Stocks rally, German economy warning: Global Business Daily
Daniel Harries

"Despite the easing measures that have been introduced, social and economic life in Germany is still very far from what was previously considered normal... The available economic indicators paint a correspondingly bleak picture." 

These words of warning come from the Bundesbank's monthly report, a week after the country officially went into recession. The economic backbone of the eurozone, Germany's predicted and ongoing troubles will worry many of its neighbors and trading partners.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate the world's business news, despite many nations relaxing lockdown measures and opening up sections of their economies. However, there were signs of recovery in the US market after stocks rallied on on Monday amid reports that biotech company Moderna had positive initial results in its vaccine trials. 

Relying as it does on advertising revenues and crowds attending events, the sports industry is one of those sectors most in flux. Scroll down to read our interview with Simon Chadwick, from the center for the Eurasian Sport Industry, on what the future may hold for the sports industry.

Happy reading,

Daniel Harries 

Digital business correspondent

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Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, extending a global rally as the U.S. market bounces back from its worst week in two months

Chinese billionaire, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is stepping down from the board of SoftBank Group Corp amid a string of risky investments.

Japan plunged into recession in the first quarter after the pandemic battered manufacturing, exports and spending, the country's cabinet office has reported. 

Finland's national airline, Finnair, a major carrier between Europe and China, will add more flights and routes from the beginning in July if governments ease their lockdowns enough for travel to resume.

Thai Airways International will file a plan for restructuring its business with the country's Central Bankruptcy Court. 

The Mexican government cites the coronavirus pandemic as a justification for new rules that will reduce the role of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, a reprieve for the government's own ageing, fossil-fuel powered plants.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has confirmed a request for an Italian state-backed loan to help the automotive sector relaunch after the coronavirus shutdown.

The coronavirus-hit eurozone economy probably will not return to its pre-pandemic levels until next year at the earliest, the European Central Bank's chief economist told Spain's El Pais newspaper.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary attacked the British government for mismanaging its response to the coronavirus.

Spain's tourism-dependent economy could experience a harsher and longer hit from COVID-19 than initially expected, the Bank of Spain's governor has warned.

A record volume of diesel is set to reach Europe from the East in May after lockdown measures due to coronavirus left refiners in Asia and the Middle East with huge excess volumes of fuel.

Saudi Arabia's Binladin Group has cut thousands of jobs and reduced staff salaries by between 30 percent and 70 percent as the pandemic hits the kingdom's biggest construction company, according to reporting by Reuters.

Norwegian Air looks set to continue in a slimmed-down form after completing a cut-price share sale and winning bondholders' backing for a refinancing.

 

Who is making money from the coronavirus crisis? Despite a recession in many of the world-leading economies, hedge funds have been profiting from the turmoil in the market. Professor of Finance at Northeastern University, Nicole Bryson told CGTN Europe how some people are making billions of dollars thanks to the global pandemic.

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Worth an estimated  $489 billion in 2019, after years and successive growth, the global sports industry is facing a crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Major events including the Tokyo Olympic Games and the Euro 2020 football championships have been postponed, throwing the sector into chaos. Simon Chadwick, from the center for the Eurasian Sport Industry, spoke to CGTN Europe about the impact of the crisis and the future for the industry. 

 

What is the financial impact of the pandemic on the global sports industry? 

We're certainly looking at millions of dollars, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars and I guess in extreme cases, one might argue even more. And particularly when we begin to think about the Olympic Games and the amount of money that was spent on preparing for it, these are big numbers that we're talking about. 

 

The longer the crisis continues, will sponsors start to abandon sports teams or stars?

This really is an important moment for sports because big sponsors, commercial partners, one of the reasons that they associate with sport is eyeballs. And if people are not looking at sports simply because there's no sport there, then companies will begin to question whether they're getting a return on investment for the money they spent on sport ... And so, again, if the crowds and if the drama of the action is not there, if the passion is not there, then again, I think some of these sponsors will question whether or not a sport was, or still is, the passion driver that it was. 

 

What have Chinese authorities done to tackle the issue? 

My sense of Chinese sport over the past three or four months is that it has been very cautious in its approach, very cautious in what it's doing. We've seen Chinese football and the Chinese Super League issuing instructions as to what will happen when the season starts again. And this is quite striking really when you consider that Chinese football hasn't played so far this year. And yet German football today is restarting again.

 

The pandemic has led to an increase in people learning online, with many educational institutions continuing their work via digital lessons. Below, data compiled and released by Eurostat, show just how popular online learning was in the EU in the months preceding the crisis. 

Source(s): Reuters ,AP