Bloomberg Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation, earlier seen in other parts of the world and called D614G, was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. ...

Bloomberg The almost daily drumbeat of tensions between the US and China shows little sign of letting up, while touching on everything from the coronavirus to trade to defense issues to monetary policy. President Donald Trump has made his tough positions on China a key element in the lead-up to the US presidential election, now less than three months away, ...

Bloomberg German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz proposed extending job-preserving subsidies during the coronavirus crisis to 24 months, saying the measure would cost the government an extra $12 billion. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government re-launched short-time compensation to shield workers and companies in Germany from massive job cuts during the pandemic. The benefit, normally limited to 12 months, initially covers as much ...

Bloomberg The UK housing market saw a surge in activity last month after a government tax break pushed sales to the highest in more than a decade, according to Rightmove. The property website said the number of agreed sales jumped in July, with the value hitting $48 billion. That’s the most since Rightmove began tracking the data over 10 years ...

Bloomberg California is bracing for another round of targeted blackouts on Monday as a heat wave continues to smother the region and power supplies run low. While the state’s grid operator said no outages were planned for Sunday night —sparing the region a third consecutive night of blackouts —the respite may be fleeting. The California Independent System Operator has warned ...

Bloomberg The Panama Canal is seeing signs of a rebound in global trade as ship transits recover from the depressed levels caused by the pandemic. Total transits through the waterway rose to 933 in July, from 845 in June, which was the fewest since the canal opened an expanded set of locks four years ago to accommodate bigger ships. Initial ...

Bloomberg Peru’s economy contracted less severely than expected in June after the government scaled back lockdown restrictions, even as the country became a global hotspot for coronavirus. Economic activity fell 18.1% from a year earlier, the country’s statistics agency said. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a drop of 25.9%. Industries such as mining, fishing ...

Bloomberg The UK economy will likely be smaller at the end of 2021 than it was before plunging into a record recession this year, according to a Bloomberg survey that casts fresh doubt over Bank of England projections. Calculations based on the median estimate of economists polled this month show gross domestic product (GDP) is set to be around 5% ...

Bloomberg US stocks climbed toward an all-time high as a rally in technology companies tempered a slide in banks. Treasuries rose. The S&P 500 took aim at its February closing record, buoyed fresh Chinese stimulus overnight. The index twice popped above the high last week before fading. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed as a jump in Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp. ...

Bloomberg Hedge funds turned bearish on the dollar for the first time since May 2018, an indication that a summer slump in the world’s reserve currency will be prolonged. Net futures and options positions held by leveraged funds against eight other currencies dropped to minus 7,881 contracts last week, according to data aggregated from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The ...