It took a moment of carelessness for plague to strike the French port city of Marseilles in 1720, despite an edifice of strict health measures. A boat carrying silks from the Ottoman Empire was allowed to skip the usual 40 days’ quarantine to unload its cargo, unleashing an epidemic that wiped out almost half the city’s population and which didn’t ...

Small Indian companies getting decimated by the world’s harshest coronavirus lockdown finally see a ray of hope. Details are still sketchy, but the Indian government plans to backstop banks if they increase overdraft limits by 20%, providing $39 billion of new working capital to smaller enterprises, Bloomberg News has reported. A state-sponsored fund will absorb losses. Seeing how the US ...

If one thing has seemed to unite Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s spring cleaning. With stay-at-home orders in effect, a long-delayed clearing-out of basements, closets, back bedrooms and desk drawers has become a popular way to pass the time. One result is that America’s thrift stores are informally reporting unprecedented volumes of donations. And that’s creating a problem that ...

Bloomberg European stocks fluctuated, Asian shares rose and US futures edged higher on Thursday as investors weighed corporate results and signs of progress in treating the coronavirus alongside miserable economic data. Oil futures continued to rebound after an early-week tumble. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index swung from a gain to a loss in early trading. Societe Generale SA slumped after ...

Bloomberg India stocks rose, heading for their first monthly gain this year, with the world’s biggest lockdown scheduled to end on Sunday. Equities across Asia gained on Thursday amid signs of progress in treating the coronavirus. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 2.8% to 33,605.99, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index added 2.7%. Both gauges have rebounded by more than 20% ...

Bloomberg Oil clawed back its recent heavy losses as output cuts from major producers seek to stymie an unprecedented global glut. Futures rose by almost $2 in New York to around $14 a barrel. Russian oil companies will cut output by about 19% from February levels, the nation’s Energy Minister, Alexander Novak told the Interfax news agency. Even at $10 ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE spent a record 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) of cash in the first quarter as Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury warned of the “gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known.” While almost half of the cash hit came from a bribery settlement, the abrupt drop in deliveries seen in March will worsen this quarter, eating further ...

Bloomberg As dividends are slashed around the world, the $42 billion in promised payouts by China’s biggest banks have a powerful defender — the Communist Party. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) and its three biggest peers are returning more than 30% of their 2019 earnings to shareholders, implying an average dividend yield of more than 6%. That’s ...

Emirates Business Etihad Airways continues to increase the number of special flights it is operating from Abu Dhabi to several key destinations around the world, as it prepares for an eventual return to scheduled flights, subject to the lifting of current travel restrictions. Throughout May, the airline will increase frequencies on recently announced special flights from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam, ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group (DGJG), the trade body for the gold and diamond jewellery sectorin Dubai, announced the re-opening of iconic Deira Gold Souk, in accordance with the directives by the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management. Starting April 26, the retailers within the souk began operating at reduced trading hours – retail stores to ...