International News

Bloomberg Germany took a step towards declaring a state of emergency to unlock a historic rescue package to cushion the blow of the coronavirus pandemic. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz urged lawmakers to open up constitutional debt limits to combat a crisis that threatens modern life. New borrowing of $169 billion, equivalent to half of the country’s normal annual spending, will ...

Bloomberg The biggest Nordic economy may be about to sink into its worst recession in living memory, with the fallout of the coronavirus likely to do more damage than the financial crisis of 2008. Gross domestic product will probably fall about 4% this year, Swedbank economists said in a new report on Wednesday. But the decline could be as bad ...

Bloomberg CVS Health Corp. said it plans to hire 50,000 people in full-time, part-time and temporary jobs to tackle surging demand for drugstore services and health goods during the US coronavirus outbreak. The drugstore chain said it plans to hire store workers, delivery drivers, distribution center workers and customer service employees. CVS and other pharmacies are inundated with people stocking ...

Bloomberg UK inflation slowed slightly in February before the impact of the coronavirus really hit the economy. Consumer prices rose 1.7% from a year earlier, from 1.8% previously, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Since the information was gathered the inflation outlook has been thrown into turmoil by economic crisis wrought by coronavirus pandemic, and the curbs on ...

Bloomberg Google and other digital advertising companies are seeing revenue growth wither as marketers slash spending ahead of an expected recession triggered by the coronavirus. The global pandemic and the ensuing slump in economic activity is crushing several industries that have been big buyers of Google and Facebook Inc. ads, including online travel agents, automakers, restaurants and retail. “I’m hearing ...

Bloomberg Deere & Co. is halting production in agricultural behemoth Brazil as the coronavirus outbreak erodes sales for the world’s biggest tractor maker. In a bid to protect employees and families, Deere said it will suspend two facilities in Brazil on Wednesday for an undetermined period while four other units will stop on Monday. Deere, the world’s biggest tractor maker, ...

Bloomberg Companies in India are scrambling to ensure that the millions who staff the back offices of Wall Street banks and take on work outsourced by firms from airlines to insurers can keep going as the nation mandates increased work from home amid a spike in coronavirus cases. UBS Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and other global giants are working ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said a state of emergency will be declared for a month from March 26 as the government steps up efforts to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak. The premier made the announcement on Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting in Bangkok. The decree will give him broad powers to impose further curbs on every-day life, under ...

Bloomberg India will have enough grain stockpiles to feed its poor for at least a year-and-a-half as reserves are likely to further balloon after record harvests in the South Asian nation that has been locked down to check the spread of the coronavirus. There will be no food shortage in the second-most populous country, DV Prasad, chairman of state-run Food ...

Bloomberg China’s Hubei province said it will allow transportation to resume for the city of Wuhan on April 8, effectively lifting a mass quarantine over the city where the coronavirus first emerged last December. People in Wuhan will be allowed to leave the city and Hubei province, according to a statement on the provincial government’s website on Tuesday. The easing ...