Economic news

Asian shares surged and oil prices gained on Tuesday after an early-stage trial for the COVID-19 vaccine showed positive results. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1.5%. Japan’s Nikkei grew 2%, its highest since March. Hong Kong’s Hang Sang and Australia’s benchmark index both gained 2%. Chinese blue-chip index rose 0.8%, […]

The dollar bounced on Tuesday after the COVID-19 vaccine trial reported encouraging data, lifting market appetite for risky currencies. The euro surged against the dollar and the Swiss franc after Germany and France proposed for a 500 billion euro recovery fund for European regions hardest hit by the pandemic. Commodity currencies and risky assets also […]

Qantas Airways Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce stated on Tuesday that the company would resume its operations with 40-50% of its domestic flights in July if the government would ease travel restrictions. The Australian airline would offer cheap flights and flexible fares to stimulate travel demand, but without social distancing measures. Starting June 12, […]

J.C. Penney Co Inc. (JCP) stated on Wednesday that it plans to cut store count by approximately 29% to about 604, two days after filing for bankruptcy protection. The U.S. department store chain considers closing more than a fourth of its stores to reduce costs amid the pandemic. J.C. Penney did not identify which stores […]

Unemployment surge from down under had eased in the last couple of weeks. More so, wages had increased as government support initiatives nursed the suffering economy, a record from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday. The ABS reported the employment rate hitting a 7.3% drop from March 14 to May 2. The reading […]

Australia’s economy currently faces an unprecedented downturn due to the novel coronavirus crisis. However, large volumes of fiscal and monetary supports could minimize the impact of the deadly respiratory disease, according to the minutes released by the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday. “An economic contraction of such speed and magnitude would be unprecedented in […]

Sony Corp. has partnered with Microsoft Corporation with plans to embed artificial intelligence capabilities into its latest imaging chip. The enhanced chip will have its own built-in processor and memory which allows for video analysis with artificial intelligence. This would be similar to Microsoft’s Azure, but with the use of a faster, simpler, and more […]

Gold prices rose early Tuesday in Asia, taking back lost ground from the previous session. Gold futures gained 0.27% to $1,739.35 per ounce at 12:43 AM ET (5:43 AM GMT). Stocks, which often move in the opposite direction, also rallied on the same day. Investors flocked to the yellow metal amid rising trade tensions between […]

On Monday, European stocks climbed up alongside oil prices, considerably at their highest in more than a month. These took place as lockdowns are being loosened, thus bolstering market sentiment despite COVID-19 not being contained entirely. With the warm weather inviting the nations to re-emerge from government-sanctioned lockdowns, centers of the outbreak like New York […]

Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that the Emirates Group is considering plans to cut about 30,000 jobs as the operator of the world’s largest long-haul carrier seeks to reduce costs after the pandemic grounded air travel. Emirates Group announced that it would slash the number of employees by about 30% from more than 105,000 at […]