Global stocks plunge amid oil crash and coronavirus outbreak March 9, 2020 Global stock markets plunged today as a crash in oil prices and the rapid spread of coronavirus caused panic to set in on trading floors around the world. The UK’s FTSE 100 slumped 7.7 per cent in its biggest one-day fall since the 2008 financial crisis. The rout wiped £125bn off the value of the [...]
Coronavirus: FTSE 100 loses £144bn after worst day since 2008 March 9, 2020 The FTSE 100 has had £144bn wiped off its value today as it closed below 6,000 points and suffered its biggest intraday fall since 2008. The coronavirus outbreak and plunging oil prices dragged the index down as much as 8.7 per cent to just 5,899 points as it opened following a weekend of coronavirus turmoil. [...]
NY Fed increases short-term funding as US stocks brace for open March 9, 2020 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has ramped up the amount of money it provides in very short-term loans to the financial system in a bid to keep Wall Street steady amid a coronavirus-driven market rout. The NY Fed today said daily overnight repurchase agreement (repo) operations will increase to $150bn (£115bn) from $100bn. [...]
Oil prices and Asian stocks collapse under coronavirus fears March 9, 2020 Oil prices and stocks collapsed today as investors piled into safe havens in a bid to escape the fallout of a fresh spread of coronavirus. Oil prices plunged around 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia signalled its intention to ramp up production. And investors knocked 30-year US bond yields below one per cent as they [...]
Can interest rate cuts help economies deal with coronavirus? March 8, 2020 Last Tuesday, the coronavirus outbreak drove the US Federal Reserve to do something it hadn’t done since the 2008 financial crisis: slash interest rates in an emergency move. Fed chair Jay Powell said rate-setters had “come to the view that it is time for us to act in the support of the economy”. The economic [...]
US posts strong jobs data but analysts say coronavirus means report ‘outdated before it came out’ March 6, 2020 The US posted strong jobs data for February today but markets remained in the red on fears of the impact of coronavirus on the world economy. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 273,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5 per cent, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. The [...]
Government bond yields sink to record low on coronavirus disruption March 6, 2020 Government bond yields sunk to fresh historic lows as fears over the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on global growth sent investors rushing to safe haven assets. Concerns over the outbreak have sent equities tumbling across the globe and pushed the price of several government bonds to historic highs, while yields (which move inversely to [...]
PSSL threatens Pollen Street Capital with legal action to obtain documents March 5, 2020 Pollen Street Secured Lending (PSSL) has hit back at Pollen Street Capital and is threatening legal action to obtain due diligence materials. In a punchy letter to shareholders, PSSL chairman Simon King said that PSC is trying to ensure that Waterfall Asset Management’s bid will not proceed. In January, Waterfall made a possible cash offer [...]
Goldman Sachs and UBS expect Bank of England rate cut March 5, 2020 Investment banking giants Goldman Sachs and UBS are both predicting that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Goldman analysts expect the BoE will slash rates by 50 basis points (0.5 per cent) at its meeting next month, saying that the epidemic is likely to push the UK [...]
Coronavirus: the economic impact March 5, 2020 The coronavirus threatens to derail the revival in global economic growth which began in the latter part of 2019. Economic indicators up to January continued to show an improvement in activity with business surveys signalling rising orders and output. However, confidence in the sustainability of the upswing has been undermined by the virus, officially known [...]