April, 2021

• 5 April

  France cuts growth forecast as new lockdown begins

  

  Bloomberg France’s economy will rebound less than previously expected this year due to the latest four-week nationwide lockdown aimed at halting a surge in coronavirus cases. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire cut the country’s 2021 GDP growth forecast to 5% from 6%, following an 8.1% contraction last year. A Bloomberg survey in March showed economists were expecting the economy ...

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• 5 April

  Argentina’s Guzman says IMF credit line deal will take time

  Bloomberg Argentine Finance Minister Martin Guzman said finalising a plan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to repay $45 billion in debt likely won’t happen by May or June. Changing the terms of a previous repayment program would require the support of nations like the US, China, Germany, Japan and France, the finance minister said in an interview with CNN ...

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• 5 April

  Johnson pushes twice-weekly Covid tests to help reopen UK

  

  Bloomberg Everyone in England will be urged to take a coronavirus test twice a week as a new system of Covid passports is assessed for wide-scale use, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reopen the economy after lockdown. Free test kits will be made available through local pharmacies, community centers and home delivery services, when the new regime goes ...

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• 5 April

  Germany increases bond sales by $2.9bn

  Bloomberg Germany increased planned bond sales in the second quarter by 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion), as the government ramps up borrowing to help offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government will issue 59.5 billion euros of bonds and bills in the April-June period, up from 57 billion euros planned at the end of last year, the ...

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• 5 April

  Facebook data on 533m users reemerges online for free

  

  Bloomberg The personal data of more than half a billion Facebook Inc users reemerged online for free, a reminder of the company’s ability to collect mountains of information and its struggles to protect these sensitive assets. The leak includes personal information on 533 million Facebook users, such as phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birth dates, bios and in ...

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• 5 April

  US stock futures advance; pound at two-week high

  

  Bloomberg US futures edged higher while most Asian stocks climbed as investors digested the unexpectedly strong jobs report. Bonds steadied from earlier losses. S&P 500 futures rise 0.1%, adding to last week’s gains when payrolls data showed US employers added the most jobs in seven months. Treasuries pulled back from a selloff last week, with the benchmark 10-year yield steadying ...

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• 5 April

  A century of data show markets far from impervious to tax hikes

  

  Bloomberg The prospect of tax hikes may not have derailed gains in US stocks yet, but 100 years of data say the market is far from impervious to them. Stocks can take a hit when rates rise on corporations and individuals, according to Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at BTIG LLC. He sees 13 such instances, most recently ...

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• 5 April

  New head of GPIF board says fund isn’t distorting Japan’s stocks

  Bloomberg Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension pot, considers the impact of its investments on markets and isn’t distorting the country’s stocks, said Hirohide Yamaguchi, the newly appointed chairman of the fund’s board of governors. Yamaguchi, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), said also that it was important to look at the ...

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• 5 April

  UAE affirms full solidarity with Jordan, supports King Abdullah

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates has affirmed its full solidarity with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and expressed its full support for any measures taken by King of Jordan, King Abdullah II, and Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah to preserve the security and stability of Jordan and defuse any attempt that seeks to jeopardise either. The ...

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• 5 April

  Saudi hikes oil prices for Asia market in sign of confidence

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia raised prices for oil shipments to customers in its main market of Asia, signaling the kingdom’s confidence in the region’s economic recovery. The decision comes after the Opec+ cartel, led by the Saudis and Russia, agreed to boost daily crude production by more than 2 million barrels between May and July. Aramco, the Saudi state energy firm, ...

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