Economy

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:47 UTC

  South American stock markets suffer heavy losses on Thursday

  

  Argentina's main stock exchange crashed by nearly 10% on Thursday as markets continued to panic over the coronavirus pandemic. The fall wasn't as bad as Monday's that reached almost 14% but it continued the week's general downward spiral across the region.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:25 UTC

  Brazilian congress and Bolsonaro clash slumps the Real to below 5 to the dollar

  

  As if things were not difficult enough for markets in Brazil, whose stocks and currency are among the world's worst-performing this year, an unexpected twist in the country's fragile politics threatens to make the situation even tougher.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:20 UTC

  Wall Street financial firms have most of its staff working from home

  

  Working from home went from optional to mandatory across Wall Street this week as financial firms reported their first confirmed cases of coronavirus and the outbreak triggered a state of emergency in New York City.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:10 UTC

  Argentina soybean output forecast to reach 52 million tons, down 6% year on year

  

  Soybean output for Argentina -- the world's third-largest soy producer and exporter -- is forecast to be at 52 million tons, down 4.6% on February estimates and 6% year on year, in 2019-20 crop year (November-October), on dry conditions in Córdoba and Santa Fe, a Buenos Aires Grains Exchange report said on Thursday.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  Coronavirus: Trump locks out all travel from Europe for 30 days and pledges financial relief to small businesses

  

  President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. would restrict all travel from Europe for the next 30 days and use executive orders to offer financial relief to individuals and small businesses in his most extensive steps to date to address the crisis of the coronavirus.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 07:48 UTC

  With local elections looming, Brazilian congress overturns Bolsonaro veto on social spending

  

  Brazil's Congress overturned a presidential veto on Wednesday in an ongoing battle over appropriations with President Jair Bolsonaro, doubling social assistance for elderly and disabled people that will cost an extra 20 billion reais (US$ 4.2 billion) this year.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 07:35 UTC

  Coronavirus: Bank of England cuts interest rate 50 basis points to 0.25%

  

  The Bank of England (BOE), the UK's central bank, cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points on Wednesday morning as part of an emergency response to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  Brazil downplays the threat of coronavirus: “it is overstated”

  

  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro minimized the threat of the new coronavirus - which has killed nearly 4,000 people in more than 60 countries and tanked global financial markets, saying its destructive power has been “overstated”.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 08:49 UTC

  Oil prices with slight recovery on Tuesday but market volatility remains

  

  Oil, which plunged about 25% on Monday, rebounded on Tuesday along with equities and other financial markets. Brent futures rose US$2.69, or 7.8%, to US$37.05 a barrel by 2:24 p.m. EDT (1824 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose US$2.73, or 8.8 percent, to US$33.86.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Corporate America rushes to borrow money in anticipation of a major economic downturn

  

  From Exxon Mobil Corp to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, companies rushed to borrow more money and boost their cash coffers on Tuesday, as the market turmoil fueled by a plunge in oil prices and the global coronavirus outbreak raised the prospect of an economic downturn.