March, 2020

• 21 March

  Economic crash may dent EV revolution

  

  Bloomberg The electric vehicle revolution that by most accounts was ramping up in 2020 faces one of the biggest threats since EVs started to go mainstream in the last decade. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in late December has paralysed key parts of the Chinese economy. By early March, the virus spread further across Europe and into the US. ...

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• 21 March

  GameStop falls on view Covid-19 outbreak may force store closures

  

  Bloomberg GameStop Corp shares tumbled after analysts wrote that the video-game retailer would likely have to close stores in response to the coronavirus outbreak, disputing the company’s reported view that it was an “essential” retailer. Kotaku reported that GameStop believes its stores are “essential retail,” like grocery stores or pharmacies, and therefore able to remain open despite the pandemic. “We ...

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• 21 March

  Locked-down lawyers warned Alexa is hearing calls

  

  Bloomberg Hey Alexa, stop listening to my client’s information. As law firms urge attorneys to work from home during the global pandemic, their employees’ confidential phone calls with clients run the risk of being heard by Amazon.com Inc and Google. Mishcon de Reya LLP, the UK law firm that does corporate law, issued advice to staff to mute or shut ...

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• 21 March

  Global central banks go into overdrive as crisis deepens

  

  Bloomberg Central banks stepped up their emergency efforts to calm financial markets and support their economies in a historic week of market losses as more of the world shuts down to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Meeting into their nights, policy makers at the Federal Reserve launched a program to support money market mutual funds, hours after those at the European ...

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• 21 March

  Indonesia cuts rate for second month

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for a second straight month and slashed its economic growth forecast, joining global policy makers seeking to shore up their economies amid the coronavirus crisis. Bank Indonesia lowered the seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.50%, in line with the forecasts of 14 of 26 economists surveyed by ...

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• 21 March

  India’s HDFC ramps up corporate loans

  

  Bloomberg India’s most-valuable bank is betting big on the nation’s businesses at a time when a slumping economy and souring loans have forced peers to retreat. HDFC Bank Ltd.’s lending to large and small companies surged 63% over the two years through December 31 as India’s economy went from world-leading growth to its slowest expansion in six years. Behind the ...

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• 21 March

  BOK to purchase $1.2bn in government bonds

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it will purchase 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in government bonds in order to stabilise markets amid the coronavirus crisis. Futures on the bonds rose after the announcement. The BOK routinely buys government bonds, but the last time it bought them for the stated purpose of market stability was in 2016 when volatility ...

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• 21 March

  Norway may intervene to stop historic krone slump

  

  Bloomberg Norway’s central bank said it is ready to intervene after the bottom seemed to fall out of the krone market. “In recent days, there has been an extraordinary situation in the market for Norwegian kroner and movements in the exchange rate have been historically large,” the central bank said. “Against this background Norges Bank is continuously considering whether there ...

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• 21 March

  BOE cuts rates, restarts QE in virus response

  Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) cut interest rates to a record-low 0.1% and added 200 billion pounds to its asset-purchase program in its latest emergency action to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The pound rose. The decision, just days into the tenure of new Governor Andrew Bailey, saw the central bank lower rates by 15 basis points ...

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• 21 March

  Airlines want cash grants included in ‘$58b package’

  

  Bloomberg US airlines are strenuously pushing the Trump administration and Congress for cash grants, arguing behind the scenes that a Senate proposal to hand them billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed loans isn’t sufficient to guarantee their long-term health, two people familiar with the matter said. Industry lobby group Airlines for America had been urging the White House to agree to ...

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