with the US and does not accept the Chinese authority.

8. India to Restore Visas Despite Virus in Bid to Open Economy

India is reopening its borders to international visitors in a bid to revive economic growth even as the South Asian nation faces the world’s second-worst coronavirus outbreak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using a dip in new Covid-19 infections to prise open the economy from its strict lockdown, welcoming foreigners on business trips, but not tourists. While regular scheduled commercial flights remain off limits for the time being, overseas travelers can use other options, including flights under a government repatriation program, so-called air-bubble agreements, and private charters. Ships will also be permitted. All travelers must “strictly adhere” to the guidelines on quarantine and other rules.

9. Bitcoin soars to new 2020 high on PayPal shift to crypto

Bitcoin, the largest digital coin, soars after PayPal announced that it would allow customers to use cryptocurrencies.PayPal customers can use select cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on the platform. This is considered the “biggest news of the year” in crypto. The news sparked an exuberant response from crypto fans who pointed to a string of recent announcements that suggest wider acceptance by old-school financial mainstays. Fidelity Investments announced in August that it’s launching its first Bitcoin fund, adding its establishment name and star power to the often-maligned asset class.

10. China to issue export control list at appropriate time: Commerce Ministry

China will issue a control list under its new export control law at the appropriate time, Gao Feng, commerce ministry spokesman, told reporters on Thursday. On Saturday, China passed a law restricting exports of controlled items, allowing the Chinese government to act against countries that abuse export controls in a way that harms China’s interests.