February, 2020

• 9 February

  Duterte seeks military pact exit as US touts ‘strong’ ties

  

  Bloomberg President Rodrigo Duterte plans to order the termination of a longstanding military pact with the US, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported, though the US State Department reiterated that relations between the nations remain strong. The Inquirer report, citing presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, follows Duterte’s threat in January to end the agreement after Washington cancelled a visa for a senator ...

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• 9 February

  Coronavirus: Wuhan cases may peak soon with over 5% infected

  

  Bloomberg The new coronavirus may have infected at least 1 in 20 people in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the global outbreak, by the time it peaks in coming weeks, according to scientists modeling its spread. The typically bustling megacity, where the so-called 2010-nCoV virus emerged late last year, has been in lockdown since January 23, restricting ...

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• 9 February

  Irish PM defies polls to stay in race for power

  

  Bloomberg Irish PM Leo Varadkar’s party defied pre-election surveys to stay in contention to keep power, as an exit poll showed the nation’s three biggest political parties in a dead heat, with Sinn Fein on track for a historic breakthrough. Varadkar’s Fine Gael won 22.4% of votes in the election, according to the poll, state broadcaster RTE said, confounding surveys that ...

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• 9 February

  Salvini says he defended Italy by blocking migrants

  

  Bloomberg Matteo Salvini insisted that he defended Italy by refusing to let stranded migrants enter the country when he was interior minister, as parliament prepares to vote this week on whether he should be prosecuted. “It’s crazy, I don’t know how much it costs in terms of men and money to show I’m a criminal, but I’m not afraid and ...

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• 9 February

  Trump’s Global Entry ban aims to punish New York

  

  Bloomberg House Democrats said the Trump administration’s ban on New York State residents participating in US travel pre-screening programmes is a “senseless, retaliatory decision” that must be reversed. “Your justification for this sudden policy shift appears to be no more than a pretext,” the Democrats, including Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, wrote in a letter to acting ...

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• 9 February

  Virus shock sparks rethink of some of Asia’s hottest stocks

  

  Bloomberg It may be time for equity investors to reassess their 5G investments in Asia as they look to win big from one of the market’s hottest themes. The coronavirus-driven stock sell-off presents an opportunity to shift into names that may have been overlooked in the recent run-up by technology stocks, said Kevin Chen, an analyst at China Merchants Securities ...

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• 9 February

  Bitcoin hits $10,000 to reach its highest level since October

  

  Bloomberg Bitcoin is back above $10,000. The largest cryptocurrency’s recent upward momentum carried it past that psychologically significant level on Sunday for the first time since October, according to Bitstamp pricing. It rose as much as 2.6% to $10,179, capping a gain of about 40% so far this year. Its breach of five figures comes amid an equities rally that’s ...

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• 9 February

  China virus deaths top 810, surpassing global Sars toll

  

  Bloomberg The coronavirus disease spreading around the world has killed more than 810 people, exceeding the toll from the global outbreak of Sars that started in China almost two decades ago. Less than two months after surfacing in late December in Wuhan, China, cases of the coronavirus have topped 37,000. The fast-spreading disease long ago eclipsed the 8,100 total cases ...

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• 9 February

  Toyota defies global slowdown

  Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp isn’t letting a global slowdown get in the way of its plans to grow, reporting a higher-than-expected quarterly profitand raising its full-year forecast. Even as a production shutdown in China, the world’s largest car market, has cast a pall over global automakers already struggling to cope with a downshift in demand and rising costs on next-generation ...

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• 9 February

  Foxconn says plant restart hinges on China’s guidance

  

  Bloomberg Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Apple Inc’s main iPhone production partner, said its factories worldwide are coordinating with authorities in carrying out virus protection and are preparing safety measures with the approval of local governments. “Our group hasn’t received any client requests to move production resumption earlier,” the company, also known as Foxconn, said in a statement. Operating schedules ...

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