Month: March 2020

(Bloomberg) — Gold is heading for the biggest weekly gain since 2016, burnishing its credentials as an effective haven, as fearful investors struggle to assess the impact of the expanding global health crisis.Bullion’s up 5.3% since Monday, near seven-year highs, amid a rush away from risk. An epic collapse in bond yields is spurring gains, with concerns rising over the scale of the coronavirus outbreak and effectiveness of policy.The precious metal is one of the standout winners from the outbreak, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. saying the commodity “has immunity to the virus.” Separately, money manager Jeffrey Gundlach told CNBC …read more […]

Oil slid nearly 1% on Friday as worries about global oil demand and economic growth slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak were heightened by concern over non-OPEC crude producers not yet having agreed to cut output further to support prices. Brent crude fell 48 cents, or 0.96%, to $49.51 per barrel by 0337 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 38 cents, or 0.83%, at $45.52 per barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday pushed for crude output by OPEC and associated producers – a group known as OPEC+ – to be …read more […]

Asian shares and U.S. stock futures fell on Friday following another Wall Street rout as disruptions to global business from the coronavirus beyond China worsened, stoking fears of a prolonged world economic slowdown. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell to a record low and two-year yields fell to the lowest in more than three years as investors increased bets that the Federal Reserve will follow this week’s surprise 50 basis point rate cut with further easing to prevent corporate bond spreads from widening further. The spread of a new coronavirus has accelerated so much in Europe, Britain and …read more […]

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Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten was one of the pharmaceutical executives who attended a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss possible vaccines and treatments for the fast-spreading virus on Monday. Dolsten said that Pfizer, which already collaborates with BioNTech on the development of mRNA-based vaccines for influenza, is also interested in the company’s efforts in coronavirus. …read more […]

Nokia is continuing its own investigation, and cooperating with the authorities, over compliance issues at its Alcatel-Lucent business, the Finnish firm said in its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The telecoms network equipment maker flagged the investigation a year ago in its 2018 annual report, news which hit its shares in March 2019. Nokia did not unveil details, but said the risks were limited. …read more […]

It has also doused expectations for a global economic rebound and triggered an unscheduled U.S. interest rate cut this week, the biggest since the global financial crisis. The March 3-5 poll of more than 40 economists, based both in and outside mainland China, forecast growth to fall to a median of 3.5% this quarter from 6.0% in the fourth quarter of 2019, a full percentage point lower than predicted in a Feb. 14 poll. Under a worst-case scenario, the median forecast for Q1 was 2.4%, compared with 3.5% in the previous poll – essentially meaning the worst-case view …read more […]