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Cruise Lines Lobby Trump’s White House to End No-Sail Order

(Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest cruise lines have roughly doubled the number of lobbyists they’re dispatching to congressional offices and several federal agencies this year. But as they try to resume sailing from U.S. ports, one of their most effective targets has been the White House.A former adviser to the White House Coronavirus Task Force says she and other advisers fielded a stream of calls and emails from cruise line officials, including Carnival Corp.’s in-house lobbyist. Their message: Help lift a “no-sail” order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that has banned passenger cruises from U.S. ports since March.“Whenever the no-sail order started to come up, the cruise lines would always engage,” said Olivia Troye, who was involved in the task force’s discussions of cruise lines before she left government in August. “The phone calls would start. They called all over.”Since her exit, Troye has endorsed Democratic … Read the rest

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‘Get Britain moving’ plea after Heathrow loses travel crown to Paris

Business leaders have urged the government to end the stagnation in British air travel after Heathrow lost its crown to its Parisian rival as the airport that handles the greatest number of passengers in Europe.

Bosses say the lack of activity at Heathrow makes it look like Britain is not open for business when other world-facing economies such as France, Germany and the Netherlands have introduced coronavirus testing regimes for their international hubs.

The need to retain Heathrow’s pre-eminence in European aviation was the main argument the airport used when trying to persuade successive governments of the need for a third runway, adding tens of millions of passengers to the 81 million that up to last year were passing through its terminals. Without a new runway, it was argued, Heathrow, which had already lost its status as the busiest international airport in the world to the superhubs in the Gulf … Read the rest

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Shares drop on profit taking amid uncertainties

By Denise A. Valdez, Senior Reporter

PHILIPPINE SHARES declined on Thursday as investors secured profits amid declining global markets.

The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) erased 128.40 points or 2.01% to close at 6,249.39, while the broader all shares index cut 55.21 points or 1.45% to end at 3,753.08.

“Local shares saw one of its worst sell-offs in months amid rising COVID (coronavirus disease 2019) cases and jitters over the (US) election outcome,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.

More than 500,000 new coronavirus cases were recorded across the globe on Wednesday, with the majority coming from the United States (US), India, France, and other European countries.

This resulted in a second national lockdown declared in France and Germany, and the United Kingdom being expected to follow the same track.

The upcoming US election on Nov. 3 is also causing … Read the rest

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USD/CAD – Canadian Dollar Extends Losses

The Canadian dollar is getting hammered, along with most of the G-10 major currencies. A wave of safe-haven demand for U.S. dollars washed over FX markets yesterday, leading to substantial losses. Those losses consolidated overnight.

The stampede into safe-haven currencies was sparked by steep increases in the number of new coronavirus cases reported in Europe and America. France was hit so hard that President Macron imposed new lockdown measures on the country beginning Friday. French restaurants and bars will be closed, and travel will be restricted. Germany imposed similar measures. There were a record-setting 80,125 new COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. on Wednesday.

The resurgence of COVID-19 cases aggravated equity markets. Volumes were reduced due to an abundance of caution ahead Tuesday’s U.S. election, and the poor liquidity exacerbated Wall Street’s selloff. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 900 points.

Sentiment may change later today when US … Read the rest

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The U.S. economy just grew at its fastest quarterly pace ever—but doubts loom about the rest of the year

The economy just experienced its fastest three months of growth in U.S. history.

In the third quarter, from July to September, GDP climbed 33.1% on an annualized basis, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

This historic climb follows the U.S. record 31.4% annualized GDP decline in the second quarter, and the 5% annualized decline in the first quarter. During that period economists around the world were in panic and questioning if the United States—as well as the rest of the world—were on the cusp of an economic depression. But once states began to ease lockdown restrictions in the summer, the U.S. economy sprung from deep contraction to high growth.

It’s the last major piece of economic data before Election Day, and President Trump was quick to celebrate the numbers.

GDP number just announced. Biggest and Best in the History of our Country,

… Read the rest

J.P. Morgan Presents 3 Stocks With Double Digit-Upside

November 3 is fast-approaching, and Wall Street is bracing for a Biden win. But what would a Democrat-controlled White House mean for the markets?Even though some investors think a Biden presidency would be detrimental to stocks and put pressure on the markets, Marko Kolanovic, the global head of macro quantitative and derivatives strategy at J.P. Morgan, begs to differ. In a recent note to clients, he writes that regardless of the election’s outcome, its conclusion will remove significant uncertainty.Additionally, the strategist believes the release of a COVID-19 vaccine as well as the reopening of the economy could serve as catalysts that spur a rotation into value stocks. “We think those two catalysts will be catalysts for value, and we think it's going to have legs… The decline of COVID should be a powerful catalyst for value,” Kolanovic commented.Taking Kolanovic’s outlook to heart, J.P. Morgan analysts are offering up concrete recommendations, … Read the rest

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PHL stocks extend decline on increased selling

By Denise A. Valdez, Senior Reporter

THE MAIN INDEX continued to decline on Wednesday as selling pressure grew and overseas concerns over rising coronavirus cases loomed on the market.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 37.29 points or 0.58% to close at 6,377.79. The broader all shares index also gave up 9.82 points or 0.25% to end at 3,808.29.

“More investors are now securing profits from the recent rally, which is giving investors who have not been able to ride the rally a chance to pick up shares at lower prices,” AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun said in an e-mail.

The PSEi is now on its second consecutive day of decline and has been down 113.4 points or 1.75% since its six-day rally ended.

Foreign investors have also returned to selling, ending five straight days of bullishness, after it posted P442.88 million worth of … Read the rest

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USD/CAD – Canadian Dollar Drops

The Canadian dollar opened sharply lower compared to yesterday’s close.

USD/CAD climbed from $1.3185 in Asia to $1.3252 in Europe, and prices are just below the top in Toronto trading.

The move was triggered by a wave of safe-haven demand for U.S. dollars as soaring COVID-19 cases in the US, Europe, and the U.K. raised fears that authorities will impose lockdown measures.

President Emmanuel Macron of France will address his nation today as the government is considering a 28-day lockdown for the entire country. German authorities are contemplating a two-week shutdown to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Italy has already imposed strict measures. Things are just as bad in the U.S., with over 73,000 coronavirus cases reported yesterday.

FX traders were also disappointed at the U.S. administrations failure to enact another COVID-19 Relief bill which now appears stalled until January.

EUR/USD extended its losses from yesterday and fell to … Read the rest

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The perils of the fintech deal flurry

It was already a big deal when Visa agreed to acquire fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion in January—two times the company’s previous private market valuation. But the deal heralded something even larger, helping ignite a flurry of mega fintech deals: Intuit announced plans to acquire Credit Karma for $7.1 billion just a month later, while competitor Mastercard said it planned to acquire Finicity for nearly $1 billion in June.

Now the Department of Justice is scrutinizing all three deals, each involving a startup selling to an older and larger incumbent. In particular, the DoJ could soon decide whether it will sue to block Visa’s planned acquisition of Plaid, according to the Wall Street Journal—and it is also looking into the Finicity and Credit Karma deals.

Plaid and Visa aren’t direct competitors—Visa focuses on payments while Plaid builds software that helps digitally connect consumers’ various bank and fintech … Read the rest

White House Ditches Pre-Election Stimulus Hope, Sees Weeks to Go

(Bloomberg) — The White House on Tuesday appeared resigned to what most observers of the fiscal-stimulus negotiations had long concluded: there won’t be a pre-election package.“We’re confident that we can get something in the coming weeks,” White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said Tuesday. When pressed on Fox News about whether that means not this week, she said, “We’re hoping within weeks, I don’t want to get too ahead of any announcements.”The departure of U.S. senators from the Capitol for a pre-election break on Monday had already made the logistics for passing a bill by Election Day practically impossible.The failure of the months-long talks leaves the economy more vulnerable to damage from a resurgent coronavirus pandemic. The shape of any post-Nov. 3 package is also unclear and will likely be influenced by the results.After the latest call between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday, there was … Read the rest