April, 2020

• 18 April

  Amazon nudging customers to buy less

  

  Bloomberg The pandemic has many of us acting in unusual ways, and the world’s largest e-commerce company is no exception. In a stunning reprieve from the prerogatives of capitalism, Amazon.com Inc. has begun discouraging users from buying things they don’t need. Amazon is suppressing extraneous consumption in various ways, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. It isn’t ...

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• 18 April

  Amazon, Microsoft offer relief to cloud clients

  

  Bloomberg By mid-March, John Lyotier’s travel software business Left Technologies Inc. was cratering with the spread of the pandemic. Seeking to cut costs, he reached out to his office landlord, who offered rent relief. Then he contacted Amazon.com Inc., asking to “explore creative financing opportunities” for his monthly cloud-computing bill. The response was succinct. “’Nope, that’s the way it is,’” ...

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• 18 April

  Tornado may disrupt output of F-150 and cash-cow SUVs: Ford

  

  Bloomberg Ford Motor Co. is warning of significant damage wreaked by a tornado in South Carolina this week that knocked out a BorgWarner Inc. auto-parts plant supplying a key component for the automaker’s most profitable models. The Seneca, South Carolina, parts factory makes transfer cases, an important component of four-wheel-drive systems that Ford uses in its F-150 pickup, its biggest ...

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• 18 April

  Twitter loses six-year battle in user surveillance transparency lawsuit

  

  Bloomberg Twitter Inc. lost its six-year legal battle to let the public know exactly how many requests it received from the FBI to snoop on private user accounts. A federal judge said the government convinced her that granting the request “would be likely to lead to grave or imminent harm to the national security.” Twitter broke ranks with other large ...

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• 18 April

  India’s central bank signals rate cuts as it boosts liquidity

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank governor laid the ground for more interest rate cuts as he took a number of steps to boost liquidity and support lenders amid a nationwide lockdown that’s brought the economy to a virtual standstill. Governor Shaktikanta Das kept the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 4.4%, but signalled that inflation will ease to below the central bank’s ...

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• 18 April

  Banks in Denmark brace for Q2 losses

  

  Bloomberg Banks in Denmark expect the Covid-19 crisis to hit them hard in the second quarter, with anticipated losses bigger than at any time during the financial crisis, according to the central bank. More lenders anticipate reporting bigger impairments and losses than at any other time in the poll’s history, according to a quarterly survey. With first-quarter earnings reports imminent, ...

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• 18 April

  BOK to provide loans to insurers, brokerages

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it will offer loans to brokerages and insurers to ease funding strains as coronavirus pandemic roils markets. South Korea’s central bank has slashed the policy rate to a record low and taken steps in tandem with the government to extend liquidity to financial companies. Yet some non-banking firms are still scrambling to fund daily ...

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• 18 April

  BOE’s Bailey says banks need to get on with loans to companies

  

  Bloomberg UK banks must get on with providing loans to small and medium-sized businesses to counter the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey. Asked about scenarios presented by the public spending watchdog this week that showed economic output could plunge 35% in the second quarter, Bailey said that isn’t implausible. The ...

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• 18 April

  Fed set to disclose borrower information in crisis lending

  

  Bloomberg The US central bank said it will disclose information regarding borrowers who seek emergency aid through its forthcoming corporate credit facilities. “The Federal Reserve will publicly disclose information regarding the CCFs during the operation of the facilities, including information regarding participants, transaction amounts, costs, revenues and other fees,” according to a frequently-asked-questions page posted Friday on the New York ...

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• 18 April

  Wells Fargo adds top lobbyist to help revive image in DC

  

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. has hired a new head lobbyist in Washington, as the bank works to restore its standing after a series of consumer-abuse scandals that have tarnished its brand and infuriated lawmakers. Brian Smith, 52, will join Wells next month, according to a memo sent out by William Daley, the bank’s vice chairman of public affairs. Smith, ...

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