Bloomberg The sinking global economy is suffering through a colossal disinflationary shock that could briefly push it into dangerous deflation territory for the first time in decades. With many national economies all but shutting down in an effort to contain the coronavirus, prices on everything from oil and copper to hotel rooms and restaurant take-out are tumbling. “A powerful disinflationary ...

Bloomberg In just a matter of weeks, Ryan Sitton went from being a lame-duck commissioner of an obscure Texas agency to one of the key figures in a global effort to save the oil market from plummeting prices. Sitton, a Republican who lost the primary election for his own seat on the Texas Railroad Commission just one month ago, said ...

Bloomberg Norway, the biggest oil producer in western Europe, said it would consider cutting its output if there was a broad international agreement to curb supply. The Nordic nation, whose oil output is set to grow over the next few years, hasn’t been a part of coordinated international cuts to support prices since 2002. Opec and other producing nations are ...

Bloomberg The fallout from the coronavirus crisis is starting to upend wheat tenders in the world’s top importer. In a rare move, Egypt cancelled a tender within hours of announcing it, without giving a reason. The state buyer added a new clause requiring suppliers to replace any cargoes affected by virus-related restrictions with wheat from elsewhere, and bear the difference ...

Bloomberg California regulators want to use money from the state’s climate change cap-and-trade programme to offset rising utility bills, as the coronavirus forces many residents to stay home. Some of the proceeds from the system — which makes power plants, factories and many businesses pay for the greenhouse gases they emit — go to California residents twice each year as ...

Bloomberg Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage will participate in an Opec+ call next week aimed at resolving the global oil price war and will “keep an open mind” on how the province can participate in a solution, Premier Jason Kenney said. “We cannot have a meaningful impact on global prices because of our landlocked status,” Kenney said in response to ...

Bloomberg Saudi Telecom Co has postponed talks to raise debt to fund the acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc’s stake in its Egyptian business because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Work on the acquisition is still continuing and the kingdom’s largest telecoms operator may resume negotiations with banks for a loan of more than ...

Bloomberg Toronto home sales surged in March, though government measures to stem the spread of the Covid-19 virus slowed real-estate activity in the second half of the month. Sales in around Canada’s largest city jumped 12.3% from a year earlier to 8,012 transactions, while the benchmark price climbed 2.3% from February to a non-seasonally adjusted C$865,200 ($611,881), the Toronto Regional ...

Bloomberg Record low interest rates are tempting some retail investors in Singapore to load up on debt to buy shares, just as the coronavirus outbreak creates the most volatile markets since the global financial crisis. Earlier this year, 31-year-old insurance agent Heng Kai Sheng got advances on three separate credit cards to the tune of S$150,000 ($105,000). With the money, ...

Bloomberg For the longest time, Canadian real estate investment trusts were a stalwart for income investors. Now, dividend payments hang in the balance as commercial and residential tenants struggle to pay rent during a pandemic that has shut down much of the economy. Typically seen as a place to get a high, safe payout in a world of low bond ...