Sat, Dec 05, 2020 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  GERMANY

  Credit backstop extended

  The government yesterday agreed to extend a backstop for commercial credit insurers by six months to keep trade flowing and prevent bankruptcies as the economy is hit by a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the deal, which still requires a sign-off by the European Commission, the government would guarantee losses of up to 30 billion euros (US$36.5 billion) through the end of June, a statement by the finance and economy ministries said. In return, insurers would surrender just under 60 percent of their premiums for the period to the government. The industry also agreed to maintain most of its coverage. The backstop, first agreed in April, is part of an unprecedented package of stimulus and relief measures aimed at containing the damage from widespread economic lockdowns.

  UNITED STATES

  Facebook ‘abusing’ visa

  US President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday said that Facebook Inc is discriminating against US workers by designating thousands of positions for foreigners with temporary H-1B visas. The company “refused to recruit, consider, or hire qualified and available US workers for over 2,600 positions” and instead reserved the jobs — with an average salary of US$156,000 — to non-citizens that it sponsored for permanent work authorizations with green cards, a statement issued by the civil rights division of the Department of Justice said. The complaint reflects the pressure Trump is keeping on social media giants even in the waning days of his administration. It comes after judges have blocked efforts by the administration to halt access to several types of employment-based visas, part of Trump’s broader agenda to prioritize filling positions at US companies with Americans.

  MEDIA

  Next Digital shares soar

  Shares of the media company founded by Hong Kong government critic Jimmy Lai (黎智英) surged yesterday, a day after the stock was halted following his detention on charges related to an earlier arrest under the new National Security Law. Next Digital Ltd (壹傳媒) jumped as much as 107 percent before paring to close the day up 20 percent. The stock briefly saw its biggest gain since the days following Lai’s August arrest. Back then, it surged 1,100 percent in two sessions to a seven-year high before wiping out those gains. “It’s purely speculative,” Kenny Wen, an analyst at Everbright Sun Hung Kai Co (光大新鴻證券), said of yesterday’s gains. “The stock is too volatile and the risk of reversion is very high, as we saw in August. Things can turn around very quickly and investors will lose out if they can’t pull out in time.”

  GERMANY

  Factory orders rise further

  Factory orders rose for a sixth month in October and surpassed pre-crisis levels, in a sign of the manufacturing sector’s growing resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand rose 2.9 percent, nearly twice as much as predicted by economists. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy said the gain was led by investment goods, which were particularly well-sought outside the eurozone. As a result, orders for machinery rose about 5 percent compared with fourth quarter last year. The nation has benefited from a relatively large manufacturing sector that has adapted to the crisis to keep producing goods. However, the Bundesbank has warned the economy could stagnate or even shrink in the final three months of the year.
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