Eurozone investors deeply pessimistic in May amid coronavirus May 4, 2020 Eurozone investors remained deeply gloomy at the start of May, a survey has shown, although there was a minor improvement as countries such as Germany and Austria start to ease coronavirus lockdowns. The Sentix Eurozone investor sentiment index came in at minus 41.8 in May. This was below expectations of a pick up to minus [...]
Coronavirus: Eurozone factory output plunges at fastest pace on record May 4, 2020 Eurozone manufacturing output plunged at the fastest pace on record in April, survey data has confirmed, as coronavirus lockdowns caused production and trade to dry up. The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a gauge of the health of the sector, fell to 33.4 in April. This was the lowest score ever recorded [...]
British Chambers of Commerce tells PM to ramp up public spending May 3, 2020 The government must sustain high levels of public spending to help the private sector recover from the coronavirus, according to one of the country’s largest business bodies. British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) president Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith has written to Boris Johnson to say it was “a time to be bold” and that “an expansionary fiscal policy, [...]
Credit card lending fell for the first time in March May 1, 2020 UK consumers’ credit card debt fell for the first time since records began in March, as lockdown measures froze spending. The annual growth rate of credit card lending fell to minus 0.3 per cent, the first negative annual growth since the Bank of England (BoE) started tracking the data. The annual growth rate of other [...]
UK business groups call for more help and predict a collapse in output May 1, 2020 UK manufacturing output is likely to plunge by more than 55 per cent in the second quarter as demand evaporates due to the coronavirus outbreak, an industry body has said. It added that firms are set to need more government support as the lockdown is eased. The warning came as a survey showed that the [...]
Coronavirus: US weekly jobless claims at 3.8m as unemployment skyrockets April 30, 2020 More than 3.8m Americans filed jobless claims last week as unemployment in the world’s biggest economy continues to skyrocket amid the coronavirus pandemic. The new jobless claims, down from 4.4m the week before, mean roughly 30m Americans have lost their jobs in the last six weeks as states have all but shut down their economies. [...]
European Central Bank holds rates but offers lenders cheaper credit April 30, 2020 The European Central Bank has eased the conditions on its super-cheap loans for banks and launched a new package of “pandemic” lending in its latest bid to shore up the Eurozone during the coronavirus outbreak. The central bank stopped short of cutting interest rates further into negative territory or buying “junk” bonds, however. The decision [...]
Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq drop as coronavirus ravages global economy April 30, 2020 US stocks have fallen with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all lower after dire economic data and earnings highlighted the impact of the coronavirus shutdown and subdued investors. The Dow Jones index dropped 1.3 per cent in early trading. The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq slipped 0.1 per cent. [...]
Tory MP calls on government to extend job retention scheme April 29, 2020 A Conservative London MP has called on the government to extend the job retention scheme that pays “furloughed” workers’ wages to help businesses hit by a plunge in international visitors. Nickie Aiken, MP for Cities of London and Westminster, and the Association of International Retail have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to say that businesses [...]
US economy shrinks at fastest pace since financial crisis April 29, 2020 The US economy shrank at its fastest rate since the financial crisis in the first three months of the year as coronavirus hammered the country, figures have shown, although analysts warned worse is yet to come. US GDP shrank at an annualised rate of 4.8 per cent in the January to March period, the Bureau [...]