News

Bloomberg The US economy will contract sharply in late March and April as consumers and businesses slash spending, with the short downturn likely be officially deemed as being a recession, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The world’s largest economy will shrink 5% in the second quarter after zero gross domestic product growth in the first three months of the ...

Bloomberg There’s 1,000 miles and a body of water between Mark McGowan and the Italian epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak. He may as well be next door. His 16-room hotel, the Scholars Townhouse in Drogheda, north of Dublin, has seen a 60% drop in room revenue. The business market “just melted away overnight,” he said. “We have three people at ...

Bloomberg Ferrari NV has temporarily halted the production of its sports cars in Italy because of the spread of the coronavirus. The Italian supercar maker is experiencing its “first serious supply chain issues, which no longer allow for continued production,” it said in a statement on Monday. It will suspend production at the Maranello and Modena plants until March 27. ...

Bloomberg AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. are loosening up restrictions on internet plans as they deal with a surge in Americans working from home and pressure from regulators. AT&T lifted some data caps on broadband services, while Comcast said it would make its Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots free for everyone. Comcast, the biggest cable company, also said it was “pausing” ...

Bloomberg Poland should provide fiscal stimulus to aid the virus-hit economy before the central bank considers cutting borrowing costs that are already at a record low, Monetary Policy Council member Grazyna Ancyparowicz said. “It’s high time for fiscal policy to play first fiddle,” Ancyparowicz said in an interview. “Our monetary policy has already been near its limit and absolutely nothing ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) has played a key role in boosting Dubai’s economic growth, with a 12 percent contribution to the emirate’s foreign trade in 2019, compared to 11.2 percent in 2018, out of a total trade value of AED1.37 trillion recorded last year. This came as a direct result of the incentives and business facilitation ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi and Dubai Financial Markets (DFM) announced the prohibition period for insider trading at public shareholding companies listed in the UAE capital markets, which will take effect on Tuesday, March 17, in compliance with the applicable regulations and rules. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and DFM called on listed shareholding companies and brokerage companies to implement ...

GENEVA / WAM All World Trade Organisation (WTO), meetings are suspended until the end of April and Secretariat staff have been requested to work from home until the end of March. Director-General Roberto Azevedo has informed WTO members and staff that access to the organisation’s premises will be restricted as of March 16. “In light of developments related to the ...

Bloomberg Europeans were faced with increasingly draconian restrictions on public life on Sunday, as governments from Spain to Scandinavia and the Baltic tried to check the spread of the coronavirus and limit the damage to continent’s fragile economies. With Europe now the epicenter of outbreak, Austria banned gatherings of more than five people, urged citizens to self-isolate and said it ...

Dubai / WAM Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has expanded its geographical outreach with the launch of its first educational programme in broader Central Asia. The AED5,510,250 ($1.5 million) programme, being implemented in partnership with Mercy Corps, is set to tackle widespread youth unemployment in Tajikistan over a period of three years. The programme ...