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Bloomberg The euro-area economy’s expansion has come to a dramatic halt, pummeled by a pandemic that’s killed thousands and destroyed businesses and livelihoods. First-quarter GDP data due on Thursday will show a 3.7% contraction, the first since 2013, capturing the early hit to the economy from shutdowns to contain the coronavirus. The current quarter is likely to be even worse, ...

Bloomberg More than seven weeks after Italy imposed one of Europe’s most rigorous lockdowns, money is finally trickling down to companies hurt by the ensuing economic paralysis. Ironically, the aid is starting to arrive just as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced easing of some of the curbs from May 4. But the delay in getting money to companies and households ...

Bloomberg Wirecard AG said an independent audit by KPMG uncovered no need to restate earnings, but added all data needed to confirm past revenues could not be obtained. Wirecard hired the accounting firm in October, which has been looking into the payment processor’s third-party partner business, as well as business activities in India and Singapore. In a statement on Tuesday, ...

Bloomberg Learning new skills is taking on greater significance at manufacturer Zero Point 8 in the UK’s industrial heartland. For workers, it’s about staying employed and healthy. For the company, it’s about keeping afloat. Social distancing rules that dictate production can only continue safely if workers are two meters apart means splitting them into two shifts. Some staff at the ...

Bloomberg Bayer AG’s Werner Baumann has a return engagement with shareholders after an unprecedented rebuke last year. Though an avalanche of Roundup litigation has grown, the chief executive officer appears to be on firmer footing this time around. While Baumann has failed to settle claims with more than 50,000 US plaintiffs who say the weedkiller caused cancer, he has drawn ...

Bloomberg The German government has brought in SAP SE and Deutsche Telekom AG to help develop an app to trace Covid-19 infections as European governments look to national champions to help build solutions to the pandemic. “Deutsche Telekom and SAP will play their part in Germany and throughout Europe to ensure that European digital technologies are a central component in ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), and Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (ADPower) announced on Monday the issuance of a joint tender for a first-of-its-kind project in the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region. The joint tender sets out to develop and operate the region’s first high-voltage, direct current, HVDC, sub-sea transmission system, that will ...

Bloomberg Oil dropped back below $15 a barrel as swelling global crude stockpiles made it more difficult for leading producers to balance the market by curbing output. Futures in New York slid 16%, snapping a four-day gain. While US drilling is sliding and Saudi Arabia started reducing output ahead of the start date for Opec+ supply cuts, an immense glut ...

RIYADH / WAM The government of Saudi Arabia signed a SR995 million contract with China to provide nine million Covid-19 tests for nine million people in the Kingdom. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the decision came “as a result of a phone call made between the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ...

Bloomberg India is considering a proposal to guarantee as much as 3 trillion rupees ($39 billion) of loans to small businesses as part of a plan to restart Asia’s third-largest economy, which is reeling under the impact of a 40-day lockdown, people with knowledge of the matter said. Under the proposal, small firms will be eligible to borrow an additional ...