European leaders are meeting for a fourth consecutive day on Monday to continue tense negotiations over a 750-billion-euro ($858 billion conversion) recovery fund. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, suggested in May tapping the markets to mitigate the economic shock from the coronavirus. However, European capitals have not agreed on how to divide […] Read more
Travelers itching for a change of scenery amid months of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders brought on by the coronavirus pandemic now have a new option. The Maldives reopened to international visitors this week, after being closed to visitors since March 27. While much of the world has shut its borders or enacted strict measures on […] Read more
Citizens across Saudi Arabia poured into stores once coronavirus lockdown restrictions were lifted in June, hoping to save money on non-perishable goods from food and clothing to electronics and cars ahead of the kingdom’s tripling of its value-added tax, or VAT. Riyadh announced the levy — which increased from 5% to 15% on July 1 […] Read more
U.S. stock futures were lower in early morning trade on Friday following the release of the Fed’s latest bank stress-test results and disappointing quarterly numbers out of Nike. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 173 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures also traded in negative territory. The moves came after the Fed’s annual stress […] Read more
Online payments start-up Checkout.com has raised $150 million in funding at a $5.5 billion valuation — nearly three times what it was worth when it last raised cash. Founded in 2012, the London-based company sells a software platform that makes it easier for businesses to process and take payments over the web. It competes with […] Read more
The Bank of England is expected to expand its quantitative easing program on Thursday, but economists do not expect negative interest rates to be implemented this time around. The Bank’s latest monetary policy decision comes as the U.K. economy attempts to recover from an unprecedented 25% contraction across March and April as lockdowns forced by […] Read more
The fiscal deficit for the first three months of 2020 has almost doubled compared with the same period of last year. Total deficit has jumped from LL1.3 trillion to LL2.4 trillion. When expressed in contemporaneous foreign currency exchange rates, the deficit would have widened by 12 percent when calculated in dollars. During the first quarter […] Read more
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan responded to scientists funded by their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) who criticized Facebook’s response to President Donald Trump’s controversial post where he said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” In a letter shared on Twitter, the married couple said they were “deeply shaken and disgusted by President Trump’s divisive and incendiary rhetoric” […] Read more
Spain will be flying German tourists to their dream-worthy beaches starting June 15 in a pilot program to bring tourism back to its Balearic Islands. “What we are planning in the Balearics is to let a few thousands in,” an official at the Spanish foreign ministry told Reuters. “This is limited and to test the system.” The […] Read more
Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs shared his thoughts on some of the major oil producers’ market moves in recent months, shedding disapproval on the March decision by Saudi Arabia and Russia to launch into a price war, which sent oil prices into free fall. “I think it was a very big mistake,” Saad […] Read more
