TimeLine Layout

February, 2020

  • 29 February

    Facebook’s F8 event cancelled amid Covid-19

    Bloomberg Facebook Inc cancelled its annual F8 Developer Conference over concerns about Covid-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus, according to a blog post. The conference, scheduled for May in San Jose, California, has become a flagship event in the technology community in recent years, and Facebook uses F8 to provide updates on the company’s product lines. In the past, ...

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  • 29 February

    Powell opens door to rate cut on ‘evolving’ risks from virus

    Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus “poses evolving risks” to the US economy and signalled the central bank is prepared to cut interest rates if necessary to sustain the country’s longest-ever expansion. The rare statement by Powell before the financial markets closed for the US weekend came as stocks posted their seventh-straight daily loss, a slump which ...

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  • 29 February

    Thailand eases rules to temper currency

    Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand eased some foreign-exchange rules as part of a previously announced plan to temper the baht. The threshold for proceeds that do not need to be repatriated rises to $1 million from the current $200,000, effective from March 2, the central bank said in a statement, adding that the “relaxation includes not only export proceeds but ...

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  • 29 February

    ‘World economy risks worst year since 2009’

    Bloomberg The world economy is now on course for its weakest year since the financial crisis as the coronavirus damages demand in China and beyond, according to analysts at Bank of America Corp (BofA). Global growth will slip to 2.8% this year rather than the 3.1% previously predicted, the slowest since 2009, economists led by Ethan Harris said in a ...

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  • 29 February

    Standard Chartered joins HSBC in coronavirus profit warning

    Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc’s revenue will fall short this year and it will miss a key profitability target as the coronavirus outbreak and a weakened Hong Kong economy hammer the Asia-focused lender’s business. The slump in Asia, which accounts for the majority of the bank’s earnings, will contribute to 2020 revenue growth falling short of its own forecasts, according to ...

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  • 29 February

    Lagarde’s call for German stimulus makes Weidmann smile

    Bloomberg When Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann was asked if he gets frustrated by frequent calls for a major fiscal stimulus in Germany, he couldn’t help smiling. That’s how he reacted in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Matt Miller, on a matter where colleagues at the European Central Bank must often be on his case. Since she became the institution’s chief ...

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  • 29 February

    UBS urges Swiss fiscal policy rethink due to negative rates

    Bloomberg Switzerland’s negative central bank policy rate that allows the government to get paid to borrow money “inevitably raises the question” whether fiscal policy isn’t too restrictive, according to UBS Group AG. Switzerland has a low debt-to-output ratio, with a constitutionally guaranteed debt break meant to prevent out-of-control spending. The burden of keeping the economy on track falls on the ...

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  • 29 February

    Shoprite selling property to pay for online, store upgrades

    Bloomberg Shoprite Holdings Ltd’s decision to sell some properties and lease them back is to free up cash to invest in technology, growing online sales and upgrading supermarkets to offer more fresh food. These are the kinds of investments that “give us very good returns,” Chief Executive Officer Pieter Engelbrecht said in an interview after Africa’s biggest grocer reported first-half ...

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  • 29 February

    S Africa raises funds for state airline to $1.1bn

    Bloomberg South Africa almost doubled the level of funding for the national airline to 16.4 billion rand ($1.1 billion), cash that will go towards supporting a restructuring plan for the technically insolvent carrier. The bailout will be used to service and pay debt previously guaranteed by the state over the “medium term,” finance minister Tito Mboweni said in his budget ...

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  • 29 February

    Airlines send in world’s strongest disinfectants to fight virus

    Bloomberg Airlines are turning to the world’s hardest-hitting disinfectants to rid planes of the coronavirus. Qantas Airways Ltd, Korean Air Lines Co and Singapore Airlines Ltd’s Scoot unit are among carriers that helped evacuate people from the outbreak’s epicenter, the Chinese city of Wuhan, and from a cruise ship off Japan. They’ve stepped up aircraft-cleaning efforts as a result, trying ...

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