Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 May 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 May 2020

 


 

 


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ü  Amazon trials online food delivery in India

ü  Flexible working will be a new normal after virus

ü  Clarks to cut 900 office jobs in shake-up

ü  Nigeria's economy to shrink 8.9% in worst case - finance minister

ü  Global COVID-19 trial of hydroxychloroquine, which Trump takes, begins

ü  South African central bank cuts lending rate by 50 basis points

ü  Eskom CEO sees sustainable future if $25 bln debt pile can be slashed

ü  Vodacom South Africa now a standalone business

ü  Nigerian annual inflation at 12.34% in April -stats office

ü  Rwanda GDP growth to slacken in 2020 due to coronavirus

ü  Kenyan lender Equity Group restructures 25% of loans due to coronavirus

ü  Total secures $14.4 billion funding for Mozambique LNG -sources

ü  Ethiopia to issue two new telecom operator licences - regulator

ü  China Moly's Congo copper-cobalt mine expects stable output this year

ü  South Africa's Cell C to place some assets in SPV -regulator

ü  China scraps annual economic growth target for first time

ü  US workers seeking jobless aid near 40 million

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


Amazon trials online food delivery in India

Internet giant Amazon is entering the meal delivery business with a trial in
four parts of India's Bengaluru.

 

The move comes as pandemic lockdowns prompt a surge in online ordering in
some places, such as the US.

 

However in India, the two big players in the market have seen significant
declines in demand.

 

Uber Eats retreated from the country last year, selling its business to
local rival Zomato in exchange for a 10% stake in the Indian start-up.

 

Amazon has set ambitious plans for expansion in India, where it has invested
some $6.5bn. Like rival Walmart, it sees significant growth potential in the
fast-growing country.

 

It had reportedly planned to launch the food business before the lockdown,
but delayed after lockdowns and restrictions on sales of non-essential items
came into effect.

 

About 100 restaurants and kitchens are currently involved in the trial in
Bengaluru, a tech hub in the southern part of the country. Depending on its
success, Amazon hopes to offer the service across the country.

 

"Customers have been telling us for some time that they would like to order
prepared meals on Amazon in addition to shopping for other essentials," the
firm said in a statement. "This is particularly relevant in present times as
they stay home safe. we also recognise that local businesses need all the
help they can get."

 

Amazon, which has grown from an online bookseller into a global juggernaut
with a hand in everything from groceries to cloud computing, will be
challenging homegrown players Swiggy and Zomato, which currently dominate
the food delivery market.

 

They have both been hit hard by loss of business due to the pandemic.

 

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal this month announced that the firm, which has
been expanding outside of India, would cut 13% of its workforce.

 

In a blog post, he said as much as 40% of restaurants could close over the
next six to 12 months, a sign that many of the changes ushered in by the
pandemic would be permanent.

 

"We do not foresee having enough work for all our employees," he said.--BBC

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Flexible working will be a new normal after virus

Facebook and New Zealand's Prime Minister are the latest supporters of
flexible working as companies mull back-to-office strategies.

 

On Thursday, Facebook said it plans to shift towards a more remote workforce
as a long-term trend.

 

New Zealand's PM Jacinda Ardern this week suggested a four-day working week,
partly to boost tourism in the country.

 

As offices gradually re-open after coronavirus lockdown, more employers are
looking at news ways of working.

 

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told staff it was
"aggressively opening up remote hiring" in July. He expects half of its
workforce to do their jobs outside Facebook's offices over the next five to
10 years.

 

It follows moves by other tech firms in Silicon Valley including Twitter
which said employees can work from home "forever" if they wish.

 

Flexible working policies suit staff who are anxious about returning to
offices while giving breathing space to companies as they introduce new
social distancing measures.

 

Ms Ardern has suggested a four-day working week to help boost the economy
and address work-life balancing.

 

"I hear lots of people suggesting we should have a four-day work week.
Ultimately that really sits between employers and employees. But as I've
said there's just so much we've learnt about Covid and that flexibility of
people working from home, the productivity that can be driven out of that,"
Ardern said in a Facebook live video.

 

Tech giants lead

Tech giant Microsoft trialled a four-day working week last year in Japan
which was deemed successful in terms of employee feedback and productivity.
It says it is now has a "hybrid workplace strategy as worksites slowly start
to open".

 

"Working from home remains optional through October for most employees,"
said a Microsoft spokesperson.

 

Both working from home and shorter working weeks have been applauded by
human resources experts as an alternative to a mass return to offices.

 

"It would also give better work life balance for the people who need it such
as part-time students, new mothers, parents who want more time with
kids/looking after the elderly," said Alin Abraham, a Singapore-based
consultant.

 

"If after Covid-19 employers learn how to employ flexible workers that would
be a huge battle won for human resource management," she added.

 

A shift towards more remote working also allows companies to rethink their
expensive office space.

 

Mastercard said it is currently looking at consolidating some of its offices
while Facebook has plans for working "hubs" across the US.

 

"Post Covid-19, you can imagine many companies shrinking down their real
estate and employees can just work from home. It will be an interesting
proposition to see how employers can cater to different crowds," said Adrian
Tan, of workplace IT firm PeopleStrong.--BBC

 

 

 

Clarks to cut 900 office jobs in shake-up

Shoe chain Clarks will cut 900 office jobs worldwide as it tries to position
itself for a post virus future.

 

The 195-year-old firm said it had to make "some difficult decisions" to
re-energise the business, which has seen sales fall over the past year.

 

The jobs will go over the next 18 months, said Clarks, adding that it was
part of a wider plan to turn around the firm which will create 200 new jobs.

 

The firm, which cut 170 jobs last year, employs 13,000 people globally.

 

"There are exciting opportunities ahead for our business, and we are having
to make some difficult decisions to get there," said chief executive Giorgio
Presca.

 

"We thank all affected staff for their contribution to our business and they
leave their roles with our heartfelt respect and support."

 

Clarks shut all of its stores in the UK and Ireland during the coronavirus
lockdown, and said it will only reopen them "when it is right and safe to do
so".

 

It has already opened stores in countries including China as restrictions
have been lifted, it added.

 

The firm is consulting with its advisers on funding options for the future,
it said, without giving further details.

 

The company posted a £84.4m loss last year as sales dropped.

 

'Tough conditions'

It sold 20 million pairs of shoes in the year to February 2019, two million
fewer than the year before, citing "extremely tough" conditions on the high
street.

 

It also said it will close some of its worst-performing stores.

 

Last year it closed its only remaining UK factory after it failed to hit its
targets for making desert boots. The factory opened in 2017.

 

The company started making shoes in the UK in 1825 but production was moved
to the Far East in 2005.

 

Prior to that, the last remaining Clarks plant in the UK - Millom in Cumbria
- closed in 2006.--BBC

 

 

 

Nigeria's economy to shrink 8.9% in worst case - finance minister

(Reuters) - Nigeria’s economy could shrink as much as 8.9% in 2020 in a
worst-case scenario without stimulus, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on
Thursday, a deeper recession than forecast after oil prices plunged due to
the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Ahmed told Nigeria’s highest economic advisory body, the National Economic
Council, that the contraction could reach 4.4% in a best-case scenario,
without any fiscal measures.

 

But with stimulus, the contraction could be kept to just 0.59%, she said.

 

The pandemic and an oil price plunge have not only hit growth but also
dented the state’s main source of income, creating large financing needs and
weakening the naira.

 

“We will go into recession - but what we are trying to do is to make sure
that it is shallow so that we will quickly come out of it, come 2021,” Ahmed
told the council in a virtual meeting.

 

She said 40% of Nigerians were poor and the crisis would increase poverty.

 

Ahmed said Nigeria had over 6,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus,
but that this could rise to almost 300,000 by the end of August. So far 200
people are confirmed to have died with the virus.

 

A World Bank director taking part in the meeting said the Bank was planning
a package for immediate fiscal relief for Nigeria.

 

Ahmed said the proposal was worth $1.5 billion and intended for Nigeria’s
states to provide relief at sub-national level. She said it could be
disbursed by September.

 

Nigeria’s first quarter revenue from crude sales was 940.9 billion naira
($2.6 bln), missing its target by 31% due to the oil price crash, she said.

 

Ahmed said Nigeria has $72.04 million in its oil savings account as of May
21, compared to $325 million in November.

 

 

Global COVID-19 trial of hydroxychloroquine, which Trump takes, begins

(Reuters) - Healthcare workers in Britain and Thailand have started taking
part in a trial to determine whether two anti-malarial drugs can prevent
COVID-19, including one that U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been
taking.

 

The study, involving more than 40,000 healthcare workers across Europe,
Africa, Asia and South America, seeks to determine whether chloroquine and
hydroxychloroquine could play a role in the fight against the novel
coronavirus.

 

Demand for hydroxychloroquine surged after Trump touted it in early April.
He said this week he was now taking it as a preventive medicine against the
virus despite medical warnings about its use.

 

The lead investigators in Thailand and Britain said their ‘COPCOV’ trial, in
the works for several months, would cut through the heated and unhelpful
debate.

 

“We still do not know whether anything is beneficial in COVID-19,” the
University of Oxford’s Professor Nicholas White, the study’s co-principal
investigator, told Reuters.

 

“The only way we can find out if things are beneficial overall is to do
large, well-conducted clinical trials,” said White, who is based at the
Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok. “These are
extremely well-established drugs.”

 

The COPCOV team said laboratory evidence showed the anti-malarial drugs
might be effective in preventing or treating COVID-19 but there was no
conclusive proof. Accord Healthcare has donated the hydroxychloroquine and
matched placebo.

 

Medics who have tested positive will not be able to take part. More details
can be found here: bit.ly/3g7GeyN

 

Trump said on May 18 that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine and many
frontline medical workers were too, although the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has issued a warning about its use.

 

“I’m taking it — hydroxychloroquine,” Trump said. “I’ve been taking it for
the last week and a half. A pill every day.”

 

Professor Martin Llewelyn, the lead UK investigator, said many health
workers were relying on social distancing and personal protective equipment
but the measures were not perfect.

 

“Anything that can be done to reduce that risk further would be an enormous
break through,” he told Reuters. 

 

 

 

South African central bank cuts lending rate by 50 basis points

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s central bank cut its main lending
rate by 50 basis points to 3.75% on Thursday, in an effort to shield the
economy from the impact of the new coronavirus.

 

The central bank expects gross domestic product to contract by 7% in 2020.
The latest rate cut will help ease pressure on consumers amid widespread job
losses, it said.

 

The bank’s five-person monetary policy committee was split 3-2, with three
members voting for the 50-bps cut and two for a 25-bps reduction. A poll by
Reuters last week had predicted the 50-bps move. [nL8N2CV5SL]

 

The rand extended gains in response to the decision, and at 1335 GMT the
currency was up 1.8% to 17.6050 per dollar, its best level in more than a
month.

 

Governor Lesetja Kganyag said consumer inflation would remain well below the
midpoint of the regulator’s target range of 3% to 6% this year, despite
higher levels of country financing risk.

 

“Easing of the lockdown will support growth in the near term and some high
frequency activity indicators show a pickup in spending from extremely low
levels. However, getting back to pre-pandemic activity levels will take
time,” Kganyago said.

 

“Monetary policy however cannot on its own improve the potential growth rate
of the economy or reduce fiscal risks.”

 

The central bank has been under pressure to do more to support the economy,
with some politicians wanting it to buy bonds directly from the government.

 

 

 

Eskom CEO sees sustainable future if $25 bln debt pile can be slashed

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The chief executive of South Africa’s Eskom said on
Thursday the state power utility could become financially viable and do
without government bailouts if it could more than halve its debt to 200
billion rand ($11.2 billion).

 

Eskom has about 450 billion rand of debt and is mired in financial crisis as
it does not generate enough earnings to meet its debt costs.

 

Its debt burden is equivalent to more than 8% of South Africa’s gross
domestic product and includes roughly 150 billion rand in domestic bonds,
150 billion rand to development finance institutions such as the World Bank,
80 billion rand in foreign bonds. The rest is made up of export credit
facilities and other types of loans.

 

Eskom produces more than 90% of the electricity in Africa’s most
industrialised economy but has battled to keep the lights on, a factor that
helped push the country into recession even before the coronavirus crisis
struck.

 

Eskom’s problems are among the biggest challenges for President Cyril
Ramaphosa, who has been trying to rebuild investor confidence after a decade
of scandals and policy missteps under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

 

CEO Andre de Ruyter couldn’t say how long it would take to slash Eskom’s
debt to 200 billion rand or achieve a 35% earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin, another metric it thinks will
make its business sustainable.

 

He said the company would start a “renegotiation process” with independent
power producers to try to lower electricity costs for consumers.

 

Power demand has fallen by an average of 6,000 megawatts because of the
economic impact of the coronavirus, Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer
said.

 

Generation executive Bheki Nxumalo said the number of expected days of power
cuts over the winter months had fallen to three from an earlier forecast of
31.

 

($1 = 17.9326 rand)

 

($1 = 17.9446 rand)

 

 

 

Vodacom South Africa now a standalone business

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Vodacom Group said on Thursday it has simplified
its structure and created a standalone South African business as it seeks to
manage its already expanded African footprint and grow further.

 

Its shares rose 0.24% after the news, outperforming the wider index, which
fell nearly 2%.

 

South Africa’s biggest telecoms company by value said in a statement it
needed the new structure to manage its expanded African portfolio and growth
plans on the continent, including financial and digital services.

 

“For Vodacom Group to play a central role of overseeing all operations
across its African footprint, this has necessitated the creation of a
standalone South African operating company,” the company said.

 

The group assumed management responsibility for Vodafone Ghana from April 1
and subsequently concluded a joint venture with Kenya’s Safaricom after
buying the M-PESA brand, product development and support services from
Vodafone.

 

Vodacom and Safaricom have also expressed interest in bidding for an
Ethiopian telecommunications licence as part of a consortium. Vodacom holds
a strategic stake in Safaricom.

 

The standalone South African business will be managed by Vodafone director
Balesh Sharma, currently the director of special projects for the Vodafone
Group, which is a majority-owner of Vodacom.

 

He will report directly to group Chief Executive Shameel Joosub and will
join the reconstituted Vodacom Group executive committee with effect from
July 1.

 

 

 

 

Nigerian annual inflation at 12.34% in April -stats office

ABUJA (Reuters) - Annual inflation in Nigeria stood at 12.34% in April,
compared with 12.26% in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said on
Thursday.

 

A separate food price index showed inflation at 15.03% in April, compared
with 14.98% in March.

 

 

 

Rwanda GDP growth to slacken in 2020 due to coronavirus

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda’s economic growth is expected to slow to 2% this
year from 9.4% in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic hits tourism, transport and
hospitality, the finance minister said on Thursday.

 

Presenting the draft budget for 2020-21 fiscal year, Uzziel Ndajigimana said
growth was expected to rebound next year to 6.3% and improve further to 8%
in 2022.

 

He said the small east African nation plans to increase government spending
by 7.5% in the 2020/21 fiscal year to 3.245 trillion Rwandan francs ($3.43
billion).

 

Donors will fund 15.2 percent of the budget with the rest coming from
revenue and debt, Ndagijimana said.

 

He said Rwanda would borrow from abroad 783.4 billion francs but did not
give details.

 

“Government investments will acquire 306.5 billion including a part
allocated to supporting private companies hurt by Covid-19 effects and
expansion of RwandAir,” Ndagijimana said, referring to the government-owned
airline.

 

Rwanda, like other East African nations, will present its final budget in
June.

 

Like many other countries, Rwanda has suspended international passenger
travel and restricted movement and banned social gatherings within the
country to contain the novel coronavirus.

 

Ndajigimana said the hotels and restaurants sector will contract by just
under a third, while transport will contract 1.9% due to the stopping of
flights.

 

Agriculture will grow 3% from 5% last year, while industry will expand 4%
from 17% a year ago. Services will grow 1% from 8% due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and conferences, Ndagijimana told parliament.

 

Rwanda has 314 confirmed coronavirus cases, with no deaths and 216
recoveries out of 53,317 tests done so far.

 

The International Monetary Fund gave Rwanda $109.4 million in emergency
coronavirus funding in April.

 

($1 = 947.0390 Rwandan francs)

 

 

 

Kenyan lender Equity Group restructures 25% of loans due to coronavirus

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s second biggest lender, Equity Group, has changed
the terms of loans worth 92 billion shillings ($862 million) or 25% of its
portfolio, due to coronavirus-related hardships affecting customers, it said
on Thursday.

 

($1 = 106.7500 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

Total secures $14.4 billion funding for Mozambique LNG -sources

PARIS (Reuters) - French energy major Total has secured $14.4 billion
funding for its Mozambique liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, two
sources said on Wednesday.

 

A source with knowledge of the matter said Total has reached a financing
agreement with a group that includes around 20 lenders for the first phase
of senior debt funding of $14.4 billion. The source did not specify the name
of the banks involved in the financial arrangement.

 

Total declined to comment. Bloomberg reported earlier on Wednesday that
Total was set to sign $15 billion financing for the project in June.

 

The company expects the financing to be closed in the third quarter, the
source said.

 

An energy banking source confirmed the financing deal to Reuters, adding
that it involved 20 banks for just below $15 billion.

 

Total concluded the acquisition of Anadarko’s 26.5% interest in the
Mozambique LNG project for $ 3.9 billion in September. It is expected to
start production in 2024.

 

 

 

Ethiopia to issue two new telecom operator licences - regulator

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia’s communications regulator said on Thursday
the country would proceed with the privatisation of the telecommunications
sector despite the novel coronavirus outbreak.

 

The Ethiopian Communications Authority said it had issued requests for
expressions of interest for two telecom licences to be awarded to
multinational mobile companies, breaking the state monopoly.

 

The issuing of licences will open up one of the world’s last major closed
telecoms markets in the country of around 110 million.

 

“The sector liberalisation process is continuing amid the COVID-19 crisis
which shows the government’s strong will to fight the pandemic while keeping
track of the ongoing economic reforms,” the regulator said in a statement.

 

It said the licences would be awarded through a “competitive bidding
process,” but did not give a deadline for the allocation of the licences.

 

It added it had hired the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation
(IFC) as transaction adviser.

 

So far, Ethiopia has recorded 389 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and five
deaths, out of 69,507 tests done so far.

 

 

 

China Moly's Congo copper-cobalt mine expects stable output this year

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - China Molybdenum’s Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt
mine in Democratic Republic of Congo will maintain the same output this year
as 2019 despite COVID-19 disruptions, Tenke Fungurume director Simon
Tuma-Waku said on Thursday.

 

“We think we will be able to maintain the same amount of production as last
year,” Tuma-Waku told a virtual panel. “Production has more or less been
maintained.”

 

 

 

South Africa's Cell C to place some assets in SPV -regulator

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s third-biggest telecom operator, Cell
C, plans to hive off assets into a new special purpose vehicle (SPV), the
country’s competition watchdog said on Thursday, as part of a plan to
restructure the company’s debt.

 

Gatsby SPV has been set up for the purpose of the proposed transaction, the
Competition Commission said in a statement. It did not give details about
the deal or indicate which assets of Cell C may be sold to Gatsby.

 

The Commission said Gatsby SPV will be controlled by a trust that is yet to
be formed.

 

As that may raise competition concerns, the Commission said it recommends
that Gatsby SPV and/or the trust will not be owned or controlled by
companies that compete or may compete with Cell C or firms that have a
customer-supplier relationship with Cell C.

 

Cell C said it was pleased that the Commission has given it conditional
approval for the proposed recapitalisation deal, but said it remains
cautiously optimistic until the deal has been fully concluded. It did not
give details on which assets may be transferred.

 

“A recapitalisation is an important pillar of Cell C’s turnaround strategy.
We are being diligent and thorough to ensure it is a transaction that meets
all conditions and continue to engage with all stakeholders,” Cell C’s Chief
Executive Douglas Stevenson said in an emailed response to Reuters queries.

 

The firm announced a turnaround plan last year aimed at boosting its balance
sheet by securing new capital, cutting costs and minimising operating
expenses where possible.

 

Earlier this year Cell C defaulted on a series of debt payments having
underperformed in a highly competitive market dominated by MTN and Vodacom.

 

 

 

China scraps annual economic growth target for first time

China will not set an economic growth goal for this year as it deals with
the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

 

It is the first time Beijing has not had a gross domestic product (GDP)
target since 1990 when records began.

 

The announcement was made by Premier Li Keqiang at the start of the
country's annual parliament meeting.

 

The world's second largest economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter from
a year ago as lockdowns paralysed businesses.

 

“This is because our country will face some factors that are difficult to
predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the
Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic and trade environment,” Premier Li
said.

 

The country's leadership has promised to boost economic support measures
amid growing concerns that rising unemployment could threaten social
stability.

 

The move comes as tensions between Beijing and Washington are becoming
increasingly strained over the coronavirus pandemic, trade and Hong Kong.

 

On Thursday, President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on China,
suggesting that the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, is behind a
“disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe.”

 

It came as Mr Trump and other Republicans have escalated their criticism of
Beijing's handling of the early stages of the outbreak.

 

Also on Thursday, China announced plans to impose new national security
legislation on Hong Kong after last year’s pro-democracy protests.

 

The announcement was met with a warning from Mr Trump that the US would
react “very strongly” against any attempt to gain more control over the
former British colony.

 

Separately, two US senators have proposed legislation to punish Chinese
entities involved in enforcing the planned new laws and penalise banks that
do business with them.

 

Earlier this week, the US Senate unanimously passed a proposal to delist
Chinese companies from American stock exchanges if they fail to comply with
US financial reporting standards.

 

US-listed Chinese companies have come under increasing scrutiny in recent
weeks after Luckin Coffee revealed that an internal investigation found
hundreds of millions of dollars of its sales last year were
“fabricated”.--BBC

 

 

 

US workers seeking jobless aid near 40 million

A further 2.4 million Americans sought unemployment benefits last week,
despite hopes that easing lockdown restrictions would help restart the US
economy.

 

The new filings brought the total since mid-March to roughly 38.6 million -
almost a quarter of the workforce.

 

The weekly figures have declined since peaking at almost 6.9 million at the
end of March but remain high.

 

The number of people remaining on benefits also continues to grow.

 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned this week that the US risked
"permanent damage" if the lockdowns continued.

 

All 50 states in the US have started to reopen but it is not clear whether
simply easing restrictions will prompt activity to rebound.

 

In the week ending 16 May, about 2.2 million people sought unemployment
benefits under the government's pandemic relief programme, which expanded
eligibility to people such as gig economy workers.

 

Their numbers, which are reported separately from the regular figures, are
likely to grow as more states implement the programme.

 

"This is so tragic it is almost unfathomable," Diane Swonk, chief economist
at Grant Thornton, wrote on Twitter.

 

Employers in the US cut more than 20 million jobs last month, sending the
official unemployment rate to 14.7%, a sharp rise from 50-year lows of about
3.5% seen as recently as February.

 

Economists have warned that the rate is likely to worsen and remain elevated
for several years.

 

While many of the unemployed said they believed their layoffs were
temporary, a recent study estimated that more than 40% of recent pandemic
job cuts are likely to be permanent.

 

Companies such as Uber are among the firms that have announced significant
job cuts in recent weeks, as they prepare for a prolonged slowdown.

 

Retailers have also unveiled scores of permanent shop closures, with
Victoria's Secret this week saying it would close some 250 locations in
North America, with more expected.

 

"Overall there is little evidence that the reopening of the economy has, as
yet, led to any sudden snap back in employment," said Paul Ashworth, chief
US economist at Capital Economics.

 

Nearly half of US households have lost income since the pandemic lockdowns
came into effect two months ago, according to a survey published Wednesday
by the US Census. About 37% expect to lose income in the next month.

 

The effect on spending - which powers the US economy - has already been
felt, with retail sales falling a record 16.4% in April, the Commerce
Department reported last week.--BBC

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Bindura Nickel Corporation

 

 

 


Padenga Holdings

 

 

 


Delta Corporation

 

 

 


Meikles Limited

 

 

 


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Bulls n Bears 

 

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Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:       <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

Website:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AF
QjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw 

Blog:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1
&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:         @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:       Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimba
bwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

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