UK needs coronavirus testing and tracing ‘command centre’ to beat virus April 16, 2020 The UK must create a 24/7 coronavirus testing and tracing “command centre” to exit its Covid-19 lockdown, according to a new report. A study from right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange said the command centre should be created “to oversee and implement a national testing and tracing strategy for hunting down and defeating Covid-19”. The report [...]
Donald Trump set to lay out ‘guidelines’ for reopening US April 16, 2020 US president Donald Trump is tonight expected to release medically-approved guidelines to reopen parts of the country’s economy, which has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. A White House official said that the president would use this evening’s press conference to lay out the “recommendations”, which are “flexible and data-driven”. The official added that the [...]
Verizon snaps up Blue Jeans amid booming demand for video conferencing April 16, 2020 Verizon today said it has entered into an agreement to buy video conferencing firm Blue Jeans as the coronavirus lockdown fuels huge demand for remote working. The US telecoms giant did not disclose the value of the deal but the Wall Street Journal reported a price tag of under $500m (£401m). California-based Blue Jeans provide [...]
Oil majors slash spending plans by a quarter as demand collapses April 16, 2020 The world’s biggest oil firms have cut their capital spending programmes by a combined 26 per cent for 2020 due to the collapse in oil prices caused by the coronavirus outbreak. In total, Reuters data shows that the combined sum of the cuts comes to $60.5bn (£48.2bn), as firms seek to conserve cash among an [...]
Netflix shares hit record high as valuation overtakes Disney April 16, 2020 Netflix shares rose to record highs today amid surging demand during the coronavirus lockdown, pushing its market capitalisation past fierce rival Disney. The US streaming giant’s stock rose more than three per cent in afternoon trading to $440 per share, having closed at a record high of $426.75 yesterday. The rise took Netflix’s market valuation [...]
Coronavirus: New York extends lockdown to mid-May April 16, 2020 New York will extend restrictions on schools and businesses until 15 May as the number of deaths and hospitalizations from coronavirus fell to their lowest levels in over a week. The number of deaths reported today fell to 606, the lowest level in 10 days, while the number of people admitted to hospital fell below [...]
UK extends coronavirus lockdown for at least three more weeks April 16, 2020 The UK will remain in coronavirus lockdown for at least the next three weeks, after today’s meeting of the government’s top scientific body. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said at today’s press briefing that “the advice from Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) is that relaxing any of the [social distancing] measures in place would risk [...]
FTSE 100 stabilises after dire US jobless claims data April 16, 2020 The FTSE 100 stabilised today despite the news that another 5.2m US workers will become unemployed, taking the total number of jobless claims in the last month to over 22m. London’s blue chip index managed a 0.6 per cent rise, despite an earlier wobble, with traders sanguine despite the extraordinary figures. The gains, which left [...]
Sterling falls hard against dollar as UK prepares to extend lockdown April 16, 2020 The pound fell sharply against the dollar this afternoon as the UK looked set to extend its lockdown for a further three weeks despite signs that the peak of the coronavirus pandemic was nearing. The prospect of a further extension, which will keep the country under restrictive measures until early May at least, saw sterling [...]
Latest news: BEQUANT partners with MAINBLOQ April 16, 2020 BEQUANT and MAINBLOQ are delighted to announce its partnership, making a serious commitment to building out the technology layer for the emerging digital asset space. As institutions have taken a closer look at the space, both organisations have been busy building the underlying technology including MAINBLOQ’s Smart Order Router and suite of algorithms and BEQUANT’s [...]
