U.S. Seeks to Thwart Iran-Venezuela Alliance. Two loaded, Greek-owned oil tankers bound for Venezuela turned around after the Trump administration threatened sanctions against the shipping company that owns them. The sanctions likely would have barred the company from access to insurance and international banking services. Liberia, where the two vessels were registered, pulled the ships’...
Tag: jun 02 2020
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WORLD
Lockdown’s Job Losses Hit Young Hardest. One of every six people ages 18 to 29 has stopped working since economic shutdowns were imposed across nations, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO). The result translates to as many as 200 million young adults worldwide who have lost their jobs....
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MIDDLE EAST
Emirates Airline to Begin Flying 15 June. Dubai-based Emirates airline, one of the world’s largest carriers, will have all of its airplanes flying again in the summer of 2022, according to Sir Tim Clark, Emirates’ CEO. Clark’s outlook for a two-year recovery for the airline industry is more optimistic than that of International Consolidated Airlines...
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AUSTRALIA
News Corp Closes Papers, Cuts Salaries. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is closing 36 of its local and regional newspapers in Australia by July and moving another 76 online, ending their print editions. The company did not disclose how many employees would lose their jobs but said 375 staffers among the papers would be kept on,...
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JAPAN
Nissan Cuts Models, Closes Plants. Nissan Motor Co. has reported a $6.2-billion loss in its most recent fiscal year, prompting the company to reduce the number of models it makes, shut down plants in Spain and Indonesia, and make fewer vehicles in the U.S. In April, Nissan’s sales were 42 percent below April 2019’s. Now...
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CHINA
China Drops Yuan’s Value. On 26 May, China lowered the official value of its currency, the yuan, to 7.13 per dollar, the lowest official exchange rate since February 2008. China sees a cheap yuan as making the country’s products more affordable abroad, boosting exports as it seeks to recover from its economic shutdown. The yuan...
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EUROPE
EC Announces Recovery Plan. The European Commission, the governing body of the European Union (EU), has laid out its plan for the continent’s economic recovery. The commission proposes a €750-billion recovery fund, with €250 billion available as loans to individual nations and €500 billion given as grants with no repayment required. Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime...
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BANKRUPTCY BONUSES
Hertz, the global car rental giant that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 22 May, which we have been reporting on in the Trends Journal, celebrated their failure by giving $16.2 million in cash bonuses to top employees. CEO Paul Stone pocketed $700,000 and Jamere Jackson, CFO, collected $600,000. Hertz is not the only company...
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MORE RETAIL BANKRUPTCIES
Two additional retailers filed for bankruptcy last week. Tuesday Morning, a Dallas-based discount home-goods retailer with 687 stores in 39 states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 27 May. The stores were shuttered by the economic shutdown but about 80 percent have now reopened and are showing sales roughly 10 percent higher than a...
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DISNEY’S NEW WORLD, HOTELS HIGHER
The Disney Co. will reopen its Disney World theme park in Florida next month. The Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom areas will open on 11 July; EPCOT and the Disney Hollywood Studios portions will reopen on 15 July. Workers and guests will be required to be masked and submit to temperature checks before entering. Plexiglass...