Weekly News Summary for April 24-30, 2020

Friday, April 24, 2020: UK, Germany Registers Downbeat Data

UK retail sales registered its biggest fall on record in March, while Germany’s IFO business climate index missed expectations in April.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said overall retail sales volumes dropped 5.1% last month, while the German IFO business climate index stood at 74.3 in April, which was weaker than March’s 85.9 and lower than estimates of 80.0.

Monday, April 27, 2020: Bank of Japan Steps Up Monetary Stimulus

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has removed its self-employed limit on government bond purchases and announced plans to quadruple its corporate debt buying, as it increased its efforts to protect the Japanese economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision will enable the central bank to push government yields further down zero if necessary, while the yen gained 0.3% against the US dollar to post its highest in nearly two weeks, at the start of a week when both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) held policy meetings.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020: US Oil Prices Drop as USO Sells Off Holdings

US oil prices tumbled towards $10 per barrel on Tuesday after the United States Oil Fund (USO) announced plans to sell its futures contracts for June delivery.

June contract WTI crude futures fell more than 21% to $10.07, having lost 25% on Monday, while Brent crude oil futures shed 4.9% to $19.01 per barrel.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020: US Stocks Rise as Gilead Outperforms Weak GDP Data

US stocks took a sharp climb on Wednesday as investors cheered for the good news from a trial Gilead Science Inc.’s potential COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, upstaging the weakest US GDP figure in nearly 12 years.

The Dow gained 2% or 502.61 points, while the S&P 500 rose 2.3% and the Nasdaq Composite, which was strongly supported by Alphabet’s stock, added 2.2%.

Thursday, April 30, 2020: Gilead’s Remdesivir Raises Hopes in COVID-19 Fight

US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Gilead Science Inc.’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir will become the standard of care for the coronavirus after preliminary results showed patients recovered faster from the sickness caused by COVID-19.

Initial test results from a US government trial showed patients given remdesivir recovered 31% quicker than those who had taken a placebo, while the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that it has been talking to Gilead about making remdesivir available to patients as soon as possible.