April, 2020

• 15 April

  South Africa cuts off funding line to state-owned airline

  

  Bloomberg South African Airways (SAA) has been denied any further funding by its government owner as the national carrier looks for ways to recover from the coronavirus crisis and a local form of bankruptcy protection. The airline’s administrators, who were put in charge in December, were told by the state to instead source cash from available resources, according to a …

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• 15 April

  Covid-19: China air-passenger traffic falls 54%

  Bloomberg Air-passenger traffic slumped 54% in China in the first three months of 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak and related travel restrictions decimated demand. China’s aviation industry lost 39.8 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the first quarter, with airlines accounting for 33.6 billion yuan, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CACC) said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Passenger …

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• 14 April

  ‘Great lockdown’ to shrink global GDP by 3% in 2020

  

  Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the “Great Lockdown” recession would be steepest in almost a century and warned the world economy’s contraction and recovery would be worse than anticipated if coronavirus lingers or returns. In its first World Economic Outlook report since spread of Covid-19 and subsequent freezing of major economies, the IMF estimated on Tuesday that global …

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• 14 April

  Oil declines as concern of steep recession counters Opec+ cut

  

  Bloomberg Oil erased earlier gains as the demand destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic outweighed planned output cuts from the world’s biggest producers. Futures fell 4.6% in New York amid persistent concerns of a massive supply glut. A key timespread on American benchmark — a gauge of the health of the market — is at its weakest level in more …

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• 14 April

  China’s Big Oil urged to follow Mexican hedge as prices fall

  

  Bloomberg A researcher at China’s biggest oil company said the country’s drillers should copy the hedging strategies of Mexico and shale firms in the US, which use financial derivatives to protect against falling oil prices. Most of China’s oil production is unhedged, leaving the stability of the sector exposed to global market fluctuations, according to Dai Jiaquan, director of the …

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• 14 April

  Japan revises down emission figures cut by renewables

  

  Bloomberg Japan revised lower its latest greenhouse gas emissions figures, which it had already reported as the least since records began in 1990. Emissions fell 3.9% from a year earlier, data on Tuesday from the environment ministry showed, a bigger drop than the 3.6% estimate in November. The figures, for the year through March 2019, are the latest available. The …

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• 14 April

  Can falling CO2 emissions slow warming!

  

  Bloomberg Springtime is a difficult moment to puzzle out what the ongoing economic shutdown means for global warming. Carbon-dioxide levels always drop throughout the spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere, as hungry plants absorb the primary greenhouse gas. This seasonal effect is occurring as pandemic lockdowns have stopped billions of people from driving and working, slashing fossil-fuel use and …

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• 14 April

  China’s energy imports weaken over virus fear

  Bloomberg China’s overseas energy purchases weakened in March as demand from the top importer took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Crude oil imports fell to the equivalent of about 9.72 million barrels a day, the least since July, according to customs data released on Tuesday. Natural gas shipments were little changed from a year ago at 6.92 million tons …

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• 14 April

  Stocks, US futures climb after earnings season kicks off

  

  Bloomberg Stocks advanced on Tuesday along with US index futures at the outset of one of the most uncertain earnings seasons on record, after the coronavirus pandemic upended the global economy. Oil edged up, while gold slipped from a seven-year high. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index opened in the green, with the benchmark up 20% from its 2020 low. Futures …

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• 14 April

  This Malaysian stock skyrockets 800% by lowering power bills

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s best-performing stock surged more than 800% in the past year by helping people lower their electricity bills. Shares of Kejuruteraan Asastera Bhd., or KAB, have gained 108% to 80 sen just this year, after it started offering energy-saving services to hotels and offices in 2019. That helped its order book to reach 355 million ringgit ($82 million), enough …

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