April, 2020

• 25 April

  Supplier of world’s nurses struggles to fight virus at home

  

  Bloomberg The Philippines is known for training nurses and exporting them to all corners of the world, but now the nation finds itself shorthanded just as its number of coronavirus infections and deaths skyrocket. The islands’ death toll from Covid-19 has surged nearly fivefold since April 1 to 462, and the confirmed cases have tripled to 6,981 as of April ...

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• 25 April

  Trump team faces hurdles getting Fed to help battered oil companies

  

  Bloomberg The Trump administration faces significant hurdles in getting the Federal Reserve to help rescue an oil industry squeezed by plunging crude prices given the central bank’s aversion to helping specific industries and its lack of authority to help businesses that are insolvent. The Fed regards loan programmes aimed at a specific industry as credit allocation — something Chairman Jerome ...

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• 25 April

  IndiGrid seeks $786 million in solar assets

  

  Bloomberg India Grid Trust, an infrastructure investment trust backed by private equity fund KKR & Co and Singapore’s GIC Pte, is looking to add as much as $786 million of solar power projects to its portfolio and expects some financially stressed assets to become available in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The move is part of the firm’s plan ...

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• 25 April

  Furious rebound in $2 billion energy ETF invites skeptics

  

  Bloomberg The rebound in oil after a historic crash drove a surge in ETFs that track energy producers amid skeptical calls from analysts. State Street’s $2 billion SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF, or XOP, has jumped about 40% so far in April — on track for its best month on record. Meanwhile, the $8.8 billion Energy ...

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• 25 April

  German business confidence slumps as lockdowns persist

  

  Bloomberg German business confidence extended its slump in April with much of the global economy in lockdown and companies anticipating a prolonged period of subdued demand. The Ifo Institute’s index dropped to a record-low 74.3, well below economists’ median estimate. Reduced spending power from millions of furloughed workers and the persistence of the coronavirus pandemic in some of Germany’s largest ...

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• 25 April

  Trump signs $484b package to rescue small businesses

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion spending package that includes more money for small businesses, the latest bid by Washington lawmakers to rescue an economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. “Great for small businesses, great for workers,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “This is a tremendous victory.” The new law would revive a small-business loan program that ...

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• 25 April

  Intel withdraws its 2020 forecast on ‘uncertainty’

  

  Bloomberg Intel Corp. withdrew its full-year sales forecast, citing “significant economic uncertainty” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s shares fell more than 5% in late trading. The world’s largest semiconductor maker reported a 23% jump in first-quarter revenue and better-than-projected profit, bolstered by demand for chips that run the laptops and server machines companies need to keep people working ...

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• 25 April

  France’s Renault poised to get $5 billion state-backed loan

  

  Bloomberg Renault SA is poised to get a state-backed loan of about $5.4 billion to cushion the struggling French carmaker from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has clobbered the auto industry. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the funding package is still under negotiation, while at the same time announcing an even bigger one for Air France-KLM, ...

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• 25 April

  British insurers to pay $1.5bn in virus claims

  Bloomberg British insurers are on the hook for more than 1.2 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) in claims from businesses and individuals hit by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the industry’s trade body. Initial estimates put payments for business interruption at 900 million pounds, followed by a record 275 million-pound payout for canceled travel, the Association of British Insurers said on ...

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• 25 April

  Tesla escalates battle over alleged theft of robocar secrets

  

  Bloomberg More than a year after the billionaire chairman of Xpeng Motors labelled as “questionable” Tesla Inc.’s allegations that an engineer stole Autopilot secrets before bolting to the Chinese startup, the questions from Elon Musk’s company keep coming. As Tesla tries to amass proof in its lawsuit portraying the engineer as a traitor, it’s asking a judge to force the ...

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