Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s government said any changes to the UK lockdown will be limited when the prime minister addresses the nation on Sunday, with the rate of coronavirus infections ruling out a major kickstart of economic activity. “There will be no grand reopening of the economy,” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told the BBC. Instead, the government is adopting a more ...

Bloomberg South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has won such praise for his handling of the coronavirus crisis that he’s being touted as a possible successor to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Advised by a panel of top scientists, Mkhize has crisscrossed the country assessing the health system’s ability to cope with an anticipated surge in cases. A medical doctor, he’s made ...

Bloomberg Italian debt is once again the must-watch bellwether for growing tensions within the euro-area. Global investors have lasered in on the nation’s bonds because, while they feature tempting yields, the government’s relatively weak finances add to the shared risk across the region. UniCredit SpA estimates foreign asset managers and hedge funds’ exposure to Italian government bonds may be around ...

Bloomberg Canada lost 2 million jobs in April as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns, by far the biggest decline on record but only about half what economists had expected. The drop in employment adds to the 1 million decline in March. The jobless rate jumped to 13% in April, the agency said in Ottawa. Economists were anticipating a loss of ...

Bloomberg Elon Musk lashed out at the California county blocking Tesla Inc. from reopening its only US car plant, threatening to immediately relocate operations to other states and cease manufacturing at the factory. Hours after the chief executive officer tweeted that Tesla would sue Alameda County, which didn’t allow the facility to resume operations, the electric-car maker filed a complaint ...

Bloomberg The US health-care industry wasn’t immune to the devastating job losses caused by the coronavirus last month. Even as health-care workers battled Covid-19 in emergency rooms and intensive-care units across the country, the industry saw 1.4 million jobs vanish in April, the Labor Department reported on. That equates to about one of every 12 health-care jobs. The largest declines ...

Bloomberg Shares of car-parts suppliers rallied after stronger-than-expected results suggest the companies may be doing better than feared amid the challenges posed by coronavirus. American Axle, Lear and Tenneco were among biggest gainers in the sector after all three reported Q1 results that impressed investors and analysts, though concerns about the second quarter persist. Shares also received a boost on ...

Bloomberg Plant-based protein companies have been trying to sway consumers away from beef for years. Now, meat shortages caused by Covid-19 pandemic are making their job easier. Faux meat producers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as supplies of beef tighten in the US. Wendy’s Co. has been running out of hamburgers at some locations, while Kroger Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. ...

Bloomberg In their latest feat of levitation, US stocks are about to pull off their biggest earnings-season rally in six years. Impressive — or ridiculous, depending on your view — considering it happened as American companies were reporting a 16% profit drop that was the worst since the financial crisis. Since firms started disclosing results, the S&P 500 has jumped ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) US equity portfolio declined in value for the first time in more than a year, reflecting the market rout caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The central bank, which has amassed vast holdings of foreign currency due to interventions to weaken the franc, had $94 billion invested in US stocks at the end of March, ...