Italy and Spain suffered their deadliest day from the coronavirus outbreak on March 27, 2020, with the government in Madrid warning citizens that the situation will get worse. Italy reported 969 deaths in 24 hours while Spain reported 769, bringing total fatalities to 9,134 and 4,858, respectively. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Sergio Pesci)...
(Bloomberg) -- Global cases of coronavirus surpassed 600,000 and the U.S. became the first country to reach 100,000 infections. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country will extend stimulus on an “unprecedented scale.”China also signaled it is preparing larger-scale stimulus to counter the economic fallout. President Donald Trump ordered General Motors to start making ventilators by invoking a Cold War-era law.Key Developments:Cases top 602,000; 27,800 dead, 131,800 recovered: Johns HopkinsJapan plans cash handouts, supplementary budgetChina signals ramped-up stimulus, says all 54 new virus cases on March 27 are importedL.A. warns of surge and New York of “astronomical” new infectionsU.S. cases exceed 104,000, more than Italy, ChinaHow India plans to lock down 1.3 billion people in a democracySubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here.Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the...
Unless the Saudi’s rescind their threat to flood the market with crude oil, prices are doomed to drop another $5 to $10 per barrel. If they withdraw their threat then prices will surge similar amounts, but gains will be limited by extremely low demand....
(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan’s long-standing leader calls it a “perfect storm.” Venezuela’s government is shutting fuel stations across the country. Chad is paying its sovereign debts using cattle.Across the oil-rich states of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, leaders accustomed to a steady flow of petrodollars see trouble ahead as the oil price war promises to destabilize their economies -- and perhaps their hold on power.Of course, it’s not just oil-producing countries that are suffering a dramatic economic shock as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world, but for the world’s petrostates, the collapse in oil prices adds another layer of pain. The plunge in export income is putting pressure on currencies and pushing up bond yields just as the virus is ramping up the call on social spending.“There’s no sugar coating: It’s going to be very difficult for producers,” said Russell Hardy, CEO of oil trader...
