· Dollar at two-month highs as resurgent coronavirus threatens economy
The U.S. dollar reached a two-month high on Thursday as concern grew over the resilience of an economic recovery in the United States and Europe amid a second wave of coronavirus infections.
The dollar benefited from another spike in coronavirus cases in Europe, which boosted its safe-haven appeal, while Federal Reserve policymakers called on the U.S. government to provide more fiscal support, fuelling a bout of selling in risky assets overnight.
Against a basket of six other currencies =USD, the dollar edged up 0.1% to a two-month high at 94.50. It is up nearly 2% so far this week as economic momentum shows signs of fading.
U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy remained in a “deep hole” of joblessness and weak demand and called for more fiscal stimulus, adding that policymakers “are not even going to begin thinking” about raising interest rates until inflation hits 2%.
The British pound GBP=D3 swung between gains and losses but held above $1.27 before an announcement of Britain's plans to protect jobs and employment later in the day.
· Treasury yields fall with coronavirus, Fed testimony; jobless claims in focus
U.S. government debt prices were higher Thursday morning following another tech-driven sell-off on Wall Street, while concerns for the global economic recovery amid mounting coronavirus cases continued to weigh on sentiment.
At around 2:10 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at 0.6692% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond slid to 1.4077%. Yields move inversely to prices.
· Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Biden, Trump about even in Florida, Arizona
The race between Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump looked like a toss-up among likely voters in Florida and Arizona, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls released on Wednesday.
Below is a state-by-state look at Reuters/Ipsos findings, based on the online responses of likely voters, which include responses from some who cast ballots ahead of the formal Nov. 3 Election Day, a practice expected to increase due to the coronavirus health crisis:
OVERVIEW:
Biden would be better at handling the coronavirus pandemic
Trump would be better at managing the economy.
· Trump won’t commit to peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election
President Donald Trump refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the 2020 election to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“Well, we’ll have to see what happens. You know that. I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,” Trump said at a news conference at the White House. It appeared Trump was referring to mail-in ballots, which he has repeatedly condemned, without evidence, as susceptible to massive fraud.
· Pompeo warns U.S. politicians to be alert to Chinese 'influence and espionage'
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned U.S. politicians at the state and local level to be vigilant around Chinese diplomats who he said could be trying to woo them as part of Beijing’s propaganda and espionage campaign.
· ByteDance applies for tech export licence in China amid TikTok deal talks
ByteDance has applied for a tech export licence in China as it races to seal a deal with Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc that it hopes will end U.S. government plans to ban its TikTok video-streaming app on security grounds.
· JPMorgan set to pay nearly $1 billion in spoofing penalty - source
JPMorgan Chase & Co is set to pay nearly $1 billion (£786 million) to resolve market manipulation investigations by U.S. authorities into its trading of metals futures and Treasury securities, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
· AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine trial remains on hold in the U.S., HHS chief Azar says
AstraZeneca’s late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial in the U.S. remains on hold as federal investigators seek “answers to important questions” over its safety for patients, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Wednesday.
Global clinical trials for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, called AZD1222, were placed on hold Sept. 6 after one of the participants in the U.K. reported a serious adverse reaction. Following an investigation, AstraZeneca said on Sept. 12 that it had resumed trials in the U.K., though the U.S. trial has since remained on hold.
However, the fast-tracked timing of the Covid-19 vaccine has left some Americans concerned about its safety. New CNBC/Change Research polls found that most voters worry President Donald Trump is pushing to release a coronavirus vaccine too quickly in order to boost his reelection chances this year. Nationally, only 42% of likely voters said they will definitely or probably receive the inoculation when it first becomes available.
The FDA is expected to announce new and more stringent standards for approving an emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine in an effort to boost transparency and public trust, The Washington Post first reported on Tuesday.
· Less than 10,000 getting COVID-19 each day, UK health minister says
The British government estimates less than 10,000 people a day are contracting COVID-19, health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday, less than during the pandemic’s peak, even as numbers testing positive have risen to similar levels.
“(At the peak), we estimate through surveys that over 100,000 people a day were catching disease, but we only found around 6,000 of them, and they tested positive. Now we estimate that it’s under 10,000 people a day getting the disease. That’s too high, but it’s still much lower than in the peak,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
· Europe is facing a double-dip recession as the coronavirus returns
Europe is now grappling with a second wave of coronavirus infections that could once again wreak significant damage on the region’s economy.
The euro zone, the area that shares the single currency, saw its economy tank by 11.8% in the second quarter of 2020, hit by strict lockdown measures used to contain the spread of the virus.
Economists predicted a rebound in the second half of 2020 but are now questioning those forecasts. Many governments are announcing new lockdown restrictions, or a slowing of reopenings, as they deal with a significant uptick in cases.
“The likelihood of a double dip, i.e. another contraction in the fourth quarter, has increased significantly,” Carsten Brzeski, a chief economist at ING, told CNBC Wednesday.
He expects more regional lockdowns in the coming weeks such as those already seen in Madrid, Spain, and Lyon, France.
There is a “big risk of a double dip” in the fourth quarter, Chris Williamson, the chief business economist at IHS Markit, told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Wednesday.
Cathal Kennedy, RBC’s European economist, said that the new measures “will again primarily affect the services sector” and that will lead to slower business activity in the coming months.
· No-deal Brexit is in nobody's interest: Gove
A no-deal Brexit is in nobody’s interest, British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Wednesday.
“No-deal is in nobody’s interests,” Gove told parliament.
UK determined to secure a deal with EU: senior minister Gove
Britain is determined to get a trade deal with the European Union senior cabinet minister Michael Gove said on Wednesday.
“We’re absolutely determined to do everything that we can to secure a deal,” he told parliament.
· German business morale brightens despite coronavirus resurgence
German business morale improved for the fifth month in a row in September, a survey showed on Thursday, in a further sign that Europe’s largest economy is enjoying a solid recovery from the coronavirus shock suffered in the first half of the year.
The Ifo institute said its business climate index rose to 93.4 from a downwardly revised 92.5 in August. This was the highest reading since February when the index stood at 95.9.
· Pandemic slashes worldwide income from work by a tenth: ILO
Income earned from work worldwide dropped by an estimated 10.7%, or $3.5 trillion, in the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period a year ago, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.
The figure, which does not include income support provided by governments to compensate for workplace closures during the pandemic, is equal to 5.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP) for the first three quarters of 2019, it said.
· Not all of China is recovering from the economic hit from coronavirus at the same rate, survey finds
The economic recovery in China from the shock of the coronavirus is only happening in part of the country, according to an independent survey by the China Beige Book released Thursday.
The world’s second-largest economy was the first country to get hit by the coronavirus pandemic. More than half the country shut down in early February in an effort to limit the spread of the virus, contributing to a 6.8% contraction in growth in the first quarter. As the outbreak of the disease stalled in March, businesses began to reopen, and the official gross domestic product grew 3.2% in the second quarter.
Government-released data in the months since have pointed to further recovery overall. China economists from Nomura expect third-quarter GDP to grow 5.2% from a year ago.
An independent survey of more than 3,300 businesses in the country between Aug. 13 and Sept.12 shows that growth story is intact — in the wealthier, coastal regions, according to the China Beige Book’s early look brief. The firm conducts the survey quarterly.
“For large firms and those based in the Big 3 coastal regions surrounding Shanghai and Beijing, as well as Guangdong--the corporate elite--the economy is accelerating. This is the public face of Beijing’s recovery narrative,” the report said. “But the rest of China — most firms in most regions — are seeing a far more muted recovery. (Small and medium-sized enterprises) and companies outside the core are earning, selling, investing, and borrowing far less than their counterparts.”
The analysis found that third-quarter revenue and profit in every region fell double-digits from a year ago, while most provinces in the landlocked parts of the country saw output and domestic orders decline from the prior quarter.
· Singapore eases office restrictions for workers as new covid cases ease
Singapore will allow more people who are presently working from home to return to office as the number of community cases has remained low.
Though working from home remains the default, the updated requirements allow office staff to return up to half their working time, with no more than half of such employees at the workplace at any point in time, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The city-state will also allow work-related events within the workplace premises like conferences, seminars and corporate retreats to resume, for up to 50 people, the government said.
Authorities said the updated measures were “carefully considered to balance the concerns of employers regarding the impact of extended periods of working-from-home on productivity and workplace relations, while creating safe workplaces for employees," it said. The updated measures will take effect from Sept. 28.
· Myanmar’s ‘maximum containment’ COVID plan pushed to brink as virus surges
Myanmar has quarantined tens of thousands of people to prevent a coronavirus outbreak from overwhelming its fragile healthcare system but public health experts and doctors say the strategy is on the brink of collapse as infections surge.
The Southeast Asian nation is housing more than 45,000 people, including COVID-19 patients as well as those yet to be tested, their close contacts and returning migrant workers, in buildings from schools and monasteries to government offices and tower blocks, mostly run by volunteers.
· China says it supports Hong Kong government in strengthening management of media
· China bans two Australian 'anti-China' scholars - Global Times
China has barred entry to two “anti-China” Australian scholars, the Global Times newspaper said on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Canberra.
· North Korean troops killed missing South Korean, then burned body, Seoul says
A South Korean fisheries official who went missing this week was questioned on a North Korean patrol boat before being shot dead by troops who then doused his body in oil and set it on fire, South Korea’s military said on Thursday.
South Korea’s military said evidence suggested the man was attempting to defect to the North when he was reported missing from a fisheries boat on Monday about 10 km (6 miles) south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed demarcation of military control that acts as the de facto maritime boundary between North and South Korea.
· Japan and South Korea need to repair ties, cooperate on North Korea - PM
Japan and South Korea must cooperate to counter any threat from North Korea, Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, told South Korea’s president on Thursday, calling for the uneasy neighbours to repair their frayed ties.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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