March, 2020

• 28 March

  Chinese health firm that just started selling masks launches IPO

  

  Bloomberg A Chinese maker of medicines and health supplements that recently added surgical masks and other “anti-epidemic” products to its portfolio launched a Hong Kong initial public offering on March 26. Tycoon Group Holdings Ltd is touting itself as a “top anti-epidemic pick” as it seeks to raise about HK$400 million ($52 million), according to Soochow Securities Co, one of ...

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• 28 March

  Japan says its economy is ‘extremely depressed’

  

  Bloomberg Japan’s government slashed its assessment of the economy, downgrading a range of components hit by the coronavirus pandemic as schools were shut, factory production lines halted and the Olympics postponed. In its monthly report for March, the Cabinet Office cut its view of the economy, characterising it as in a “severe situation” and “extremely depressed” by the virus outbreak. ...

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• 28 March

  All eyes on China’s Wuhan for way back after lockdowns

  

  Bloomberg The lockdown that has gripped the original epicenter of the coronavirus for more than two months is finally set to end, spurring investors into action as they gauge which companies will benefit most. The resumption of movement in and out of Wuhan, scheduled for April 8, may serve as a template for markets the world over that have been ...

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• 28 March

  China to ramp up stimulus as Covid-19 impact widens

  

  Bloomberg China’s top leaders pledged to widen the fiscal deficit and sell sovereign debt, signalling that Beijing is preparing larger-scale stimulus to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus. China will increase its fiscal deficit as a share of gross domestic product, issue special sovereign debt and allow local governments to sell more infrastructure bonds as part of a package ...

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• 28 March

  Singapore advises public to stay indoors and buy food online

  

  Bloomberg Singapore advised the public to stay at home in its latest effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a day after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city state is facing a grave economic challenge posed by the pandemic. The public should only head to malls for essential items such as food, the government said in an ...

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• 28 March

  Covid-19: India likely to miss sugar export target

  

  Bloomberg Sugar mills in India, the world’s third-biggest shipper, will probably miss their export target this year as a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disrupts logistics at ports. The country won’t be able to ship 5 million tons in the year to September, as expected earlier, because of a shortage of labor at ports and mills, ...

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• 28 March

  Green fuel plants shut and some may never come back

  

  Bloomberg The coronavirus and cheap oil are hitting the fuel business so hard that ethanol plants are shutting down. Some may never come back. The entire biofuel industry is facing a reckoning. Long before the pandemic emptied roads and exacerbated oil price war, producers were battling chronic oversupply and trade upheaval. Now slumping demand and prices mean smaller producers and ...

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• 28 March

  US pump prices fall below $2 for first time in four years

  

  Bloomberg US retail gasoline dropped below $2 a gallon for the first time since March 2016, before President Trump was elected. The average pump price fell to $1.99 per gallon on March 27, retail tracker GasBuddy said. The nation followed Texas and upper-Midwest states that went under the $2 threshold earlier in March. The decline comes as coronavirus-related lockdowns halt ...

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• 28 March

  US power demand to be ‘profoundly’ hit by virus

  

  Bloomberg The closures of schools, factories and offices to prevent spread of the coronavirus will “profoundly impact” the US power sector, according to BloombergNEF. Already in New York, electricity use dropped about 7% during the week ending on March 25, and prices are down about 10% as the state has ordered nonessential businesses to close, BNEF said in a report. ...

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• 28 March

  China’s oil giant to adjust spending plan

  

  Bloomberg Cnooc Ltd, one of China’s three state-owned oil giants, said it will cut capital expenditure target this year, a signal that the government’s push to boost domestic production can’t withstand the collapse in crude prices. The 2020 plan is under review and the company didn’t give a new spending estimate. It will provide an update to investors at a ...

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