Tencent posts rise in profit as pandemic drives surge in Wechat use March 18, 2020 Tencent today said the coronavirus outbreak had driven a huge surge in usage for its social media platform Wechat. The Chinese tech giant said Wechat had racked up 8bn visits since February as people logged in to access so-called health codes that allow them to travel during the outbreak. It came as Tencent posted fourth [...]
Eurozone bond yields jump after another ECB blunder March 18, 2020 Italian bond yields suffered a big intraday spike today after a European Central Bank (ECB) council member suggested monetary policy was at its limits amid the coronavirus outbreak. Yields on Italy’s 10-year bond shot up as much as 60 basis points (0.6 percentage points) to touch three per cent before falling back to around 2.296 [...]
Coronavirus: Schools in Scotland and Wales to close March 18, 2020 Nicola Sturgeon has announced that schools in Scotland will close in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Schools will be shut from Friday and may not open after the Easter break, and could stay closed for the whole of the summer term, the First Minister said. Sturgeon said Holyrood was still working out what this meant [...]
Selfridges shuts after London staff test positive for coronavirus March 18, 2020 Luxury department store Selfridges has closed its doors after three members of staff contracted coronavirus. The retailer, which yesterday said it was planning to cut hours, announced this morning that its four stores across London, Birmingham and Manchester will close this evening. This morning the department store said that three employees at its flagship Knightsbridge [...]
UK mobile networks suffer outages as virus sparks surge in demand March 18, 2020 Mobile phone users across the UK have reported problems with calls as operators battle to keep up with a boom in demand sparked by the coronavirus outbreak. The UK’s four network operators — O2, EE, Vodafone and Three — yesterday confirmed they were experiencing problems with some voice calls. It comes as millions of Brits [...]
Coronavirus: Prime Minister pledges legislative protection for Britain’s renters March 18, 2020 The Prime Minister has said private renters will receive legislative support to protect them from evictions as a result of the coronavirus outbreak during a sober and subdued PMQs. With just a handful of MPs in the Chamber, the leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn took a less adversarial tone in his questioning, which focused [...]
Oil prices sink below $28 on Covid-19 travel bans March 18, 2020 Oil prices have fallen below $28 a barrel as coronavirus continues to batter the world economy. Worldwide travel bans as a result of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic have driven oil prices down even further after a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The price of Brent crude fell four per cent to $27.64 today. [...]
Coronavirus cases top 200,000 worldwide March 18, 2020 The number of worldwide confirmed cases of coronavirus has surpassed 200,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US university released figures today showing there had been 201,530 recorded Covid-19 cases, and that the worldwide death toll had reached 8,006. China still has the most number of confirmed infections with 81,102, followed by Italy on 31,506, [...]
Marston’s scraps £20m dividend to save cash amid coronavirus crisis March 18, 2020 Shares in pub chain Marston’s jumped 43 per cent this morning as it outlined its coronavirus battle plan, which included cutting a £20m dividend. The company said that the need for social distancing as a measure to combat the spread of the virus means it is “unlikely” that it will recommend an interim dividend in [...]
Glastonbury 2020: What do I do if I booked a ticket? March 18, 2020 Glastonbury Festival 2020 has become the latest victim of the coronavirus crisis, with organisers this morning announcing that the iconic summer event had been cancelled. In a joint statement, Worthy Farm owners Michael and Emily Eavis said cancellation was the “only viable option” after the government urged people to stay at home. The festival will [...]