A series of dispatches from America in the age of Covid-19. The hunt for a roll of toilet paper: It’s now one of those shared experiences in American life we will all one day tell our grandchildren about, just before they infect us with some new virus. None of the delivery services here in Berkeley, California, even pretend that they ...

Bloomberg Bankers are increasingly reluctant to give commodity traders in Asia the credit they need to survive as the lenders grow ever more fearful about the risk of a catastrophic default. Their anxiety has reached new heights in recent days as fabled Singapore oil trader Hin Leong Trading (Pte.) Ltd. struggles to repay debts said to amount to almost $4 ...

Bloomberg Middle Eastern stocks rose on Sunday following a rally in emerging-market assets at the end of last week as the US outlined steps to reopen its coronavirus-shuttered economy. Dubai’s DFM General Index climbed 2.6% as of 10:07 am local time, while gauges in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait advanced as much as 1.5%. MSCI Inc.’s index of developing-nation stocks strengthened ...

Bloomberg TripAdvisor Holdings Inc.’s crazy week left analysts scratching their heads about what might have caused the stock to surge as much as 2,700% in one session. The series B shares soared on unusually high volume, and the move was so inexplicable that the company issued a statement indicating it was “not aware of the reasons for the recent volatility ...

Bloomberg European banks are seeking to avoid setting aside billions of euros to cover bad loans after the coronavirus outbreak, in a departure from US competitors collectively taking a $25 billion hit. European lenders are set to report comparatively small increases in loan loss reserves in the first quarter and plan a similar approach during the rest of the year, ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) could take further action if needed to support the euro area through the economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, policy makers at the institution said. The central bank has already unleashed a barrage of support over the past few weeks to cushion countries across the bloc, including committing to spend more than 1 ...

Bloomberg The Philippines central bank stepped in to encourage banks to lend to small businesses reeling from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. A new rule allowing banks to count new loans to micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises as compliance with the reserve requirement is effectively a cut in the reserve ratio, central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said. Banks ...

Bloomberg Most Asian economies will suffer their biggest blow from coronavirus containment measures in the second quarter of the year, even as the worst seems to have passed already for China, according to Morgan Stanley. Asia excluding Japan will see two consecutive quarters of contraction — the technical definition of a recession — as lockdowns and social-distancing norms are still ...

Bloomberg Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina hinted at a bigger-than-normal interest-rate cut when the central bank meets next week, stressing that monetary easing is now the “main option.” “We are looking at different economic scenarios and weighing how much room we have to ease monetary policy and what size of steps we should take,” Nabiullina said in her final ...

Bloomberg Brazilian banks are snapping up a renewed wave of local corporate bonds after a sell-off sent yields soaring and left funds reeling from record withdrawals. As local bond spreads rise more than four-fold in secondary market, investors say companies in need of cash are opting to sell new debt directly to banks, which often charge lower yields than institutional ...