Category: News

Stocks dropped Friday, led by Chinese technology firms, after a U.S. move to prohibit transactions related to WeChat stoked tensions. Treasuries and the dollar rose. China and Hong Kong shares saw the bulk of losses, with WeChat operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. slumping more than 7%. The offshore yuan also retreated along with S&P 500 futures....

A rally in Asian stocks faltered Thursday as investors weighed more signs of tension with U.S.-China relations and ongoing negotiations on an American stimulus package. The dollar dipped toward its lowest in almost two years. Hong Kong shares saw the bulk of losses, with China and Japan modestly lower. Equities in South Korea and Australia outperformed. S&P...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned the lockdown across Victoria state and even tighter measures in Melbourne to contain a Covid-19 outbreak will cut gross domestic product by 2.5% in this quarter. “The events in Victoria are devastating,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra Thursday as he outlined Treasury’s initial estimates of the economic impact. “Devastating...

California’s second round of coronavirus-related shutdowns, among the nation’s strictest measures, are already causing pain for the most populous state’s labor market and portend a deterioration in the overall U.S. employment picture for July. When Governor Gavin Newsom announced on July 13 that indoor operations at businesses including salons and gyms would close to curb the resurgent...

Asian stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as investors mulled the progress of stimulus talks in Washington and reports of a plan to review the U.S.-China trade deal. Gold touched a record high. Shares fell in Japan, Australia and Shanghai, but rose modestly in South Korea and Hong Kong. S&P 500 futures were little changed after...

Victoria’s spiraling Covid-19 outbreak and the closure of large tracts of the southeastern state’s economy is likely to prolong Australia’s first recession in almost three decades. A curfew in Melbourne, the shuttering of swathes of the retail and manufacturing sectors and tight limits on construction for six weeks are set to result in another quarterly contraction in gross domestic product,...

Gold’s spot and futures prices opened the week by hitting records, with metal for immediate delivery closing in on $2,000 an ounce as the search for haven assets continued amid the coronavirus pandemic. Spot bullion surged 11% in July, the biggest monthly gain since 2012, as investors weighed a weaker dollar and record low U.S....

Asian stocks started August in a mixed fashion amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases and simmering U.S.-China tension. Treasuries slipped. Shares advanced in Japan and China but declined in Hong Kong. Australia’s and South Korea’s stocks fluctuated, as did S&P 500 contracts. Oil dipped. Gold continues to trade near record highs. On Friday, U.S. stocks...

The coronavirus pandemic sent the euro-area economy into the deepest recession on record in the second quarter, taking output back to levels not seen since early 2005. While indicators show a rebound is already underway, the 12.1% plunge in the 19-member region and mounting concerns about new flare-up in infections point to a long recovery...

The U.S. economy suffered its sharpest downturn since at least the 1940s in the second quarter, highlighting how the pandemic has ravaged businesses across the country and left millions of Americans out of work. Gross domestic product shrank 9.5% in the second quarter from the first, a drop that equals an annualized pace of 32.9%,...