Economy
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Palm Oil: Consuming Sweat and Blood
2020-09-25 02:21:38 UTC
PENINSULAR MALAYSIA (AP) — Jum’s words tumble out over the phone, his voice growing ever more frantic.
Between sobs, he says he’s trapped on a Malaysian plantation run by government-owned Felda, one of the world’s largest palm oil companies. His boss confiscated and then lost his Indonesian pa...
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Collapse of Stimulus Talks: A Last-Ditch Effort by Democrats Ended in Disappointment
2020-08-07 22:06:25 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive collapsing Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money ended in disappointment on Friday, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people who are losing enhanced jobless benefi...
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Biden Slams Trump/GOP, Demands to Fix Unemployment Benefits
2020-08-12 22:25:37 UTC
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday slammed Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for letting the Senate go home for the weekend without a deal to extend the unemployment benefits or protect renters facing eviction.
“Because Donald Trump is abdicati...
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GOP Senators Struggle with $600 Weekly Unemployment Boost
2020-07-23 02:04:36 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans and the White House reached tentative agreement late Wednesday for more testing funds in the next COVID-19 relief package, but deep disagreements over the scope of the $1 trillion in federal aid have forced a shift in strategy.
Facing a GOP revolt, Senate M...
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Tesla Quarterly Revenue Fell to $6.04 Billion
2020-07-22 23:42:19 UTC
(Reuters) - Tesla Inc on Wednesday beat analysts’ estimates for second-quarter revenue, helped by better-than-expected vehicle deliveries despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Revenue fell to $6.04 billion from $6.35 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of $5.3...
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Corruption in Washington: Federal Coronavirus Aid Was Awarded to Major Donors to Trump
2020-07-07 21:30:37 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — As much as $273 million in federal coronavirus aid was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to President Donald Trump’s election efforts, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.
Many were among the first to be approv...
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Germany, Australia, Brazil: Google to Pay Media Groups for Content
2020-07-03 03:03:29 UTC
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet’s Google on Thursday took a step towards resolving its spat with publishers, saying it would pay some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany for high-quality content and expects to do more deals, but others were sceptical.
The U.S. internet giant has for y...
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More Than A Century Old Hertz Filed For Bankruptcy
2020-05-23 16:59:28 UTC
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - The more than a century old car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after its business was decimated during the coronavirus pandemic and talks with creditors failed to result in much needed relief.</p><p>Hertz’s board earli...
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COVID-19 Triggered 15% Unemployment in US
2020-05-08 17:55:16 UTC
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate rocketed to 14.7% in April, a level last seen during the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record — stark evidence of how the coronavirus has brought the economy to its knees.</p><p>The breathta...
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A New Coronavirus Vaccine Works in Monkeys
2020-05-06 21:33:19 UTC
REUTERS — In macaque monkeys, an experimental vaccine for the novel coronavirus safely induced antibodies that blocked several different SARS-CoV-2 strains, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday in the journal Science. The researchers say tests of their vaccine candidate, "PiCoVacc," in human...
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US-UK Trade Talks at Risk With No-Deal Brexit
2020-05-05 01:13:57 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. business lobby on Monday urged Britain to conclude a bilateral trade deal with the European Union as quickly as possible to remove uncertainty that is limiting investment flows and could pose risks to its trade talks with the United States.
The Chamber of C...
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EU: Germany's Financial Aid Can Be Locomotive for Europe
2020-05-04 19:30:26 UTC
BRUSSELS (Reuters) — Germany’s extensive bailouts of coronavirus-hit companies can work as a locomotive for Europe, the EU’s competition chief said on Monday amid criticism from other, less wealthy EU countries about what they see as an unfair edge given to German firms.
To date, a whopping 52...
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UK's Small Business Loans Begin Today
2020-05-03 23:56:19 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - A government-backed loan scheme to help Britain’s small businesses survive the coronavirus lockdown comes into effect on Monday, allowing firms such as hairdressing salons, coffee shops and florists to receive emergency cash.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak, who previously opp...
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COVID-19: Germany Pushes Green Deal to Cut EU Net Emissions to Zero
2020-04-28 18:33:38 UTC
BERLIN (Reuters) - Governments should focus on climate protection when considering fiscal stimulus packages to support an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.
Her comments are the clearest sign yet that Merkel wants to combine the ta...
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Impasse: No Progress in Brexit Talks
2020-04-28 13:22:21 UTC
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Negotiations between the European Union (EU) and ex-member Britain over new trade arrangements from next year are at an impasse due to disagreements and the coronavirus crisis, according to diplomats and officials in the bloc’s hub Brussels.
Halted when the epidemic starte...
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European Carmakers Reopening Plants as COVID-19 Lockdown Eases
2020-04-27 18:58:17 UTC
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German carmaking giant Volkswagen resumed production at its biggest factory on Monday as part of a broader industry drive to get back to work in Europe, where the coronavirus pandemic has hammered demand and pushed up inventory levels.
Encouraged by a fall in infection ra...
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COVID-19: U.S. Expects Flood of Business Bankruptcies
2020-04-27 01:48:54 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — The billions of dollars in coronavirus relief targeted at small businesses may not prevent many of them from ending up in bankruptcy court.
Business filings under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law rose sharply in March, and attorneys who work with struggling companies ar...
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Irish PM: Charging Google, Facebook for Media Content Is 'A Good Idea'
2020-04-26 07:11:05 UTC
DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government should consider copying Australia’s plan to force Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google to share advertising revenue with local media, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday.
Companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter “are sort of ...
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U.S. Crude Oil Crashes Below $0
2020-04-20 21:51:34 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures plunged below zero on Monday, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 down 1.8%, but the market’s most dramatic action by far w...
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New COVID-19 Forecasts for Asia: Singapore Reports 942 New Cases
2020-04-18 13:52:37 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Singapore reported 942 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a single-day high for the tiny city-state that pushed its total number of infections to 5,992, including 11 deaths.
The number of cases in Singapore has more than doubled over the past week amid an explosion of infections...
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Germany's Unemployment Rate Stays Low Despite COVID-19
2020-04-16 21:19:06 UTC
BERLIN — Governments around the world have been fighting two battles against COVID-19, one of public health and one in the economic area. Once measures were taken to protect public health with lockdowns and stringent social distancing regulations, other measures were immediately needed to mitigat...
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UK Economy Will Suffer Devastating Consequences of COVID 19
2020-04-14 19:37:59 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s economy could shrink by 13% this year due to the government’s coronavirus shutdown, its deepest recession in three centuries, and public borrowing is set to surge to a post-World War Two high, the country’s budget forecasters said.
In the April-June period alone, e...
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Bank of England Allows UK Government To Run Up An Unlimited Overdraft
2020-04-10 14:33:45 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - In London, the Bank of England said it would allow Britain’s government to run up an unlimited overdraft as the state promises to pay wages to millions of people laid off during shutdown, cut taxes for businesses and expand its welfare system.
With central banks around the ...
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Global Economy Heading Into Deepest Recession Since 1929
2020-04-09 21:43:41 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic will push the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with the world’s poorest countries suffering the most, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.
“We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the G...
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Economist: “The U.S. Labor Market Is In Free-Fall”
2020-04-02 05:32:09 UTC
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits likely shot to a record high for a second week in a row as more jurisdictions enforced stay-at-home measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic, which economists say has pushed the economy into recession. ...