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Bloomberg Vietnam officials ordered one of the nation’s largest medical centers to be locked down and demanded thousands of employees and people who recently visited Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital be tested for Covid-19 after nurses and food workers contracted the disease. The Southeast Asian country, which has 179 confirmed cases and no reported deaths from the virus, has tied most ...

Bloomberg China’s trillion dollar asset-management market opens wider this week, forcing BlackRock Inc, Vanguard Group Inc. and other global firms to make a strategic decision: Go it alone or work with an entrenched local partner. While the further liberalisation of the investment banking and money management industries in China has been overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis, wealth firms are nonetheless ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he plans to submit an extra budget in about 10 days to help fund an unprecedented economic stimulus package, while warning residents to prepare for a long battle against the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Abe said there was no need to declare an emergency now, but urged the ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s government will introduce a second round of financial assistance for businesses affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung. The subsidies from the Epidemic Prevention Fund would aim to protect workers, Cheung wrote in a blog on Sunday that didn’t provide details of the plan or a timeline. The government announced its first ...

Bloomberg French business confidence plunged at a record pace in March as shutdowns to contain the coronavirus have left the economy running at 65% of normal activity. The drop mirrors that seen in Germany in figures earlier this week, where the Ifo Institute said sentiment dropped at the fastest pace since reunification. The French index fell to 95 from 105 ...

Bloomberg Carnival Corp. is in talks to raise as much as $7 billion as the cruise ship operator seeks to shore up its finances amid a halt on global travel, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company, looking to raise cash to improve liquidity as the Covid-19 pandemic upends its business, is being advised by lenders including ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked the leaders of world’s biggest economies for more support to keep the international monetary system from seizing up due to the pandemic. The IMF sought backing to create a sizable quantity of reserve assets called SDRs, or special drawing rights, as it did in the 2009 global financial crisis, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva ...

Bloomberg Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is discussing options with banks to raise cash as the rental-car company seeks to weather a worldwide slowdown in travel, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Among the options being discussed by the company and banks led by Barclays Plc are a first-lien loan, second-lien financing or collateralising the company’s vehicle fleet. Hertz ...

Bloomberg General Motors Co. (GM) agreed to a $120 million settlement over faulty ignition switches that allegedly caused cars to stall and air bags to deploy, in some cases triggering fatal accidents. The deal, which must be approved by a judge, would resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed before the automaker sought bankruptcy protection in 2009. Under the settlement, which was ...

Bloomberg Irish unemployment may surge to the highest level since the 1980s, as the coronavirus takes an unprecedented toll on the economy. The jobless rate could rise 18% in the second quarter, the government-backed ESRI think-tank said, should current restrictions remain in place for 12 weeks as planned. About 350,000 people would lose their jobs, the think tank said, with ...