May, 2020

• 20 May

  Joe Biden wins Oregon primary

  

  Bloomberg Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the presidential primary in Oregon on May 19, according to the Associated Press. Biden is the only candidate actively seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, but Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as well as Representative Tulsi Gabbard were also on the ballot. Sanders, who won Oregon in 2016, endorsed Biden but is still ...

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• 20 May

  China vows retaliation over Pompeo’s message to Tsai

  

  Bloomberg China denounced a rare message from Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to Taiwan’s president as “wrong and very dangerous,” as tensions between the two sides flared anew over US overtures toward the democratically ruled island. The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on Wednesday that the military would “take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard” China’s sovereignty, ...

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• 20 May

  Mozambique seeks help to fight ‘insurgency’

  

  Bloomberg Mozambique called for regional help in fighting an emboldened group of insurgents in the country’s gas-rich north who’ve aligned with the IS. The appeal by President Filipe Nyusi is the government’s strongest admission yet that it’s struggling to contain an insurgency that began in 2017 and has grown rapidly in both sophistication and confidence in recent months. It’s temporarily ...

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• 20 May

  Ukraine’s Zelenskiy walks back his one-term pledge

  

  Bloomberg The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who campaigned on promises to lead for just one term, said he’d consider a second as the challenges facing his country have grown. “I’ll think about a second term,” Zelenskiy told a news conference on Wednesday in Kiev marking his first year in the job. “One term won’t be enough to complete the whole ...

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• 20 May

  Mnuchin set to exhaust all $500bn in virus loan fund

  

  Bloomberg Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he plans to use all of the $500 billion that Congress provided to help the economy through direct lending from his agency and by backstopping Federal Reserve lending programs. Mnuchin said he has pledged to use $195 billion of those funds so far, and will use the rest after determining how best to deploy ...

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• 20 May

  UK inflation rate falls below 1% in April

  

  Bloomberg UK inflation slowed to the weakest level since 2016 in April as energy prices fell and the coronavirus lockdown put the brakes on economic activity. The prospect of persistently low inflation will fuel speculation that more action is needed from the Bank of England, intensifying the debate among policy makers over taking rates below zero for the first time. ...

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• 20 May

  Argentina debt proposals far apart with deadline looming

  

  Bloomberg Argentina and creditors seeking to hash out a $65 billion bond restructuring are still far apart, just days away from a deadline that could plunge the country into default. Talks have continued since bondholders sent two counterproposals, but there’s a gap of about 20 cents on the dollar between the government’s offer and the most aggressive creditors, according to ...

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• 20 May

  Facebook to limit offices to 25% capacity

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc. will limit offices to 25% occupancy, put people on multiple shifts and require temperature checks when it lets employees back into workplaces beginning in July, according to people familiar with the matter. The social media company outlined to staff globally how it plans to handle a return to major job sites starting July 6, providing a glimpse ...

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• 20 May

  ECB’s loan package to give European funding markets a break

  

  Bloomberg European funding markets have thus far been stubborn in correcting. This may be about to change. A new European Central Bank (ECB) loan facility for tackling the pandemic, known as PELTRO, will be allotted. The interest rate will be 25 basis points below ECB’s main refinancing operations, currently 0%. While it’s less tempting than the upcoming TLTRO III, another ...

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• 20 May

  US, Europen stock futures mixed on vaccine doubts; yields, oil drop

  

  Bloomberg US and European equity futures were mixed along with stocks in Asia as reports on Moderna Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine added to concern that a successful way to beat the pandemic remains a long way off. Treasuries held an overnight advance. Japan and India saw the bulk of gains in a mixed Asian session, with Shanghai and Hong Kong in ...

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