March, 2020

• 8 March

  JPMorgan sees ‘early signs’ of stress on credit and funding

  

  Bloomberg The fallout from the global spread of coronavirus may be starting to affect credit and funding markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Supply-chain disruptions and demand shock from the virus fallout could already be causing cash-flow problems for businesses, JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. That’s probably even more true for smaller companies and those in ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  ECB lifts cap on Greek banks for bond buys

  

  Bloomberg The governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has ended the limit imposed on the exposure of Greek lenders to the country’s sovereign debt, Greece’s Finance Minister said. The ECB believes that the reasons and conditions that led to the March 2015 decision no longer exist, Christos Staikouras said in an emailed statement, citing rising deposits, the improved ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Czech central bank rebuffs PM’s attack on rate hikes

  

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank pushed back against billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s criticism of its efforts to curb inflation with higher borrowing costs. The surprising February rate increase — the only one globally this year — prompted a rebuke from Babis, who said such moves are boosting banks’ earnings while hurting the economy during a slowdown. The bank is ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Brazil’s central bank props up world’s worst currency

  Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank announced it will sell dollars in the spot market for the first time this year, boosting its efforts to support the currency after a dire week. Policy makers will offer as much as $1 billion in a spot dollar auction. The central bank had been stepping into the foreign exchange markets only via swap auctions, of ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Airbus mulls A330 output cut as top buyer seeks deferral

  

  Bloomberg Airbus SE is considering a cut in A330neo jet production after the wide-body’s biggest customer said a coronavirus-driven slump in travel had forced it to defer deliveries, according to people familiar with the matter. The planemaker may make a decision as soon as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. In ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Virus adds to woes of Garuda facing debt bill

  

  Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak couldn’t have come at a worse time for PT Garuda Indonesia, pummeling demand at the flag carrier just as it faces a debt bill for half a billion dollars. Debt market concern about sagging travel demand and the impact of financial market turmoil has caused Garuda’s $500 million notes due on June 3 to tumble to ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Virus outbreak tied to Vietnam Airlines flight triggers hoarding

  

  Bloomberg An outbreak of four coronavirus cases tied to a Vietnam Airlines flight from London to Hanoi triggered hoarding in the Southeast Asian country’s capital, the lockdown of a central city neighbourhood and the home quarantine of an investment minister aboard the aircraft. A growing sense that the virus may be bypassing Vietnam, which hadn’t reported an official case in ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Asia’s fried-chicken king takes $2b hit with US gamble

  

  Bloomberg If 2019 was a bad year for Tony Tan Caktiong, the Philippine tycoon who built a fast-food empire that trounced McDonald’s in his home market, 2020 is shaping out to be worse for his company’s stock. After wooing millions of Filipinos for decades with its signature fried chicken, Tan’s Jollibee Foods Corp set out on an expansion in the ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  Cathay to temporarily suspend Japan flights

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd will suspend flights to and from Japan for three weeks after the Japanese government tightened quarantine rules on people arriving from Hong Kong. Flights to and from Hong Kong and four Japanese airports and cities — Tokyo’s Haneda airport, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Sapporo — will stop from Monday until March 28, and halted for Narita ...

  Read More »
• 8 March

  UK to leave EU aviation regulator in 2021

  Bloomberg The UK will withdraw as a member state of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) after December 31, Aviation Week reported, citing an interview with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. “We will leave EASA,” Shapps said in the interview. “A lot of the expertise they have is UK expertise, in fact. A lot of the key leading lights were ...

  Read More »