International News

Bloomberg UK inflation slowed in March as the nation entered lockdown and oil prices continued to tumble. Consumer prices rose 1.5% from a year earlier, down from 1.7% in February, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Downward pressure came from fuel and clothing prices. Core inflation eased to 1.6%. The inflation outlook has been thrown into turmoil by ...

Bloomberg Scotland’s economy could shrink by 12% this year as a result of restrictions put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, while the government said the financial hit was no reason to ease the lockdown prematurely and risk greater harm. The overall picture for the year is based on output declining by a third during the ...

Bloomberg New York State has applied for a $4 billion federal loan to shore up its unemployment trust fund amid a record surge of claims by workers sidelined by the Covid-19 pandemic, a spokeswoman said. “All benefits, including enhanced benefits, are being paid, and to help ensure it remains that way the state has applied for an up to $4 ...

Bloomberg Lyft Inc. withdrew its profit and revenue forecasts for 2020, following rival Uber Technologies Inc. in citing evolving and unpredictable impacts from Covid-19. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company has seen demand fall dramatically, crushing its earlier estimates. Uber and Lyft, both of which aren’t yet profitable, told investors earlier this year they would turn a profit by the end ...

Bloomberg Netflix Inc. posted the strongest financial results in company history, adding a recorded 15.8 million paid subscribers — almost double the figure forecast by Wall Street analysts. Yet rather than gloat, the company’s executives warned investors not to get too excited. Netflix benefited in the first quarter from an unprecedented health crisis, the global coronavirus pandemic. With billions of ...

Bloomberg In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore was a global standard bearer for taming the deadly illness. Now it’s home to Southeast Asia’s largest recorded outbreak and is racing to regain control. One reason behind this reversal can likely be traced back to six days in February, when the earliest sign of what would become an explosion ...

Bloomberg As the outlook for Indian corporate profits grows increasingly murky under the influence of the coronavirus pandemic, analysts are hunkering down for a protracted series of forecast cuts. Asia’s third largest economy is set for a near-complete disruption of economic activity for at least 40 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread ...

Bloomberg Heritage Foods and Parag Milk Foods are almost doubling in market value as sales of packaged milk pick up pace with Indians stocking up to survive the world’s biggest lockdown. The nation is the largest producer and consumer of milk, pouring it liberally into sugared teas and coffees, as well as using derivatives like ghee, curd, and cottage cheese ...

Bloomberg Thailand may ease its partial national lockdown starting from early May in provinces that are free of novel coronavirus infections. Only provinces clear of the pathogen for two weeks would be eligible, Kamnuan Ungchusak, an adviser to the nation’s health minister, told reporters. The proposal will undergo further evaluation, he said. The Asian nation is under a state of ...

Bloomberg Visitors to Japan in March slumped to levels not seen since Japan’s economic heyday in the 1980s after the coronavirus pandemic shut down global travel, an early sign the impact the drop will have on retailers that thrived on tourist spending. Visitors in March fell 93% from a year earlier to 193,700 people, the steepest drop on record, figures ...