China yesterday reported an uptick in new cases of COVID-19, boosted by more than 200 people testing positive for the disease in two prisons outside of Hubei Province, at the center of the outbreak.
As international authorities attempt to stop the outbreak in China from becoming a pandemic, finance leaders at the G20 meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend are set to discuss risks to the global economy.
“COVID-19 anxiety has risen to a new level amid concerns of virus outbreaks in Beijing and outside of China,” National Australia Bank Ltd senior foreign-exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril said.
Japan and Singapore are on the brink of recession and South Korea yesterday said its exports to China slumped in the first 20 days of this month, with the outbreak upending global supply chains.
After several days of more encouraging trends in infections, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper warned that it would be a mistake to think victory was in sight.
“If we give in to blind self-confidence, the epidemic could rebound and the virus exploit us when we are off guard,” the People’s Daily said.
As G20 finance ministers prepare to meet, the IMF said it was too early to tell what impact the virus would have on global growth.
“We are still hoping that the impact will be a V-shaped curve” with a sharp decline in China and sharp rebound after the containment of the virus, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.
“But we are not excluding that it might turn to be a different scenario like a U curve where the impact is somewhat longer,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that it is looking into more financial measures to support companies.
The government expects to submit its earliest vaccine for COVID-19 for clinical trials in late April, China’s Vice Science and Technology Minister Xu Nanping (徐南平) said.
Fears over the outbreak triggered violence in Ukraine, where residents of a town clashed with police, burned tires and hurled projectiles at a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from Hubei to a quarantine center.
Hundreds of helmeted police and an armored personnel carrier were sent to keep order.
Americans evacuated from China also faced discrimination.
Amy Deng, who underwent home quarantine with her daughter Daisy, 8, said that neighbors had called the police over concerns they would spread the disease.
“People were already panicked, then they made up this rumor and spread it, telling us not to even live in the community,” the 45-year-old Santa Rosa, California, acupuncturist said.
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
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