WORLDWIDE : HEADLINES
U.S. economic outlook darkens, job recovery risks reversing: Reuters poll
BENGALURU – The U.S. economic outlook has darkened in the past month amid renewed lockdowns in some states from surging coronavirus cases, according to economists in a Reuters poll who warned of a high risk the job recovery underway reverses by year-end.
U.S. coronavirus cases approached 4 million on Thursday, with over 2,600 new cases every hour on average, the highest rate in the world, and some state governments have reimposed restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
That has raised concerns about the sustainability of the recent rebound in hiring and other economic data, as the world’s largest economy, which was propping up global growth before the pandemic, climbs out of a deep hole.
The July 13-22 poll showed the economy contracted 33.8% last quarter on an annualised basis but while it was expected to bounce back with 17.8% growth this quarter and expand 6.5% in the following three months, that was weaker than the 18.5% and 8.0% respective growth predictions made a month ago.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Alibaba Cloud helps Chinese students, foreign schools scale Great Firewall
HONG KONG – China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is seizing on a new business opportunity thrown up by the novel coronavirus: helping foreign universities skirt China’s stringent internet controls to keep classes going for their mainland Chinese students.
Many Chinese students returned home after the virus prompted campuses to shut and have difficulty watching live-streamed tutorials or accessing class materials due to the so-called Great Firewall. That not only blocks websites the government deems sensitive – such as Alphabet Inc’s Google – but can also slow loading speeds of accessible overseas-based sites.
University associations told Reuters that, soon after the virus started spreading globally, Alibaba’s cloud division met with member institutions and pitched access to a network that could be established within 48 hours and act as a bridge between universities’ portals and mainland Chinese students.
The network is a unique proposition by Alibaba Cloud, the biggest cloud service provider in China by market share. The unit, whose revenue is paltry relative to Alibaba’s staple e-commerce business, has been aggressively promoting its services and plans to spend $28 billion over three years on next-generation data centres.
Full coverage: REUTERS
WORLDWIDE : FINANCE / ECONOMY / STOCK MARKET
Yen up and dollar clinging on as China’s Houston response awaited
SINGAPORE – The safe-haven yen advanced to a one-month high on Friday as deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations heightened investor anxiety, while a surging euro put the beleaguered dollar on track for its worst week in a month.
While trading volumes were lightened by a public holiday in Japan, the palpable tensions were enough to rouse the yen from a range it has kept for weeks.
The yen rose 0.3% to 106.51, its strongest since late June. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were also off from multi-month highs and the Chinese yuan struggled for headway.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Euro, gold on a high as the dollar breaks down
SYDNEY – Financial markets greeted Friday with a number of milestones as the euro celebrated a 21-month peak against an embattled dollar, while Asian equities paused short of a six-month top and gold neared its highest on record.
For once, currencies have dominated trading as a deal on a European Union recovery plan shot the euro to its highest since late 2018. The single currency was last standing tall at $1.1616 having climbed 1.7% for the week so far.
That was taken as a signal to sell the dollar, which was down 1.4% on the week against a basket of currencies at 94.612 and heading for its fifth straight weekly loss.
That took it under the March trough of 94.650 to reach depths not visited since late 2018.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Oil rises on weaker dollar, but virus woes and U.S.-China tensions weigh
SINGAPORE – Oil edged up on Friday as the dollar fell to an almost two-year low, although demand concerns stemming from rising coronavirus cases and U.S.-China tensions kept a lid on prices.
The dollar slid to 22-month lows against a basket of currencies .DXY. A weaker dollar usually spurs buying of commodities priced in the greenback, like oil, because they become cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Brent crude LCOc1 rose 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $43.46 a barrel by 0137 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose by 12 cents, or 0.3%, to $41.19.
“Crude prices are attempting to stabilize as expectations still remain high that Congress will be successful in delivering another pandemic relief package” for the United States, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Wall Street closes sharply lower on tech selloff
NEW YORK – Wall Street dropped sharply on Thursday as investors fled market-leading tech shares due to mixed earnings reports and growing signs of a worsening coronavirus pandemic, which could exacerbate a deep economic recession.
The sell-off steepened after a tech watchdog group reported that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) faces consumer protection investigations in multiple states.
The bellwether S&P 500 slid more than 1%, snapping a four-day winning streak with its biggest daily percentage drop since June 26. All three major U.S. stock averages lost ground, with falling momentum stocks Apple, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) weighing heaviest.
Apple ended the session down 4.6%.
Full coverage: REUTERS
