- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the institution will continue to use its powers “aggressively” to support the US economy amid downturn caused by the pandemic. Mr Powell further warned that the decline in the United States GDP for Q2 will be the most severe on record adding that the second wave of Covid19 across the US is likely to hurt the recovery process.
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated on Wednesday that the global economic activity would fall by 6% in 2020 if a second major coronavirus outbreak doesn’t emerge before the end of the year (a “single-hit scenario”). If another wave of infections causes additional economic shutdowns in 2020, the global gross domestic product (GDP) would suffer a 7.6% contraction (a “double-hit scenario”), OECD said in its Economic Outlook report.
- World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday that there is a “very real risk” of a second wave of the coronavirus as the transmission of the disease is likely to spread as countries lift the lockdown. Speaking on CNBC, The expert warned that the virus is “very nasty” and transmission is likely to restart as people start “mixing again” unless “it’s gone down to such a low level in a place where it’s very, very rare to have the infection in the community.”
- Co-founder of Microsoft Corp. Bill Gates has condemned the “horrifying” killings of people that prompted a series of protests across the nation, noting the events shine a light on the “brutal injustices” minorities in the country are facing.
- Vice President of Business Development at Tesla Inc. Robin Ren has left the automaker after five years of working for the American company, the Electrek website reported on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock on Thursday hit a new all-time high topping $1000 after Chinese authorities approved production of Tesla’s Model 3 with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery in Shanghai-based Gigafactory. CEO Elon Musk also said the Tesla’s semi-trucks are up for mass production.
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- China’s consumer price index (CPI) increased less than expected, rising by 2.4% in May compared to the same time last year, according to a report by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday. The figure decreased by 0.9 percentage points from the annual inflation rate of 3.3% seen in April. Meanwhile, consumer prices on a monthly basis stood at -0.8% in May, disappointing expectations, but rising compared to the previous month’s drop of 0.9%.
- Crude futures fell on Thursday following news that US crude oil inventories rose by 8.42 million barrels in the week ending June 5 to hit a record-high of 538.1 million according to data from the American Petroleum Institute released on Tuesday. Oil stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma, went down by 2.28 million barrels over the same period.
- German flagship carrier Lufthansa on Thursday announced plans to cut about 22,000 full-time jobs worldwide with more than half of those position in Germany. The decision will see the airline cut the number of planes in operation by about 100 citing the effect of coronavirus on the industry.
- Just Eat Takeaway.com and Grubhub Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Takeaway will acquire 100% of the shares of Grubhub in an all-stock transaction to create the world’s largest online food delivery company outside of China, the two companies said in a joint a statement. The news of the merger comes after Grubhub’s talks with Uber Technologies about a possible agreement failed due to concerns about antitrust pressures which would likely appear.
