Author: LoveWorld UK

Asian shares made a partial comeback from a global rout on Friday but still nursed massive losses for the week, while bonds rallied and oil extended its gains. European shares were set for similar gains. Early in the European day, pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 were up 1.87%, German DAX futures FDXc1 gained 1.86% and FTSE futures FFIc1. U.S. S&P 500 e-mini stock futures ESc1 also pointed to a brighter end to the week, adding 1.7%. In afternoon trade in Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was 4.41% higher, ending a seven-sessions streak of losses.…

British retailer Marks & Spencer warned on Friday trading over the next 9-12 months in its clothing, homewares and international businesses was likely to be “severely impacted” by the coronavirus pandemic. To save cash, the group will not pay a final dividend for its 2019-20 financial year, and it said it was unable to provide meaningful guidance on earnings for 2020-21. However, it added the post-crisis future of the business was strong. “M&S has served customers without cease through two world wars, terrorist bombings and numerous local disasters and we are determined to support our customers now as we always…

Oil prices rose on Friday as the world’s richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy to stop a coronavirus-driven recession and U.S. President Donald Trump hinted he may intervene in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up $1.79, or 6.3%, at $30.26 a barrel by 0902 GMT. U.S. crude futures for April CLc1 rose $1.95 to $27.17. The front-month contract expires later on Friday. The more active U.S. crude futures contract for May CLc2 was up $1.89, or 7.3%, at $27.80. Both U.S. contracts gained more than Brent because of U.S.…

Britain’s rail network will operate half its normal service during the coronavirus crisis, the government and rail industry body said on Friday, and Heathrow Airport’s operations will shrink as more of the country goes into a partial shutdown. From Monday, trains will only run on core services, equivalent to about half the passenger trains on a normal weekday, to reflect the drop-off in demand as more and more Britons work from home and stop travelling. Heathrow Airport, the country’s biggest, also said on Friday that it would partially shut down some operations after coronavirus brought most air travel to a…

Britain’s oil and gas sector needs government help to survive, industry body OGUK said, after the oil price crash triggered by the coronavirus and a Saudi-Russian price war threatens its ability to continue producing hydrocarbons in the North Sea. EnQuest (ENQ.L) became the first British producer to shut North Sea fields in the wake of the oil price LCOc1 slump to 17-year lows, saying it will not restart its Heather and Thistle/Deveron fields. For industry as a whole, Britain has already said it would launch a 330 billion pound lifeline of loan guarantees and provide a further 20 billion pounds…

British manufacturers demanded an immediate deferment of tax and social security payments, warning the government that thousands of layoffs were imminent as the coronavirus crisis hits the economy. “There are alarm bells going off right across the manufacturing sector with the prospect of substantial lay-offs looming,” Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK, said in a statement on Thursday. “Order books are collapsing and this is creating immediate cashflow issues for companies which need addressing within days not weeks.” The group welcomed measures rushed out by British finance minister Rishi Sunak to help companies, many of which are facing virtual…

The United Kingdom was bracing on Thursday for the virtual shut down of London as underground train stations across the capital closed and Prime Minister Boris Johnson mulled tougher measures to tackle the coronavirus crisis. As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governments, companies and investors are grappling with the biggest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, panicked populations and imploding financial markets. After ordering the closure of schools across a country that casts itself as a pillar of Western stability, Johnson on Wednesday said the government was ruling nothing out when asked whether he would bring…

The British government has agreed emergency measures with the energy industry to ensure vulnerable households remain supplied with power during the disruption caused by the novel coronavirus, it said on Thursday. From Thursday onwards, customers with pre-payment meters who are unable to add credit can approach their suppliers to discuss other options to maintain power. That has the potential to benefit over 4 million households. Disconnection of credit meters will be completely suspended, while energy customers in financial distress can also ask their suppliers for debt repayments and bill payments to be reassessed, reduced or paused, the government said. The…

Government bond yields across the euro zone fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank stepped in with emergency stimulus measures to calm markets in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The ECB began new bond purchases worth 750 billion euros at an emergency meeting late on Wednesday, in a bid to stop a pandemic-induced financial rout from shredding the euro zone’s economy. The new purchases bring this year’s planned purchases to 1.1 trillion euros. The new purchases alone are worth 6% of the euro area’s GDP. Italy, which has seen its borrowing costs jump in recent days, led the…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday his government would bring forward new measures to support workers and protect private renters from being evicted from their homes because of coronavirus. Johnson also said Britain was stepping up testing for coronavirus to 25,000 a day. The health ministry later said the government aimed to get to that point within four weeks. “We will be bringing forward further measures to ensure that every worker receives support throughout this difficult period,” Johnson told parliament. Asked about the possibility of introducing a temporary universal basic income, Johnson said: “Of course that is one…