May, 2020

• 6 May

  JPMorgan strikes deal in China

  

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Asset Management’s alternative investment arm has struck a joint venture with New Ease China to capitalise on the nation’s booming logistics sector as online shopping skyrockets. JPMorgan Global Alternatives will partner with Shanghai-based logistics real estate investor New Ease to invest in properties across China, according to a statement on Wednesday. The initial portfolio consists of logistics facilities ...

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• 6 May

  Alibaba buys 50% stake in S’pore tower

  Bloomberg Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has bought a 50% stake in a Singapore office tower in a deal valuing the property at S$1.68 billion ($1.2 billion). The agreement was struck with a consortium led by Perennial Real Estate Holding, with the sale expected to close around June, according to a statement. Alibaba and Perennial will then create ...

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• 6 May

  World’s worst PMI shows 15% contraction in India economy

  

  Bloomberg India’s dominant services industries crashed last month, signaling a massive contraction in the economy during the strict stay-at-home restrictions. The services purchasing managers index (PMI) plunged by 43.9 points to 5.4 in April, the lowest in the world, hitting single digits for the first time and staying below 50, the dividing line between contraction and expansion, according to data ...

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• 6 May

  Nigeria stares into the abyss of a life without crude cash

  

  Bloomberg Africa’s most populous nation is getting almost nothing from its massive oil wealth. While headline Brent-crude futures have rallied sharply in the past few weeks — rising above $30 a barrel — a glut of Nigerian oil is fetching about $10 less than that. It’s a level that means fiscal revenue for the continent’s biggest economy has cratered. “It’s ...

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• 6 May

  Suncor Energy cuts its dividend 55%, chops capital spending again

  

  Bloomberg Suncor Energy Inc is going further into a defensive crouch, cutting its capital-spending plans for a second time and shrinking its dividend payout, as the Covid-19 pandemic hammers crude demand. Capital spending this year will be C$3.6 billion to C$4 billion ($2.6 billion to $2.9 billion), down from an already-reduced range of C$3.9 billion to C$4.5 billion announced in ...

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• 6 May

  Peek into wooden mast reveals wind power’s towering future

  

  Bloomberg Standing nearly 100 feet tall on the rocky shore of the island Bjorko in southwest Sweden, a white wind tower looks indistinguishable from thousands of similar tubes that help generate clean energy all over the world. But inside is another story. The interior of the tower is a tableau of creamy white boards, soaring into the air like a ...

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• 6 May

  Permian drillers slash output

  

  Bloomberg On the same day Opec-style oil quotas in Texas were pronounced dead on arrival, shale drillers disclosed more supply cuts in response to the crude market collapse. Diamondback Energy, Parsley Energy and Centennial Resource Development became the latest Permian Basin shale explorers to say they were curbing output. A pandemic-fueled crash in oil prices has been so severe that ...

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• 6 May

  Australia’s solar farm gets green light after power deal

  Bloomberg Neoen SA will start construction on Australia’s biggest solar farm after winning a power purchase agreement with Queensland state’s renewables company. The Paris-based company will invest A$570 million ($366 million) in the Western Downs Green Power Hub, with first electricity from the facility expected in the first quarter of 2022. As much as to three-quarters of the energy produced ...

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• 6 May

  German factory orders slump by 15.6% in March

  

  Bloomberg German factories saw demand collapse in March, when measures to contain the coronavirus brought the economy to a sudden halt. Orders fell 15.6% from the previous month, the most since data collection started in 1991 and more than economists predicted. While all sectors were affected, investment goods plunged heavily. The Economy Ministry warned of big declines in production due ...

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• 6 May

  Recession deepens in Europe’s south amid lockdown damage

  

  Bloomberg Italy and Spain, the two European countries most severely hit by the coronavirus, are suffering even deeper slumps after record contractions in the first quarter. Lockdowns that shut hotels and restaurants meant companies experienced unprecedented declines in output and new orders in April, and cut jobs like never before in the history of IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Surveys. Prospects ...

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