· CORONAVIRUS CRISIS:
- Total confirmed cases: More than 424,875
- Total deaths: At least 18,941- The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 194 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan).
- US cases: At least 54,935, and deaths: 784
- Italy cases: At least 69,176, and deaths: 6,820
- Thailand cases: At least 934, and deaths: 4
· New York coronavirus cases explode; Trump calls outbreak 'great national trial'
New York state suffered another quick and brutal rise in the number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, becoming the latest U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, as California warned it could be next to face a spike in cases.
New York City, densely packed home to more than 8 million people, had 157 deaths and some 15,000 cases of coronavirus, nearly one-third the U.S. total and more than half the country’s new cases on Tuesday, despite imposing strict limits on travel, socializing and work.
President Donald Trump declared major disasters for New York and Washington state and said he would soon do the same for California as he vowed to marshal “every resource” to fight the outbreak.
· U.S. could be next 'virus epicenter' as India locks down, global recession looms
The United States could become the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as India announced a full 24-hour, nationwide lockdown in the world’s second-most populous country.
India joined the ranks of Britain and other countries clamping down to hold back the virus as business activity collapsed from Japan to the United States at a record pace in March.
In Geneva, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said infections in the United States had greatly increased.
Over the previous 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases were in Europe and the United States, and of those, 40 percent were in the United States.
Asked whether the United States could become the new epicenter, Harris said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the U.S. So it does have that potential.”
- New Zealand declared a state of emergency and prepared to go into complete lockdown starting at midnight for a month, according to Reuters. People are encouraged to self-isolate as all non-essential services close.
-Britain’s parliament is set to suspend sitting for at least four weeks from Wednesday as part of the government’s efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus.
- Singapore announced more lockdown measures on Tuesday night — its most stringent so far. Bars, clubs, cinemas and other entertainment outlets will be shut from Thursday till Apr. 30. The government also ordered malls and restaurants to reduce crowds if they were to stay open.
- Libya has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, reported Reuters, citing a statement from the country’s National Centre for Disease Control.
- Malaysia has reported another 172 cases of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised address.
That brings the country’s total confirmed cases to 1,796, the highest in Southeast Asia so far. Malaysia also reported another death from COVID-19, taking the total fatalities to 17 since the outbreak.
In his address, Muhyiddin announced that the movement control order currently in place will be extended until Apr. 14 — two weeks longer than initially planned. Under the order, Malaysia has closed its borders to foreign visitors, shut down non-essential businesses and restrict the movement of its people.
· Bill Gates says the US missed its chance to avoid coronavirus shutdown and businesses should stay closed
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Tuesday that the United States missed its chance to avoid mandated shutdowns because it didn’t act fast enough on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“The U.S. is past this opportunity to control (COVID-19) without shutdown,” Gates said during a TED Connects program broadcast online. “We did not act fast enough to have an ability to avoid the shutdown.”
“It’s January when everybody should’ve been on notice,” Gates added. The virus was first discovered in December in China.
Gates acknowledged Tuesday that self isolation will be “disastrous” for the economy, but “there really is no middle ground.” He suggested a shutdown of six to 10 weeks.
· The dollar slipped for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, as a deal to backstop the U.S. economy with a huge fiscal stimulus package promised to further ease some of the pandemic-driven skyrocketing demand for hard cash.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar jumped over the 60-cent mark for the first time in a week as news of the agreement trickled out, and then extended gains to $0.6047.
The British pound rose 0.6% to a session high of $1.1834 and the New Zealand dollar was 1% ahead at $0.5894. The euro lifted 0.3% to $1.0819.
“Now we are seeing the fiscal bazooka in action, and that should help further ease the dollar funding stress,” said Moh Siong Sim, currency analyst at the Bank of Singapore.
“There has been a need for cash to ride through this period where there is a revenue shortfall,” he said, adding the deficit could be alleviated should help find its way quickly to affected businesses, especially in the travel and hospitality sectors.
Against a basket of currencies the dollar eased 0.2% to 101.43. The U.S. currency was broadly steady against the Japanese yen at 111.17 yen per dollar.
· White House and Senate strike a deal on stimulus
The White House and Senate leaders reached a deal on a massive $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to combat the economic impact of the outbreak, NBC News reports.
On Tuesday, leaders in both parties had said that they were closing in on an agreement. Multiple people familiar with the situation told CNBC that they were still close to a deal, although talks continued as they worked through the text and hashed out final details. Two of the people had cautioned that talks could spill into Wednesday morning
· What's in the nearly $2 trillion U.S. Senate coronavirus stimulus?
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday was negotiating a nearly $2 trillion emergency bill that aims to counter some of the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
Below are some details under negotiation, which would need to be passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives before going to President Donald Trump for his signature:
- About $500 billion in direct payments to people, in two waves of checks of up to $1,200 for an individual earning up to $75,000 a year. Additional payments for families with children could push the total to $3,000 for a family of four, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has played a key role in the negotiations.
- Up to $500 billion in “liquidity assistance” for distressed industries. The amount allocates up to $61 billion for passenger and cargo airlines and contractors, including $32 billion in grants and $29 billion in loans, people briefed on the matter said.
- Some $350 billion in loans to small businesses, according to Republican Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee.
- Up to $130 billion for hospitals. Republicans said on Monday they have agreed to $75 billion. Hospitals sought $100 billion, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on a conference call Tuesday he believed Democrats had secured $130 billion, according to a person familiar with the call.
- Some $250 billion for expanding unemployment insurance. Republicans say they agreed to that in response to Democratic demands.
- Over $10 billion for drug development, and $4 billion for masks, gloves, gowns and ventilators, Republican Senator Steve Daines said.
· Nearly three-quarters of people in G7 expect virus to make their households poorer: survey
Seventy percent of people in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States expect their household to lose income due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey on Wednesday.
The highly contagious coronavirus has caused entire regions to be placed on lockdown, halting services and production and breaking supply chains.
In Italy, which has borne the brunt of the outbreak in Europe, 82% of respondents to the Kantar survey said the coronavirus has or will impact their household income - the highest of the G7 countries - compared to 74% in the United States and 70% in Britain.
The country expecting the least financial impact was Germany.
In all G7 countries, most people surveyed said they were washing their hands for longer.
In Britain, just 28% of people said they had started working from home more often and only a little over half said they were avoiding visits to elderly and vulnerable relatives and friends where possible.
The online survey was conducted last week - before the British government announced it would enforce its advice to stay home.
Japan had highest number of people who said they had started wearing a mask (65%) but the lowest number of people doing all other measures listed in the survey, such as social distancing, washing hands more and avoiding unnecessary social contact.
In Germany, Canada and Britain, more than half the people thought that public services in their country were prepared to cope with the epidemic and its consequences.
The country with the least confidence was France, where only 33% thought the country could cope.
Italy, which has so far seen more than 6800 deaths, had the highest number of respondents saying they were “very concerned” about the health of their local community, the availability of local health services and care for the elderly and vulnerable.
But Italy also had the highest number of people who strongly approved of the way their government was responding to the pandemic, at 39%. Japan had the lowest number of people in this category (5%) followed by Britain (17%).
· France will implement a 4 billion-euro ($4.33 billion) liquidity support plan for start-ups, digital junior minister Cédric O said on Wednesday.
· Oil prices extended gains for a third session on Wednesday, rising alongside broader financial markets on hopes Washington will soon approve a massive aid package to stem the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. crude CLc1 touched a high of $25.24 a barrel early in the session and was at $24.82 a barrel, up 81 cents, or 3.4%, by 0412 GMT.
Brent crude LCOc1 was trading up 75 cents, or 2.8%, at $27.90 a barrel after rising to a high of $28.29
· Oil and gas companies are cutting spending plans in response to the new coronavirus and a push by Saudi Arabia and Russia to ramp up output.
International benchmark prices LCOc1 have more than halved since the start of the year, falling to around $25 a barrel.
North American oil and gas producers have cut capital spending by about 30% on average, data compiled by Reuters showed.
AKER BP
Norwegian Aker BP (AKERBP.OL) will postpone non-sanctioned projects to cut its planned 2020 capital and exploration spending by 20% due to the coronavirus but maintains its production guidance. Capital spending for this year would be reduced to $1.2 billion and exploration spending to $400 million, while in 2021-2022 it expects capital spending to be “well below” $1 billion. The company said its ambition to continue paying dividends “remained firm”, but the board still had to assess the situation.
BPBP Plc (BP.L) said it planned to reduce capital and operational spending, which was about $15 billion last year.
CHEVRON
Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said it aimed to trim spending and lower oil output in the near term. The oil major’s 2020 organic capital expenditure guidance had been $20 billion.
DNO
Norway’s DNO (DNO.OL), which operates in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, said it would cut its 2020 budget by 30% or $300 million and lower its dividend for the first half of the year.
ENERGEAN
Mediterranean gas group Energean (ENOG.L) said it would cut its investments by $155 million in Greece and Israel and could reduce its budget for Egypt by another $140 million if needed without endangering delivery of its long-term offtake deals.
ENI
Eni (ENI.MI) followed rivals by cancelling a share buyback and sharply cutting investments. It said it would withdraw plans it had to buy back 400 million euros ($433.84 million) of shares this year, adding it would reconsider a buyback when Brent was at least $60 per barrel.
ENQUEST
North Sea producer EnQuest (ENQ.L) aims to break even this year at $38 a barrel and does not expect to restart its Heather and Thistle/Deveron fields, which produced 6,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) last year.
It is cutting operating costs by 30% to $375 million and investment will be lowered by $80 million to $150 million, which is expected to reduce output next year.
EQUINOR
Norway’s Equinor (EQNR.OL) has suspended its ongoing $5 billion share buyback program and said it would cut total 2020 spending by around $3 billion, including capital spending reduction to $8.5 billion from previous plans of $10-11 billion, with drilling and completion activities being postponed in the U.S. onshore.
EXXONMOBIL
ExxonMobil Corp (XOM.N) said it would make significant cuts to spending. It had previously budgeted $30 billion to $33 billion for projects in 2020.
GENEL
Genel Energy Plc (GENL.L), which operates in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, said it could generate excess cash at a sustained oil price of $40 a barrel, would be resilient with an oil price of $30 a barrel and will continue to pay a dividend of $0.10 a share.
It said it could reduce investments to $60 million this year, but expected the number to be $100 million, below previous guidance of $160-$200 million. Its production costs are $3 a barrel.
It has yet to receive payments from local authorities for production in October and November.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC, NBC News
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