Both Standard & Poor's and Moody's give Canada a triple-A rating. They believe Canada will run much higher deficits and will emerge from the pandemic with higher debt ratios, including gross government general debt of 115.1% to GDP. Ottawa is rolling out more than C$150 billion in direct aid to support the economy. In a statement, Morneau says the federal government "will continue to be fiscally... [Full Article...]
The president's Twitter intervention came shortly after Peter Navarro , the White House trade adviser, unloaded on China when speaking to Fox News. President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly have accused Beijing of not being transparent about the outbreak. Under the Phase 1 trade deal, China had pledged to boost purchases of US goods by $200 billion over two years. [Full Article...]
Another $US400m ($582m) will go towards settling cases relating to damage caused to crops after the weedkiller Dicamba drifted onto nearby farms, killing plants not resistant to the herbicide. The company also said it would pay $650 million to a group of local governments with claims of PCB pollution - a settlement that requires federal court approval. [Full Article...]
Analysts believe that rising COVID-19 cases, geopolitical instability, weak USA dollar and expectations of fresh economic stimulus are providing support to the gold prices . "When you have low interest rates and rising inflation, that means that real rates are getting suppressed and that's the factor driving gold prices higher". [Full Article...]
A supercomputer needs a serious amount of computing power to beat the rest of the Top 500, but Fugaku - more than six years and US$1.2 billion in the making - has got it. Fugaku will also be applied to areas such as natural disasters, weather and climate forecasting, drug discovery, and the development of clean energy. [Full Article...]
But this is 1.4% lower than the projection the World Economic Outlook made in April . This decline in growth in 2020 is expected to be followed by a partial recovery, with the growth seen at 5.4 percent in 2021. The IMF on Wednesday projected a sharp contraction of 4.5 per cent for the Indian economy in 2020, a "historic low", citing the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic that has almost stalle... [Full Article...]
Spot gold prices climbed 0.6% to $1,777.53 per ounce by 0957 GMT, having earlier hit their highest since October 2012 at $1,779.06. Geopolitical tensions also supported the safe-haven asset amid developments in Hong Kong, as details of a new national security law for the territory showed Beijing will have overarching powers over its enforcement. [Full Article...]
The move follows Facebook's launch of WhatsApp payments in Brazil just last week . Brazil was the first market to have the payment service, with plans by Fcaebook for a gradual global roll out. The new WhatsApp payment system was created to simplify the process of transferring funds between individuals, while also providing local businesses with a foothold in the digital economy. [Full Article...]