Paris and its surrounding suburbs have been put on “maximum alert” Monday as coronavirus cases surge in the city. Bars in the French capital will close on Tuesday as part of a new package of restrictions designed to stop the spread of the virus but restaurants will be allowed to stay open, with “reinforced precautions,” […] Read more
The number of mortgages in active pandemic-related bailout plans rose by 21,000 in the past week after declining for six straight weeks, according to Black Knight, a mortgage technology and analytics firm. The increase was not across all mortgage types but among bank-held and private-labeled security loans (28,000), and, to a lesser extent, among FHA/VA […] Read more
European countries are likely to impose more restrictions on public life in the coming days as the number of daily coronavirus infections rises rapidly, analysts said. France reported 10,569 new cases Sunday (down from more than 13,000 new cases reported the day before), Reuters reported, while the U.K., reported almost 4,000 new cases on Sunday. […] Read more
Always wanted to live abroad? Now may be your best chance. More countries are inviting travelers to trade their home offices for the opportunity to live and work abroad during the pandemic. Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom estimates 42% of the U.S. labor force is now working from home full time. And workers may not be returning […] Read more
Central banks have slashed interest rates this year in an effort to revive economies ravaged by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. But low interest rates are proving to be a challenge for investors, even ones who have long-term, multi-generational views on investments such as Canada’s massive pension fund. While the Canada Pension Plan Investment […] Read more
It looks increasingly unlikely that the U.K. will reach a trade agreement with the European Union — and that could also harm the chances of a future deal with the United States. The U.K. government outlined on Wednesday how it plans to manage trade following its full breakup from the EU at the end of the […] Read more
A scammer has used the Financial Market Authority (FMA) as a cover to steal from people making money transfers to China. A woman stranded in New Zealand during the first Covid-19 lockdown lost a significant amount of money after she tried to transfer funds from China to New Zealand for her family’s living expenses. She […] Read more
London’s reputation as one of the world’s major tech hubs is in jeopardy as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At the start of the last decade, a cluster of start-ups began to form around East London’s Old Street roundabout (technically a gyratory system), leading the area to be nicknamed “Silicon Roundabout.” Then-British Prime Minister David […] Read more
Soft commodities such as coffee, sugar and cocoa have broadly rallied over the past few weeks, steadying after a period of sharp volatility at the height of the coronavirus crisis. Coffee futures for December delivery trading on New York’s Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) are up almost 15% so far this quarter, having begun a steep incline […] Read more
The Japanese yen and Swiss franc remain relatively safe bets, Morgan Stanley said Tuesday, but the investment bank picked the U.S. dollar as the best safe-haven currency in what’s left of turbulent 2020. The greenback fell to a 27-month low on Tuesday against a basket of its peers, where the dollar index reached 92.477 — a level not seen since […] Read more
