International News

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s retailers will need to get creative to survive the deepening recession that’s enveloped the city as tourists from the mainland who fuelled past rebounds are unlikely to come to the rescue this time. The city’s retail sales by value in March sank 42% from a year earlier to HK$23 billion ($2.97 billion), according to a government release. ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Asset Management’s alternative investment arm has struck a joint venture with New Ease China to capitalise on the nation’s booming logistics sector as online shopping skyrockets. JPMorgan Global Alternatives will partner with Shanghai-based logistics real estate investor New Ease to invest in properties across China, according to a statement on Wednesday. The initial portfolio consists of logistics facilities ...

Bloomberg Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has bought a 50% stake in a Singapore office tower in a deal valuing the property at S$1.68 billion ($1.2 billion). The agreement was struck with a consortium led by Perennial Real Estate Holding, with the sale expected to close around June, according to a statement. Alibaba and Perennial will then create ...

Bloomberg India’s dominant services industries crashed last month, signaling a massive contraction in the economy during the strict stay-at-home restrictions. The services purchasing managers index (PMI) plunged by 43.9 points to 5.4 in April, the lowest in the world, hitting single digits for the first time and staying below 50, the dividing line between contraction and expansion, according to data ...

Bloomberg German factories saw demand collapse in March, when measures to contain the coronavirus brought the economy to a sudden halt. Orders fell 15.6% from the previous month, the most since data collection started in 1991 and more than economists predicted. While all sectors were affected, investment goods plunged heavily. The Economy Ministry warned of big declines in production due ...

Bloomberg Italy and Spain, the two European countries most severely hit by the coronavirus, are suffering even deeper slumps after record contractions in the first quarter. Lockdowns that shut hotels and restaurants meant companies experienced unprecedented declines in output and new orders in April, and cut jobs like never before in the history of IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Surveys. Prospects ...

Bloomberg Sweden’s “relatively gentle lockdown strategy” will limit the downturn in its economy compared to those in other Nordic countries, according to analysts writing in SEB’s outlook report. The region’s biggest economy will nevertheless be severely tested by the corona crisis with SEB expecting Swedish GDP to shrink by almost 7% in 2020, making it the largest drop in modern ...

Bloomberg General Motors Co. is in discussions with banks to raise a new $2 billion loan to increase liquidity as it deals with a continuing slump in consumer demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The loan is structured as a 364-day revolving credit facility and is a precautionary measure to raise company’s liquidity, the people said, asking not to be ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration extended the date that companies can return loans from a popular coronavirus relief program without paying a penalty by one week to May 14. The US Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) had set May 7 as the date for firms that had improperly taken loans from the Paycheck Protection Program to repay them, but ...

Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is examining ways to move millions of workers off government support and back into their jobs as the UK leaves its lockdown. In March, as the UK went into lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus, Sunak announced a furlough program where workers received 80% of their wage to stay home. It’s now ...