International News

Bloomberg The euro-area economy started to claw its way out of its deepest downturn ever as the relaxing of coronavirus lockdowns allows thousands of businesses to reopen. The big question is how long it stumbles along at the bottom before a meaningful recovery starts to take shape. While a report from IHS Markit on Thursday offered some hope, it also ...

Bloomberg Automotive industry borrowers have raised $155 billion amid the coronavirus outbreak as the pandemic shutters showrooms and factories. Companies worldwide have been drawing down on existing credit lines and seeking new credit deals to weather the health crisis as it hits demand for vehicles. The $155 billion gathered in less than three months since mid-March is equivalent to the ...

Bloomberg First the virus lockdown shuttered the two dairies where farmer Gavrila Tuchilus sells the milk from his 1,500 cows. Then his fields dried up, forcing him to abandon his barley crop for the first time in 39 years. “A double war is taking place,” said Tuchilus, from Matca, a village in southeast Romania. “It’s a war against invisible Covid-19 ...

Bloomberg Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he plans to use all of the $500 billion that Congress provided to help the economy through direct lending from his agency and by backstopping Federal Reserve lending programs. Mnuchin said he has pledged to use $195 billion of those funds so far, and will use the rest after determining how best to deploy ...

Bloomberg UK inflation slowed to the weakest level since 2016 in April as energy prices fell and the coronavirus lockdown put the brakes on economic activity. The prospect of persistently low inflation will fuel speculation that more action is needed from the Bank of England, intensifying the debate among policy makers over taking rates below zero for the first time. ...

Bloomberg Argentina and creditors seeking to hash out a $65 billion bond restructuring are still far apart, just days away from a deadline that could plunge the country into default. Talks have continued since bondholders sent two counterproposals, but there’s a gap of about 20 cents on the dollar between the government’s offer and the most aggressive creditors, according to ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. will limit offices to 25% occupancy, put people on multiple shifts and require temperature checks when it lets employees back into workplaces beginning in July, according to people familiar with the matter. The social media company outlined to staff globally how it plans to handle a return to major job sites starting July 6, providing a glimpse ...

Bloomberg European funding markets have thus far been stubborn in correcting. This may be about to change. A new European Central Bank (ECB) loan facility for tackling the pandemic, known as PELTRO, will be allotted. The interest rate will be 25 basis points below ECB’s main refinancing operations, currently 0%. While it’s less tempting than the upcoming TLTRO III, another ...

VIENNA / WAM The Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), joined a group of more than 25 development finance institutions (DFIs) scaling up cooperation in response to Covid-19. The group committed to providing and mobilising billions of dollars of funding to support the private sector in delivering critical healthcare supplies, ensuring micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can access capital, ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw altogether from the World Health Organisation (WHO), a move that would leave Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the most prominent voice leading the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. In a four-page letter detailing his grievances with the WHO, Trump called on the group to “demonstrate independence from China,” renewing a complaint ...