Month: August 2020

Oil prices climbed in early trade on Monday, clawing back over half of Friday’s losses, on hopes for a stimulus deal to shore up the U.S. economic recovery and a pledge from Iraq to deepen its crude oil supply cuts. Hopes grew on Sunday that a stand-off would end between U.S. Democrats and the White House on a new support package for cash-strapped U.S. states hit by the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both said they were willing to restart talks on a deal to cover the rest of 2020. …read more […]

…read more […]

Aug.09 — The U.S. is placing sanctions on 11 Chinese officials and their allies in Hong Kong, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam, over their roles in curtailing political freedoms in the former U.K. colony, the Treasury Department said Friday. Stephen Engle reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia.” …read more […]

Aug.09 — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for the highest-ranking visit by a U.S. official to the island in decades. Azar is expected to meet President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday morning, a person familiar with the arrangement. The trip stands to further worsen spiraling relations between the U.S. and China. Stephen Engle reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia.” …read more […]

Will Amazon open distribution centers at Simon malls? Simon Property Group is in talks to convert empty Sears and J.C. Penney stores, reports say. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Oil clawed back lost ground in Asia after Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled producer said it expects energy demand to improve. Futures in New York rose as much as 1.2%, after declining 1.7% on Friday. Saudi Aramco reported a 73% drop in second-quarter profit after crude prices collapsed amid the global pandemic. Oil consumption in Asia, Aramco’s largest regional market, has almost returned to pre-coronavirus levels and the company’s performance and demand for energy will probably improve over the rest of the year as nations ease coronavirus lockdowns, according to Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said. U.S. crude fell in …read more […]

Aug.09 — President Donald Trump said the crowd at his Bedminster, NJ resort was a “peaceful protest.” A reporter had asked why “dozens” of people in the room were not wearing masks. Trump spoke on Friday. …read more […]

Stock futures were little changed lower Sunday evening, pointing to a muted start to the week. …read more […]

Aug.09 — Democrats and Republicans have no new talks scheduled on the next stimulus bill. They are trillions of dollars apart on overall spending and on key issues, including on aid to state and local governments and the amount of supplementary unemployment benefits. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer spoke to reporters on Friday. …read more […]

Aug.09 — President Donald Trump signed an executive order that provides an extra $400 a week in jobless benefits — down from $600 weekly that had been provided through last week, authorized by a Congressional stimulus bill in March — and that states would be responsible for covering 25% of that cost. He spoke on Saturday in New Jersey. …read more […]

Aug.09 — President Donald Trump says Democrats want to ban voter ID in all states making it easier for voting to be fraudulent. He spoke in New Jersey on Saturday. …read more […]

This week, investors will turn their attention to another set of corporate earnings results, though the number of reports per day will slow from the heavy pace of the past couple weeks. Economic releases will include two sets of US inflation reports, along with the Commerce Department’s July print on advance retail sales. …read more […]

…read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Mall operator Simon Property Group Inc. has been in talks with Amazon.com Inc. to turn some empty store space formerly occupied by anchor tenants such as J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. into Amazon fulfillment centers, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The discussions started before the coronavirus pandemic, with the two companies exploring the idea of buying out occupied space from the retailers in some cases.Amazon has also been in talks with multiple mall landlords about putting its coming grocery-store chain in J.C. Penney locations, a person familiar with the matter told Dow …read more […]

The two companies have explored converting retail space formerly occupied by J.C. Penney Co Inc and Sears Holdings Corp into Amazon distribution centers, while in some cases, Simon and Amazon explored buying out occupied space from the retailers, the report said, citing sources. Simon’s discussions with Amazon have been under way for months and began before the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report. …read more […]