International News

Bloomberg Carnival Corp. was cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service amid a prolonged suspension of the cruise company’s operations because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Moody’s assigned the company a Ba1 rating, the highest junk grade, and lowered its rating on Carnival’s senior unsecured notes by one notch to the same level. It said in a statement Monday that Carnival’s ...

Bloomberg Coronavirus-fractured supply chains are providing a wake-up call to British business and leaders with just seven months to go before Brexit triggers the biggest shakeup of trading relationships in a generation. Eighty-two percent of small- and medium-sized manufacturers say the pandemic has affected their supply chains. That’s according to a survey of more than 600 English firms by the ...

Bloomberg Leaders need to do more to secure a quick and sustainable recovery for the global economy, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). In a survey of almost 350 risk professionals, the Geneva-based group said that two-thirds identified a drawn-out downturn as the greatest risk now facing the world over the coming year and a half. The pandemic has ...

Bloomberg While uncertainty abounds in economic forecasting, US unemployment will likely stay “severely” elevated well into next year, according to a report by two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The jobless rate has already climbed to historic levels in just two months following the onset of the coronavirus-induced economic lockdown. A return to low unemployment will ...

Bloomberg European car sales virtually stopped in April, dropping the most on record after the coronavirus halted production and closed dealerships from Spain to Germany. Passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and the UK fell 78% year-over-year. Companies sold just 292,182 cars — the lowest number since data-gathering began in 1990, and a further ...

Bloomberg Thyssenkrupp AG will shrink and focus on higher-margin businesses as the coronavirus pandemic speeds the break up of one of Germany’s last mega-conglomerates. The company said it’s considering the sale of units that make steel and submarines as it fights for survival. Once a byword for German engineering prowess, Thyssenkrupp will be gradually split apart as Chief Executive Officer ...

Bloomberg India’s 21 trillion rupee ($277 billion) virus-relief package fell short of economists’ expectations, providing fiscal measures that will help improve growth over the years without delivering an immediate boost to an economy that desperately needs it. Analysts have been pouring over the details provided by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the past five days, and the conclusion of many ...

Bloomberg German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is planning a 57 billion-euro ($62 billion) aid package to help municipalities being hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said. The plan, which Scholz announced on Saturday without giving the size of the measures, would help local governments cover outstanding debt and tax shortfalls caused ...

Bloomberg Italy is set to open businesses, while Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government decided to unblock the country’s national borders and allow citizens to move freely within country starting June 3. Italians will be allowed full free movement, according to a government decree published in the early hours of Saturday morning. The statement confirmed that some businesses will reopen May ...

Bloomberg France is at higher risk of a credit downgrade by Fitch after the outlook on the country’s AA rating was revised to negative. Fitch cited the substantial worsening in public finances and economic activity expected this year due to the pandemic. “The combination of much reduced economic activity due to containment measures introduced from March and government policies to ...