February, 2020

• 3 February

  Levi’s profitability rises on higher prices

  

  Bloomberg Levi Strauss & Co’s profitability rose in its latest quarter, with the jeans maker citing higher prices and fewer sales to off-price retailers. The company also reported continuing weakness in its US wholesale business, however. The shares alternated between losses and gains in late trading. Gross margin, a key gauge of profitability, rose 1.1 percentage point from a year …

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• 3 February

  British mall owner signals further drop in asset values

  

  Bloomberg Intu Properties Plc has written down the value of one of the UK’s largest malls, offering a glimpse at its parlous finances ahead of a planned equity raise. The company notified holders of 485 million pounds ($631 million) of bonds secured against Intu Metrocentre, a large mall in northeast England, that the debt secured against the property now accounts …

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• 3 February

  Luckin Coffee’s value drops as virus forces store closings

  Bloomberg Luckin Coffee Inc, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp, has lost nearly a third of its value since the outbreak of the coronavirus. However, at least one analyst maintains this may be just a blip for the company. The upstart has closed all of its coffee shops in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province and the epicenter of …

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• 2 February

  Opec, allies weigh response as oil plunges on virus panic

  

  Bloomberg The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies considered how to respond to a plunge in oil prices, with Russia signaling for the first time it was open to Saudi Arabia’s push for an emergency meeting. Potential dates being discussed are February 8-9 and February 14-15, though for now the next regular meeting on March 5-6 remains …

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• 2 February

  China’s $22 billion injection may help in easing global market rout

  

  Bloomberg A $22 billion injection into Chinese markets won’t be enough to prevent the country’s stocks and currency falling on Monday, but it may ease a global sell-off sparked by the spread of the coronavirus. That’s according to analysts after the People’s Bank of China and other regulators announced a slew of measures to shore up their financial markets when …

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• 2 February

  S African group to present $17b Eskom plan

  

  Bloomberg The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the nation’s biggest labour federation, will present its proposal to rescue state power company Eskom Holdings SOC to senior members of government and the business community on Monday. The union group, an ally of the ruling African National Congress, wants the government-owned pension fund, the Public Investment Corp, and state lenders, …

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• 2 February

  Texas, Iowa installed most wind turbines than ever last year

  Bloomberg The top two US states for wind power installed their most turbines ever last year, helping push up nationwide capacity growth to a seven-year high as tax benefits sent developers rushing projects into service. Texas added almost 4 gigawatts and Iowa installed 1.7 gigawatts, expanding their lead in wind power capacity, according to a report from the American Wind …

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• 2 February

  Earnings an afterthought in panic-stricken market

  

  Bloomberg Investors who assumed the quarterly deluge of corporate results would determine the direction of stocks in late January have obviously found themselves with much bigger concerns to cope with. Earnings season is fast being forgotten in a market where cascading fear about the human toll of coronavirus has come to dominate sentiment. The S&P 500 just dropped the most …

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• 2 February

  Pound ended tough month on bright note

  

  Bloomberg The pound ended a tumultuous month on a high note on the Brexit day. Sterling was on course for its biggest weekly gain since mid-December, a day after the Bank of England (BOE) kept interest rates unchanged, supporting the currency. Analysts expect it to climb more than 1% to $1.33 by the end of June, according to a Bloomberg …

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• 2 February

  WeWork to name real estate veteran as CEO

  

  Bloomberg WeWork plans to name Sandeep Mathrani as its new chief executive, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mathrani, who previously was chief executive of Brookfield Property Partners’ retail group, will replace Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham. The duo has served as co-CEOs of WeWork parent We Co since Adam Neumann stepped down in September following a failed …

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