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London businesses count cost as workers avoid office

By - Sep 06,2020 - Last updated at Sep 06,2020

LONDON — Nestled between central London's rows of office blocks, eateries once packed with customers grabbing lunch or a morning coffee are counting the cost as the coronavirus keeps workers at home.

"The City is not going to go back to normal," said Berat, manager at Turkish restaurant Haz close to St Paul's Cathedral, which before Covid-19 was thronged with lunchtime crowds.

"People saw they can work from home... we can't serve someone from home," Berat told AFP as he greeted a handful of customers.

He says that Haz has only 15 per cent of its usual custom, although it expects the figure to rise to 30 per cent next month as companies increasingly ask staff to return to the office, at least on a part-time basis.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government are using the end of the summer holidays and reopening of schools to encourage Britons to return to the office.

While no longer ghostly as was the case when Britain was in lockdown for around three months from late March, the roads around central London remain largely free of commuters.

"It's very calm," lamented one sandwich seller opposite St Pauls, losing out also from a lack of tourists.

At a neighbouring office block, the manager estimates that only 40 per cent of companies renting space have returned, though she too expects an increase in the coming months.

According to Transport for London, traffic on the capital's underground railway network is 70 per cent below its level before lockdown.

"This will continue to be a period of change, with new ways of working needed to respond to Covid-19," concluded this week Bank of England official Alex Brazier.

 

Urban exodus 

 

Meanwhile, with a majority of office workers continuing to do their jobs remotely, recent data has shown a jump in the number of people seeking to move out of the capital and into less urban areas.

Oil giant BP, which is slashing 10,000 jobs after the pandemic crushed energy demand and prices, is actively encouraging non-frontline staff to work from home, while it is reportedly planning to leave its historic London headquarters.

Barclays bank says that only a small number of its 80,000 staff worldwide have returned to office working.

"Any return will be phased and gradual and it goes without saying that the health and safety of our colleagues, customers and clients is a priority in this regard," said a spokeswoman.

The picture is similar at Lloyds bank, where 50,000 of its 60,000 staff are working remotely, while HSBC says its office occupancy is down to just one-fifth.

Natwest bank is telling staff to work from home until next year, while Google's London staff can until at least July 2021.

"With many office blocks still empty and much of the public avoiding public transport, footfall is not returning to towns and city centres and this is having a devastating effect on the local economies in these areas," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.

British coffee and sandwich chain Pret a Manger last week said it was cutting 2,800 jobs as a result of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Rival Costa Coffee on Thursday announced 1,650 job losses.

 

Global stocks slump amid continued tech selloff

By - Sep 05,2020 - Last updated at Sep 05,2020

In this photo, taken on March 23, a nearly empty Times Square is seen in New York City (AFP file photo)

NEW YORK — Stocks went into a skid worldwide on Friday, as Wall Street kicked off another round of tech bashing in what analysts say was an overdue correction

The damage in United States was not as bad as Thursday, but a mixed jobs report may have softened the blow.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.8 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3 per cent following its 5 per cent rout on Thursday as investors cashed in on big gains racked up in August ahead of the holiday weekend.

The market's retreat had been expected after the Nasdaq climbed around 80 per cent from its March trough, with more and more forecasters warning that valuations were out of sync with economic realities.

"The market was very extended coming into this and it was overdue for a pullback. It's normal and healthy," Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments told AFP.

"We're going see some more pullbacks [and] a steeper pullback is warranted. Stocks got ahead of themselves."

Amazon and Facebook were among the major losers in the session, dropping close to 3 per cent, although Apple recovered enough to close flat.

Microsoft dropped 1.4 per cent even after news just before the close that the Pentagon confirmed a $10 billion contract for the JEDI cloud computing programme, despite a lawsuit from Amazon alleging bias given President Donald Trump's frequent attacks on the company and founder Jeff Bezos.

In Europe, stock markets had been boosted earlier in the day by news that Spanish banks Bankia and CaixaBank were mulling a merger.

Spanish savings conglomerate Bankia said in a statement late Thursday that it had made contact with CaixaBank "with a view to a potential merger".

The deal would create a Spanish banking titan, with more than 650 billion euros ($770 billion) of assets in a sector battered by the effect of the coronavirus on the wider economy.

Madrid's market managed to limit overall losses on the news.

Asian markets reacted to Wall Street's painful losses on Thursday by falling deep into negative territory, as profit-taking set in after months of mind-boggling gains.

Amazon to create 7,000 permanent UK jobs

By - Sep 03,2020 - Last updated at Sep 03,2020

Amazon workers sort and pack items at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Peterborough, east England on November 27, 2019, as preparations are underway for the annual Black Friday Sale (AFP photo)

LONDON — Amazon will create 7,000 permanent jobs in the UK by the end of the year, the American e-commerce giant announced on Thursday in a boost for Britain's virus-hit economy.

"The company will add a further 7,000 new permanent roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, including corporate offices and two new fulfilment centres," Amazon said in a statement, adding that its total permanent UK workforce will number more than 40,000.

While a number of British retailers have axed thousands of jobs following the country's lockdown, others are creating vast amounts of new positions to cope with a surge in online shopping.

Amazon, which had already created 3,000 new permanent UK roles this year, added on Thursday that it will offer more than 20,000 seasonal positions across the country ahead of the festive period.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma hailed the Amazon announcement, with UK unemployment set to surge after the government next month ends its Covid-19 furlough scheme that is paying wages for millions of private-sector workers.

"While this has been a challenging time for many businesses, it is hugely encouraging to see Amazon creating 10,000 jobs in the UK this year.

"This is not only great news for those looking for a new job, but also a clear vote of confidence in the UK economy as we build back better from the pandemic," Sharma added.

Unilever to cut carbon footprint in cleaning items

Demand on company’s product has grown this year

By - Sep 02,2020 - Last updated at Sep 02,2020

This photo, taken on June 5, 2015, shows employees pass the logo of Unilever at the headquarters in Rotterdam (AFP file photo)

LONDON — Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever on Wednesday unveiled a 1 billion-euro plan to remove fossil fuels in the production of cleaning and laundry products which have experienced soaring demand from coronavirus-fearing consumers.

The initiative, worth the equivalent of $1.2 billion, will replace all the carbon derived from fossil fuels used in the production of some of Unilever's best-known products by 2030, it said in a statement.

Unilever aims to transform the sustainability of its best-known brands, including washing detergent Persil, Cif household cleaner and Domestos bleach, under its "Clean Future" project.

"Clean Future is our vision to radically overhaul our business. As an industry, we must break our dependence on fossil fuels, including as a raw material for our products," Unilever home care boss Peter ter Kulve said in the statement.

The company has been boosted this year as the coronavirus pandemic and global lockdowns spark major changes in consumer behaviour, with people spending far more time at home and being much more concerned about hygiene.

"We've seen unprecedented demand for our cleaning products in recent months and we are incredibly proud to play our part, helping to keep people safe in the fight against Covid-19," Kulve said.

"But that should not be a reason for complacency. We cannot let ourselves become distracted from the environmental crises that our world — our home — is facing. Pollution. Destruction of natural habitats. The climate emergency.

"This is the home we share and we have a responsibility to protect it," he said.

Walmart unveils subscription programme to challenge Amazon

By - Sep 01,2020 - Last updated at Sep 01,2020

A Walmart logo is seen outside a store in Washington, DC, on August 18 (AFP file photo)

NEW YORK — The battle for online supremacy is on as Walmart announced on Tuesday the coming launch of a membership programme that provides free delivery as the world’s biggest retailer takes direct aim at e-commerce behemoth Amazon.

The long-discussed Walmart+ will start September 15, charging $98 annually or $12.95 a month to provide free delivery as soon as the same day along with discounts on fuel and other features.

The service will compete with Amazon’s “Prime” programme, which offers free delivery within two days with a comparably-priced subscription that also provides free and premium-priced video and entertainment offerings.

Walmart’s announcement highlighted the need to meet consumer needs in a fast-evolving economy especially amid the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has fueled a surge in tech adaptations for the work- and shop-at-home world.

“Life feels more complicated than ever. Walmart+ is designed to make it easier — giving customers an option not to have to sacrifice on cost or convenience,” Walmart chief customer officer Janey Whiteside said.

“We have always been a champion for the right item at the right price, but now it’s more than that. We have the right shopping solutions at the right time, too.”

The launch of Walmart+ comes as the global retail giant has teamed with Microsoft in an effort to acquire TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app that has come under fire from President Donald Trump.

The app has been at the centre of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing since Trump signed an executive order on August 6 giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Big e-commerce push 

 

Walmart+ replaces the retail giant’s “Delivery Unlimited” subscription service that offered home delivery of more than 160,000 items.

It is the latest step in the major ramp-up into e-commerce, propelled by Walmart’s 2016 purchase of Jet.com for $3.3 billion, and billions of dollars in additional investment to develop smartphone applications, revamp supply chains and roll out curbside pickup of groceries and other items at thousands of US stores.

The new service also will provide members with discounts of up to five cents a gallon at Walmart gasoline stations.

It offers a “scan and go” feature that lets consumers pay for items by scanning them with a smartphone application for a “quick, easy, touch-free payment experience”, Walmart said on its website.

A successful acquisition of TikTok with Microsoft could open up additional possibilities, allowing Walmart a marketing platform with TikTok users, who tend to be younger shoppers who turn to the Internet for lifestyle trends and are not generally big Walmart consumers.

The potential gold mine of younger users’ data also could help Walmart compete more strongly with online retail rival Amazon, analysts say.

The purchase of TikTok could give Walmart a key entertainment platform after earlier efforts stumbled. In April, Walmart’s video-on-demand service Vudu announced it would be sold Fandango Media, which is part of Comcast.

Amazon and Walmart have enjoyed strong results during the coronavirus pandemic as consumers have increasingly relied on e-commerce to order groceries online either for delivery or curbside pickup.

Walmart also has benefited from its status as an “essential” store that was permitted to stay open during spring lockdowns while authorities forced other stores to close.

Last month, Walmart reported higher quarterly earnings, due partly to a 97 per cent surge in US e-commerce sales.

Shares of Walmart jumped 4.1 per cent to $144.62 in morning trading.

 

Newly-tweaked Dow index opens week lower

European stocks ease back, Asia mixed

By - Aug 31,2020 - Last updated at Aug 31,2020

A woman passes an electronic quotation board displaying share prices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, on Monday (AFP photo)

NEW YORK/PARIS — Wall Street stocks paused near record levels on Monday ahead of key economic data later in the week, with a newly-tweaked Dow index edging lower.

The final session of a heady August opened on a lackluster note as markets await employment data and updates on the manufacturing and services sectors in the coming days.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent to 28,539.83.

The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat at 3,507.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3 per cent at 11,729.11.

In Europe, stock markets eased lower in quiet trade on Monday after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) signalled it would keep interest rates at unprecedented lows for as long as it takes to get through the coronavirus crisis.

London was closed for a public holiday, leaving Paris and Frankfurt to set the tone with very slight drops in afternoon exchanges.

“Cheap central bank money is going to continue to support the stock markets,” said independent analyst Timo Emden in Frankfurt.

The Fed’s pledge of trillions of dollars in support has been key to stock market gains since the massive virus-induced sell-off in March.

US Fed chief Jerome Powell on Thursday went even further, saying the US central bank would focus on growth and jobs from now on rather than on inflation, meaning that interest rates and controlling inflation would be a secondary consideration.

Stephen Innes at AxiCorp noted that during the financial crisis, the US began cutting interest rates in mid-2007 and did not lift them until more than eight years later.

He felt it might take just as long to see them hiked again.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mostly lower, with Hong Kong down one per cent as Shanghai dipped 0.2 per cent, both having jumped more than 1 per cent earlier.

Tokyo rose more than 1 per cent, shrugging off concerns over who would succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after news that US investment legend Warren Buffett had bought huge holdings in top Japanese companies.

Positive service sector data in China helped offset slower manufacturing figures and offered reassurance the world’s number two economy is emerging strongly from the coronavirus crisis.

 

TikTok owner says it will abide by new Chinese export rules

By - Aug 30,2020 - Last updated at Aug 30,2020

The TikTok logo is displayed in front of a TikTok office on Thursday in Culver City, California (AFP photo)

BEIJING — The owner of popular video app TikTok said on Sunday it will “strictly abide” by China’s new export rules, which could potentially complicate a sale of the business as demanded by US President Donald Trump.

TikTok has been at the centre of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing, and Trump signed an executive order on August 6 giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance — effectively setting a deadline for a sale of the app to a US company.

But China’s commerce ministry published new rules on Friday adding new items including “civilian use technology” to rules controlling the import and export of restricted technology.

The new regulations could make it more difficult for Bytedance to sell the wildly popular video app, which features clips of everything from dance routines and hair-dye tutorials to jokes about daily life and politics.

Bytedance said in a statement it would “strictly abide” by China’s technology import and export law and its restricted export technology list “to handle business relating to the import and export of technology”.

The move marked the first time China has adjusted its list of technologies subject to export bans or restrictions since 2008, adding 23 new items.

An interview with a professor in official news agency Xinhua on Saturday suggested the change could mean Bytedance has to get approval from the Chinese government to sell its technology to an American company.

Earlier this week, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer quit the company, days after TikTok filed a lawsuit challenging the crackdown by the US government.

TikTok — which has been downloaded 175 million times in the US and more than a billion times around the world — argued in the suit that Trump’s order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not “an unusual and extraordinary threat”.

 

Chile unemployment hits new record of 13 per cent

Highest figure since 2010 — statistics institute

By - Aug 29,2020 - Last updated at Aug 29,2020

People wear face masks as they line up to get their unemployment insurance outside the Unemployment Funds Administration Society headquarters ian Santiago, on April 6 (AFP file photo)

SANTIAGO — Unemployment in Chile has reached a new record high of 13.1 per cent, the national statistics institute said on Friday.

Unemployment rose by 5.6 percentage points in the rolling May-July quarter compared to the same period in 2019.

The statistics institute said it was the highest figure since 2010, when the body changed its calculation method.

That means that more than a million people are out of work, leaving 8.1 million employed after the loss of 1.8 million jobs over the last year.

However, the unemployment figure does not take into account the 760,000 people that took advantage of a government initiative launched in March to protect jobs affected by the coronavirus pandemic by allowing the temporary suspension of contracts and access to unemployment insurance.

The institute said that taking into consideration those unemployed, those on the government scheme, and those not looking for work but able to, then the number of people out of employment rises to 30 per cent of the potential workforce.

"These are the most severe figures... that we've had in the history of our country," said Labour Minister Maria Jose Zaldivar.

The institute said that of those still employed, a third have reported a drop in their income.

"The numbers speak for themselves and show why this has to be the priority," said Finance Minister Ignacio Briones, while asking Congress to approve laws that would reactivate the economy by creating jobs.

Chile is one of the worst-affected countries in Latin America by the coronavirus, with 400,000 cases and close to 15,000 deaths.

The Central Bank expects the economy to shrink by 7.5 per cent in 2020.

South Korea central bank cuts growth outlook on virus fears

By - Aug 27,2020 - Last updated at Aug 27,2020

People walk through the Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul on Thursday (AFP photo)

SEOUL - South Korea's central bank slashed its growth forecast on Thursday, predicting the world's 12th-largest economy will shrink more than one per cent this year as it braces for a surge of coronavirus infections.

 

The country had been largely returning to normal after mostly bringing its outbreak under control, but multiple cluster infections in recent days have raised fresh fears over a nationwide pandemic.

Its trade-dependent economy has been battered by the impact of the virus on the rest of the world.

The economy is now expected to shrink 1.3 per cent in 2020, the Bank of Korea said, its second downward revision in four months having lowered its outlook in May to a 0.2 per cent contraction, from an earlier forecast of 2.1 per cent growth.

"The recovery of domestic economic growth is likely to be slower than previously forecast, largely due to the domestic resurgence of COVID-19," the bank said in a statement.

"Uncertainties around the future path of GDP growth are also judged to be very high," it added.

The latest figure would represent the worst performance since 1998, when the economy shrank 5.1 per cent in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.

The latest projection came as South Korean authorities battle several new coronavirus clusters -- mostly linked to Protestant churches -- reporting 441 new infections on Thursday, the latest in a series of near-six-month highs.

Even so the OECD club of developed economies is predicting the South will record the best -- or least bad -- economic performance among its 37 members in 2020.

The Bank of Korea left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 per cent, citing economic fallout from the pandemic.

 

 

Alibaba shares leap after Ant Group IPO filing

By - Aug 26,2020 - Last updated at Aug 26,2020

HONG KONG — Shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba jumped to a new record on Wednesday morning, a day after the group's financial arm filed paperwork for a joint Shanghai and Hong Kong listing.

The IPO for Ant Group, the financial technology arm of Alibaba, is being billed as one of the world's largest listings, potentially eclipsing the record $29 billion raised by Saudi Aramco last year.

The company filed paperwork on Tuesday evening for a joint listing closer to home as tensions spiral between the United States and China.

It did not detail a timetable for its public offering or how much money it hopes to raise. But the filing has already created a buzz.

As the market closed for lunch, Alibaba's Hong Kong shares were up 3.57 per cent at HK$278.8. 

Alibaba, which is listed in both Hong Kong and New York, is China's largest e-commerce conglomerate and is owned by billionaire Jack Ma.

Ant Group is a behemoth in the Chinese e-payments market, operating Alipay, one of the two dominant online payment systems in China, a country where cash, cheques and credit cards have long been eclipsed by e-payment devices and apps.

Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the listing, say Ant group is targeting a valuation of about $225 billion, with a $30 billion IPO if markets are favourable.

In its filing Ant said it will use the proceeds to expand cross-border payments and enhance its research-and-development capabilities.

The decision not to list in New York is a major loss for US markets but it comes as Washington ramps up scrutiny of Chinese companies, especially tech firms.

"The greater concern is that if the US passes a sanction of some sort, the other markets in India, Southeast Asia where Ant is looking for growth could be affected," Mark Tanner, managing director of Shanghai-based consultant China Skinny said.

Video app TikTok is currently suing the US government after Donald Trump signed an executive order giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with its Chinese-owned company ByteDance. 

Trump accuses TikTok of being a national security risk. 

China has accused Trump of modern day piracy and of using his executive order to effectively force the sale of TikTok to a US company. 

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