April, 2020

• 4 April

  Peru approves bill for ‘pension withdrawals’

  

  Bloomberg Peru’s Congress approved a bill to let workers withdraw as much as 25% of their pension savings to soften the blow of the coronavirus pandemic, casting aside warnings the measure will spook investors and push up borrowing costs. Lawmakers voted 107-4 in favor of the bill, according to a video broadcast on state television. The pensions proposal from the ...

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• 4 April

  UK’s Labour names Keir Starmer leader

  

  Bloomberg Britain’s opposition Labour Party, still reeling from its worst electoral defeat in 85 years, elected Keir Starmer as leader, putting a moderate lawyer with an eye for detail in charge as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus comes under fire. Starmer, who served as Labour’s Brexit spokesman under ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, beat Corbyn-loyalist Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa ...

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• 4 April

  Pandemic sends families on 1,000-mile trek to Venezuela

  

  Bloomberg Venezuelan families made destitute by Colombia’s coronavirus lockdown are walking a thousand miles or more across the Andes to get home. Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela might be undergoing one of the deepest economic slumps in modern history, but it’s still preferable to sleeping in a park in Medellin, or under a bridge in Bogota, which are now the alternatives for ...

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• 4 April

  Trump wins dismissal of ‘Ukraine diplomacy’ suit

  Bloomberg The Trump administration won the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming it violated federal record-keeping requirements by conducting off-the-books diplomacy with Ukrainian officials — the same conduct at the centre of the president’s impeachment. US District Judge James E Boasberg threw out the suit, saying the alleged actions by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney ...

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• 4 April

  Foxconn to investors: 5G iPhone can launch in fall

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc’s most important manufacturing partner has reassured investors it can still get the latest 5G-enabled iPhones ready for an autumn launch despite global Covid-19 upheaval. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, which makes most of the world’s iPhones, told investors it’s lost time to travel restrictions and other disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But with months to go ...

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• 4 April

  German startups join forces to create virus-tracking app

  

  Bloomberg A group of German startups are working on an application that will help the government track people who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus and, ultimately, ease restrictions when the pandemic begins to subside. Startups including insurance firm Wefox Group Services GmbH, software provider Finleap and artificial intelligence platform Arago announced the app in a website. Arago, which ...

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• 4 April

  Tesla’s Model Y gets high marks from a critic Musk respects

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc’s new Model Y has what people have come to expect from Elon Musk’s cars: It’s lightning quick, handles nicely and has better electronic gadgetry than its competitors. Unlike past Tesla offerings, early versions are rolling off the assembly line looking more like you’d expect from a company with a handle on the finer points of car building, ...

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• 4 April

  Spotify’s new kids app offers range of options

  Bloomberg Spotify Technology SA is offering parents cooped up at home a new way to entertain their kids. The Swedish audio streaming giant will roll out a kids app in the US, Canada and France, the company said. The new app includes more than 8,000 songs, as well as audio books and bedtime stories, all of which are handpicked by ...

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• 4 April

  Banks under pressure to raise loan margins in Greater China

  

  Bloomberg Banks are under increased pressure to raise loan margins in the Greater China region as the coronavirus pandemic weakens lending and a global dollar liquidity squeeze pushes up funding costs. That’s a key takeaway from a Bloomberg survey of 15 major syndicated loan arrangers operating in the region, including international and Chinese banks. The survey was conducted between March ...

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• 4 April

  Norway’s biggest bank halts $1.4bn dividend

  

  Bloomberg DNB ASA, Norway’s biggest bank, is postponing its $1.4 billion dividend as it gives in to calls from national and European authorities to show restraint during the current economic crisis. DNB initially dragged its feet after Norway’s financial watchdog last month urged banks to refrain from dividends. The Norwegian bankers’ association, Finance Norway, argued the move was unnecessary and ...

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