Market

WASHINGTON: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, but remained significantly high, suggesting the labour market was stalling as the country battles a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases that is threatening a budding economic recovery. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totalled a seasonally adjusted 1.186 million for the week ended Aug 1, compared to 1.435 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 1.415 million applications in the latest week. Coronavirus cases soared across the country last month, forcing authorities in some of the hard-hit areas in the West and South to either shut down businesses again or pause reopenings, sending workers back home again. Though infections ha...

Shares of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp plunged more than 10per cent to an all-time low on Tuesday after the automaker posted dismal sales in its key Southeast Asian market and forecast a huge loss for this financial year. TOKYO: Japan's Mitsubishi Motors faced doubts about a quick recovery after posting dismal quarterly sales in its key Southeast Asia market partly due to the coronavirus outbreak, sending its shares down 12per cent to a record low on Tuesday. A day earlier, Mitsubishi Motors, a junior member of the auto alliance of Nissan Motor and Renault SA , reported that sales in Southeast Asian countries, which normally account for a quarter of its global sales, plunged nearly 70per cent to make up just 17per cent of total sales during April-June. The automaker has bet on gro...

TOKYO: Japan's economy shrank 7.8 per cent in the April to June quarter, the worst contraction in the nation's modern history, as the coronavirus deepens the country's economic woes. The contraction from the previous quarter was slightly worse than expectations but is still significantly less severe than declines seen in many other industrial economies. Still, it is the biggest economic contraction for Japan since comparable data became available in 1980, beyond the brutal impact of the 2008 global financial crisis. And some analysts labelled it the worst fall since World War II, though a change in calculation methods in 1980 makes the comparison complicated. The official data compared with the market's expectation of a 7.6 per cent contraction, the median forecast of major economi...

Saudi Arabian state oil group Aramco on Sunday reported a 73.4per cent fall in second-quarter net profit, a steeper drop than analysts had expected, hit by lower crude oil prices and declining refining and chemicals margins, as the coronavirus hit demand. DUBAI: Saudi state oil group Aramco's profit plunged 73per cent in the second quarter of the year, as a slump in energy demand and prices due to the coronavirus crisis hit sales at the world's biggest oil exporter. All major oil companies have taken a hit in the second quarter as lockdowns to contain the coronavirus limited travel, which reduced oil consumption and sent prices tumbling to levels not seen in nearly two decades. Aramco, which listed in Riyadh last year in a record US$29.4 billion flotation, said the rapid spread of C...

1. S&P 500 to try again to close at a record high On Tuesday's economic calendar, the government reported much better than expected numbers on July housing starts and building permits. Starts surged 22.6% and permits jumped nearly 19%. 2. Walmart, Home Depot deliver strong earnings Shares of Walmart, which logged an all-time high Monday, rose as much as 6% in the premarket after the company blew away expectations with adjusted per-share earnings of $1.56 on a 5.6% total revenue increase to $137.74 billion. Online sales during the pandemic nearly doubled as customers got packages shipped their homes and used curbside pickup at physical stores. The stock has since pulled back. Shares of Home Depot rose 1% in Tuesday's premarket after the home improvement retailer delivered a 23% increase...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. OTTAWA/TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday (Aug 11) said he had "full confidence" in Finance Minister Bill Morneau amid reports of a clash over policy between the two men, who also both face an ethics probe. The Globe and Mail newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying Trudeau was uncertain whether Morneau was the right person to handle the recovery from the coronavirus outbreak, prompting analysts to fret about Ottawa's becoming distracted. "Of course the Prime Minister has full confidence in Minister Morneau and any statement to the contrary is false," said a statement from Trudeau's office, praising Mornea...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. Robinhood Markets Inc, the fintech startup credited with helping popularize trading among millennials, said on Monday it has raised US$200 million from investment firm D1 Capital Partners at a valuation of US$11.2 billion. REUTERS: Robinhood Markets Inc, the fintech startup credited with helping popularize trading among millennials, said on Monday it has raised US$200 million from investment firm D1 Capital Partners at a valuation of US$11.2 billion. Robinhood is one of the hottest fintech startups in Silicon Valley, having consistently raised large sums at higher valuations from several marquee investors including Sequoia Capital, Ri...