Squawk Box Europe Express

HSBC’s first quarter profit slumps 48 per cent as it warns the Coronavirus crisis will have a material impact on capital and liquidity. CFO Ewen Stevenson, however, says it is starting to see some signs of recovery in China. Swiss lender UBS has posted a 40 per cent rise in Q1 net profit thanks to lower loan loss provisions and higher trade revenue. CEO Sergio Ermotti says its clien...

The Bank of Japan launches an unprecedented expansion of its quantitative easing programme, pledging unlimited bond buying. The stimulus increase moves Asian equities higher. Chinese industrial profits fall 35 per cent in March but recover from the steepest drop in a decade as almost a quarter of sectors see an increase in activity. Deutsche Bank surprises by posting a profit in Q1 but the German...

Germany commits…EU leaders have agreed on a huge rescue package to mitigate the economic damage wrought by the pandemic with Berlin set to provide a substantial contribution. A leaked WHO report shows disappointing results from trials of Gilead’s touted Coronavirus drug, Remdesivir. In the U.S., as 16 states release their formal re-opening plans following lockdowns, President Trump warns that...

Coronavirus casts a shadow over Q1 earnings…Credit Suisse reports a 75 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit amid exceptional levels of client activity. However, the Swiss lender has set aside CHF568m for potential loan losses. Daimler is warning of a 70 per cent drop in earnings due to a collapse in demand amid the Coronavirus pandemic. French hotel giant Accor says it expects April...

Subscribers soar…streaming giant Netflix blows away expectations in the first quarter by signing up more than 15m new customers, thanks to strong demand for franchises like ‘Tiger King’ amid the global lockdown. But, the stock pares gains in after-hours trading after the company warns the pandemic-related boost is unlikely to last later in the year. Luxury giant Kering reports a 23 per cent fall i...

A historic collapse…the price of a barrel of WTI for May turned negative, the first time ever levels have fallen below zero. U.S. President Trump has said he is considering blocking Saudi imports to build up state reserves and support the price of crude. President Trump has also moved to temporarily suspend all immigration into the U.S. to protect lives and jobs from the Coronavirus pand...

Reopening Row…President Trump has played down accusations from U.S. governors who say they lack the Coronavirus testing equipment to re-open their states. The May WTI contract slumps to its lowest level since 1999 on fears the U.S. is approaching peak storage capacity. The ECB is reportedly considering a European bad bank to avoid subsequent NPL crises but it faces opposition from Brussels to stic...

China contracts…. The Chinese economy shrinks for the first time in nearly 30 years with Q1 GDP falling by 6.8 per cent as the Coronavirus outbreak weighs heavily on consumer spending and production. Retail sales in the mainland fall more than 15 per cent in March. U.S. futures, however, rise on the back of a positive report from a key drug trial, as Gilead Science says Covid-19 patients are recov...

Record retail rut…U.S. sales plunge almost 9 per cent while manufacturing hits a 74-year low, prompting recession fears. We speak to IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, who says economic pain could yet intensify should the Coronavirus return for a second global circuit and cause Asian growth to grind to a halt. In the UK, the government is expected to extend the national shutdown until ear...

No more cash…President Trump withdraws U.S. funding of the World Health Organisation, slamming the agency for fundamental failures in tackling the global Coronavirus pandemic and for having a pro-Chinese agenda. In response, Germany’s foreign minister says strengthening the WHO is the best investment. The IMF warns of the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but its chief economist tell...

China trade…March import and export figures fall by far less than expected despite the impact of the pandemic shutdown. U.S. bank stocks slumped Monday – their first negative session in five days – with investors eagerly awaiting to see the impact of Coronavirus ahead of their Q1 results. The death toll from the virus in the UK tops 11,000 and there are fears that the country could be the worst af...

Stocks end the week in the green, with the Dow and S&P 500 gaining more than 10 per cent during the period. The Dow crossed the 23,000-point mark late in the session following news that Democrat Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has decided to drop out of the race clearing the way for Joe Biden. The latest FOMC minutes show Fed officials believe the U.S. economic outlook is ‘profoundly unc...

Trump slams WHO…President Trump threatens to withhold funding and criticises the World Health Organisation for its response to the Coronavirus, saying the agency is too China-centric. France becomes the fourth country to record more than 10,000 deaths from the pandemic with Parisian authorities intensifying the lockdown by banning citizens from all daytime outdoor exercise. In the UK fatalities co...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital, after his Coronavirus symptoms worsen. Foreign minister Dominic Raab has stepped in to deputise. The Dow Jones rallied by 1,600 points on Monday with the retail sector leading the way following reports that infection numbers in the most stricken U.S. states have begun to level off. There are reports that Opec+ could agre...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hospitalised after showing persistent Coronavirus symptoms for the past ten days. Downing Street has said the move is a precautionary step. The rift between Saudi Arabia and Russia widens, delaying make-or-break talks on an oil output deal, with both sides blaming each other. President Trump has upped the ante on oil prices, threatening tariffs on...

Striking a deal…President Trump sparks the biggest crude oil rally on record, telling CNBC’s Joe Kernen that he has managed to negotiate a deal to get Saudi Arabia and Russia to make significant production cuts as producers demand an Opec+ meeting. U.S. weekly jobless claims reach a record 6.6m, worse than expected. In China, service sector jobs for March are slashed at their fastest rate ever as...

Hard times ahead…President Trump warns of a difficult few weeks to come as the U.S. death toll surges and up to 80 per cent of the country remains on lockdown. In energy news, oil bosses are set to meet with President Trump as Whiting Petroleum becomes the first oil major to file for bankruptcy. In the UK, British Airways will reportedly furlough up to 36,000 staff following talks with the airline...

March market misery as the Dow closes the month in the red. It posted its worst first quarter on record. The energy sector was the big underperformer, plunging nearly 35 per cent in March, while US tech giants are among the few stocks to eke out gains. The markets should brace for more dismal data, as Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester told CNBC. In Europe, major indices lost more th...

Beating expectations…Chinese factories rebound in March according to official PMI data. In energy news, oil prices have rallied from 18-year lows after Russia and the U.S. agree to hold talks as Saudi Arabia boosts production. U.S. tech stocks lead a Wall Street surge on Monday with Microsoft seeing sharp increased demand for its cloud services. And in banking news, Credit Suisse has announce...

Longer lockdown? President Trump abandons his predictions that the U.S. will be open for business by Easter and extends restrictions until 30th April. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz says the ESM bailout fund remains the correct instrument for shoring up EU economies in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The UK is bracing for potentially tougher quarantine measures amid reports th...

The U.S. overtakes China and Italy reporting the world’s highest number of Covid-19 cases. New York is the epicentre and there are warnings the health system there is fraying. The dollar heads toward its largest decline in a decade but the Dow posts its best three-day rally in more than 90 years, after the US Senate passes the $2tn stimulus package. Federal Reserve president Jerome Powell tells NB...

Stimulus Plans. The mammoth U.S. Coronavirus stimulus bill is passed as President Trump voices hope that large parts of the economy could be ready to reopen by Easter. The Dow posts a second day of gains for the first time since last month. Reports of a total lockdown this weekend in Tokyo causes the Nikkei to fall while Singapore’s GDP growth shrinks 2.2 per cent. In Europe, nine EU nations...

Done deal…the White House and U.S. Senate finally agree on a massive $2tn stimulus package to mitigate the medical and economic fallout of the Coronavirus outbreak. The rescue agreement – the largest in U.S. history – drives Asian stocks sharply higher, after the Dow stages a massive rebound in its best day since 1933. India launches the world’s biggest lockdown with Prime Minister Narendra Modi o...

Weeks, not months… President Trump promises to re-open the U.S. economy for business soon, however Congress blocks his stimulus package bill for a second time, weighing on Wall Street. Democratic and Republican senators once again disagreed over the contents of the legislation. But Asian stocks surge as the Fed promises to buy an unlimited number of government bonds. Oil prices also rally. Prime M...

Stocks stumble on a stimulus snag … U.S. futures drop, briefly hitting limit down, after major indices recorded their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. Part of President Trump’s $2tn stimulus package doesn’t win approval in the Senate with Democrats criticising the bill for helping large corporates over average workers in the face of the Coronavirus outbreak. Oil prices near a 17-ye...