March, 2020

• 11 March

  ‘Mexico’s oil income is covered by hedges’

  Bloomberg Mexico’s finance minister said the country’s oil income is completely covered by its sovereign oil hedge. The timing couldn’t be better for the Latin American producer amid the biggest plunge in oil prices in almost three decades as Saudi Arabia and Russia vowed to pump more oil in a battle for market share. Mexico’s oil income is 100% covered ...

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• 11 March

  Tesla to build Cybertruck plant in central US: Musk

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc. will build its in-development Cybertruck at a new plant in the US, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted, likely triggering a state-by-state competition similar to one he set off six years ago. The factory will build both the electric pickup and the Model Y crossover for customers on the East Coast, the chief executive officer wrote. He ...

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• 11 March

  Italy announces $28bn plan to cushion virus-hit economy

  

  Bloomberg Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government is ready to spend as much as 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) on stimulus measures to shield the economy from Europe’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus. Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri said the cabinet is likely to approve a first package worth about 12.5 billion euros by Friday. The rest will be a reserve ...

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• 11 March

  H2O funds hammered by record losses in virus rout

  Bloomberg H2O Asset Management suffered heavy losses of as much as 30% across its funds during market rout, adding to severe declines that have pummeled its strategies over the past month. The Natixis SA-backed firm saw record daily drops in at least three of its money pools as coronavirus fears and an oil-price plunge rocked markets. H2O’s Multiequities fund lost ...

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• 11 March

  UK economy stalls as election boost fades

  

  Bloomberg The UK economy failed to grow in January, adding to the case for the Bank of England’s emergency rate cut on Wednesday. The figures suggest the pickup seen after Boris Johnson’s election win proved short-lived, with momentum waning even before fears about the coronavirus took hold in February. Gross domestic product was unchanged from December, when it grew 0.3%, ...

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• 11 March

  Natixis-backed firm delays $1b office sale on virus

  

  Bloomberg Coronavirus-fuelled market turmoil has led AEW SA, a real estate investment manager backed by Natixis SA, to push back a planned 900 million-euro ($1 billion) European property sale. The fund manager is trying to assess the impact of the outbreak on real estate markets before moving ahead, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. AEW had already ...

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• 11 March

  Germany faces backlash over mask export ban

  

  Bloomberg A diplomatic spat has erupted between Germany and neighbours Switzerland and Austria over a decision last week by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to ban most exports of protective medical equipment. Switzerland has called in the German ambassador to complain about the decision to block a shipment of 240,000 face masks, while Austria’s economy minister demanded her German counterpart order ...

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• 11 March

  Trump’s retweet of ‘China virus’ escalates tensions with Beijing

  

  Bloomberg Both US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping have good reasons to deflect political blame for the coronavirus outbreak. And that has both of them zeroing in on the pathogen’s name. As the disease formally designated as Covid-19 expands across the US, Trump and other top Republicans have sought to highlight the outbreak’s foreign origin and even use ...

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• 11 March

  UK’s junior health minister diagnosed with coronavirus

  

  Bloomberg A UK minister of health, Nadine Dorries, has become the first British member of parliament to test positive for coronavirus. She’s reported to have attended a reception with Prime Minister Boris Johnson the day before she fell ill, and had met hundreds of people in Parliament that week. The Times reported she had fallen ill on March 6 and ...

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• 11 March

  Putin sets path to stay on as Russia’s president to 2036

  

  Bloomberg Vladimir Putin set the stage to stay on as Russia’s president for potentially another 16 years, reversing his past opposition to scrapping term limits so that he — and only he — can continue to rule the country. “I fully recognise my own personal responsibility towards the citizens of this country,” Putin said in an unscheduled speech before the ...

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