Financial Times 05Mar2020

Subscribe n print and onlineI

http://www.ft.com/subscribetoday
email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 20 7775 6000
Fax: +44 20 7873 3428

Briefing

i rdogan seeks EU backing over SyriaE

Turkey’s president has warned the EU it must back

him in Syria if it wants a solution to its migration

concerns, as Ankara accused Greeceof using live

rounds on refugees.— PAGE 4; GEORGE SOROS, PAGE 9

i mazon extends offer to PalestiniansA

The retailer has extended a free shipping offer to

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after the FT

revealed that a promotion for Israeli customers in

the region did not include their neighbours.— PAGE 11

i olsonaro’s hopes for quick fix dashedB

Brazil’s economy expanded just

1.1 per cent last year, official

data have revealed, dashing

hopes of a quick economic

revival underPresident Jair

Bolsonaro.— PAGE 3

i ard-left premier solves German crisisH

A clash linked to the rise of the far-right Alternative

for Germany looks to have been quelledafter MPs

in the Thuringia regional assembly elected Bodo

Ramelow of Die Linke as prime minister.— PAGE 4

i quality wake-up call for Latin AmericaE

Luis Alberto Moreno, outgoing chief of the Inter-

American Development Bank, has warned that the

region must create a fairer society or riskfalling

further behind rival economies.— PAGE 3

i rump seeks to blunt China’s UN pushT

The US has launched a bid to persuade nations to

vote against favourite Wang Binying in the race to

lead the World Intellectual Property Organisation

as it seeks to counter Beijing’s influence.— PAGE 4

i ond gets a little more time to dieB

The release of the latest James Bond filmNo Time to

Die as been delayed until Novemberh , as Hollywood

assesses the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on

box-office receipts.— PAGE 11

Datawatch

THURSDAY5 MARCH 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE

World Markets

STOCK MARKETS

Mar 4 prev %chg

S&P 500 3050.66 3003.37 1.

Nasdaq Composite 8803.72 8684.09 1.

Dow Jones Ind 26402.94 25917.41 1.

FTSEurofirst 300 1509.46 1487.26 1.

Euro Stoxx 50 3414.72 3371.97 1.

FTSE 100 6815.59 6718.20 1.

FTSE All-Share 3795.38 3749.09 1.

CAC 40 5464.89 5393.17 1.

Xetra Dax 12127.69 11985.39 1.

Nikkei 21100.06 21082.73 0.

Hang Seng 26222.07 26284.82 -0.

MSCI World $ 2179.48 2212.38 -1.

MSCI EM $ 1027.82 1017.03 1.

MSCI ACWI $ 522.21 528.45 -1.

CURRENCIES

Mar 4 prev

$ per € 1.114 1.

$ per £ 1.282 1.

£ per € 0.869 0.

¥ per $ 107.290 107.

¥ per £ 137.525 137.

SFr per € 1.065 1.

€ per $ 0.898 0.

Mar 4 prev

£ per $ 0.780 0.

€ per £ 1.151 1.

¥ per € 119.531 120.

£ index 78.694 78.

SFr per £ 1.225 1.

COMMODITIES

Mar 4 prev %chg

Oil WTI $ 47.15 47.18 -0.

Oil Brent $ 51.55 51.86 -0.

Gold $ 1615.50 1599.65 0.

INTEREST RATES

price yield chg

US Gov 10 yr 0.96 -0.

UK Gov 10 yr 0.37 -0.

Ger Gov 10 yr 106.40 -0.64 -0.

Jpn Gov 10 yr -0.15 -0.

US Gov 30 yr 124.61 1.58 -0.

Ger Gov 2 yr 105.91 -0.84 -0.

price prev chg

Fed Funds Eff 1.58 1.55 0.

US 3m Bills 0.95 1.13 -0.

Euro Libor 3m -0.49 -0.49 0.

UK 3m 0.64 0.60 0.

Prices are latest for edition Data provided by Morningstar

JA M E S P O L I T I— WASHINGTON

DAV I D E G H I G L I O N E— ROME

The IMF has set aside up to $50bn in

emergency financing for countries

stricken by coronavirus, as the fund

said the outbreak had forced a cut to its

forecast for global economic growth.

Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing

director, announced the planyesterday,

warning that the more “adverse” sce-

narios about the spread of the virus and

how it would affect the global economy

werestartingtomaterialise.

The IMF chief said the fund would

engage “country by country” to estab-

lish their financial needs. We are in an“

early stage of engagement but I can

assure you we will act very quickly as

requestscome,”sheadded.

The fund forecast that global growth

would dip below last year’s rate of 2.

percentbecauseofanoutbreakthathas

infected more than 94,000 people and

killedinexcessof3,000.

As recently as January,it had calcu-

latedglobaleconomicgrowthwouldrise

to 3.3 per cent this year. But the combi-

nation of supply and demand shocks

because of the outbreak would lead to a

much lower figure, Ms Georgieva said.

“How far it will fall and how long the

impactwillbeisstilldifficulttopredict.”

A day after the US Federal Reserve

announced an emergency cut in its

interest rate for the first time since the

financial crisis more than a decade ago,

the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark

interestratebyhalfapercentagepoint.

US lawmakers have also reached a

deal to unlock $8bn in emergency

spending in response to the virus,

according to congressional aides. This

would be a much larger sum than the

$2.5bn requested by Donald Trump’s

administration.

The Italian government ordered all

schools and universities to close asit

stepped up efforts to contain Europe’s

largestoutbreak.LuciaAzzolina,educa-

tion minister, said the closures would

begintodayandlastuntilMarch15.

Ms Georgieva was speakingin Wash-

ington alongside David Malpass, World

Bank president, after the development

lenderpledgedupto$12bnforcountries

toimprovetheirhealthsystems.

Some$10bnoftheIMFfundingwould

beavailableforlow-incomecountries.A

further $40bn would be available to

other membersvia a differentfinancing

instrument,MsGeorgievasaid.

Reports & Analysis age 3p

Lex age 10p

Banks prepare & Tail Risk age 11p

Virgin hit age 12p

IMF earmarks $50bn for countries hit

by coronavirus as growth forecast cut

© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2020
No: 40,340★

Printed in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin,
Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Orlando, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Seoul, Dubai, Doha

AnalysisiPAGE 2

Lagarde stymied over rates

after Fed’s emergency cut

Austria €3.90 Malta €3.
Bahrain Din1.8 Morocco Dh
Belgium €3.90 Netherlands €3.
Bulgaria Lev7.50 Norway NKr
Croatia Kn29 Oman OR1.
Cyprus €3.70 Pakistan Rupee
Czech Rep Kc105 Poland Zl 20
Denmark DKr38 Portugal €3.
Egypt E£45 Qatar QR
Finland €4.70 Romania Ron
France €3.90 Russia €5.
Germany €3.90 Serbia NewD
Gibraltar £2.90 Slovak Rep €3.
Greece €3.70 Slovenia €3.
Hungary Ft1200 Spain €3.
India Rup220 Sweden SKr
Italy €3.70 Switzerland SFr6.
Latvia €6.99 Tunisia Din7.
Lithuania €4.30 Turkey TL
Luxembourg €3.90 UAE Dh20.
North Macedonia Den

Most people

believe that elites

are conspiring to

hide the truth, a

survey across 33

countries showed.

In Colombia and

Peru more than

eight in 10 people

subscribed to this

view, while in the

Netherlands the

total was less

than half

Establishment stitch-up

 of respondents who believe elites

conspire to hide truth from public

    

Peru

Colombia

South Africa

Brazil

US

UK

Italy

Russia

Germany

Netherlands

Source: Ipsos MORI Global Trends 

The threat

of contagion

3 onetary policy raises risk of a virus-fuelled crisisM —J O H N P L E N D E R ,PA G E 7

3 A true test of business conversion to long-term thinking— O P I N I O N ,PA G E 9

3 Economic shock exposes corporate debt fears— M O H A M E D E L- E R I A N ,PA G E 2 0

J O S H UA C H A F F I N— NEW YORK
C O U RT N E Y W E AV E R— VIRGINIA

Michael Bloomberg ended his $500m
bid for the White House yesterday,
boosting the resurgent campaign of Joe
Biden after the former vice-president
won sweeping gains in the Democratic
“SuperTuesday”primaries.
ThemostimportantnightoftheDem-
ocratic contest to decide who will face
PresidentDonaldTrumpinNovember’s
electionin effect narrowed the race to
two contenders — Mr Biden and Bernie
Sanders, the Vermont senator and dem-
ocraticsocialist.
In contests covering 14 states and one
territory,MrBidenwonacrossthesouth
and even prevailed in Massachusetts,
where he had barely campaigned and
where Elizabeth Warren, the state’s sen-
ator, trailed in third place. Former
frontrunner Mr Sanders won in Califor-
nia, the biggest state holding a Super
Tuesday primary, but he now faces a
formidable challenge from the former
vice-president.
Mr Biden received a further lift when
Mr Bloomberg backed his candidacy as
the billionaire former mayor of New
York bowed out of the contest, having
won only the territory of American
SamoaonTuesday.
“Three months ago, I entered the race
for president to defeat Donald Trump.
Today,Iamleavingtheraceforthesame
reason: to defeat Donald Trump —
because it is clear to me that staying in
would make achieving that goal more
difficult,” Mr Bloomberg said in
astatement.
Mr Bloomberg entered the Demo-
craticnominationraceinNovembercit-
ing Mr Biden’s flagging campaign as the
justificationforhiscandidacy.However,
that rationale evaporated in stunning
fashion on Tuesdayas the former vice-
president turned in adominant per-
formance,inpartbycapturingthemod-
eratevoterssoughtbyMrBloomberg.
Mr Biden’s victories ollowed his bigf
win in South Carolina n Saturdayo nda

propelled him to453 delegates, against

Mr Sanders’ 382. A candidate requires

1,991 delegates to win the nomination

outright,withthecontestmovingtofive

morestatesnextweek.

Some Democratic donors and advis-

ers to Mr Bloomberg had pushed the

former New York mayor to back out

after Mr Biden’sSouth Carolina win,

accordingtopeoplebriefedonthetalks.

A key questionwill be whether, and

how, Mr Bloomberg puts his considera-

ble wealth and formidable campaign

machine to use for the eventual Demo-

cratic nominee.He made clear that he

would prefer the nominee to be Mr

BidenratherthanMrSanders.

“I’ve known Joe for a very long time. I

know his decency, his honesty, and his

commitment to the issues that are so

important to our country — including

gun safety, healthcare, climate change

andgoodjobs,”MrBloombergsaid.

Mr Bloomberg’snetwork, which

boasts 2,400 well-paid staffers and hun-

dreds of campaign offices across the

country, would be a huge boon to Mr

Biden’spoorly-resourcedcampaign.

“If the Democrats win [in November]

he’sgoingtobeabigreasonwhybecause

his operation is far more robust than

anything the [Democratic party] has,”

Andrew Yang, a former candidate in the

Democraticrace,toldCNNonTuesday.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a Demo-

cratic donor, urged Mr Bloomberg to

divert his resources to Mr Biden. “It

would be a ignified end to an honoura-d

blequestfortheWhiteHouse.”

Face-off with Sanders age 3p

Editorial Comment age 8p

Bloomberg quits White House

race and backs resurgent Biden

3 Former vice-president dominates Super Tuesday 3 Battle narrows Democratic field

Supporters of

Joe Biden at a

Super Tuesday

rally in Los

Angeles —Ronen

Tivony /Echoes Wire/Barcroft

Media via Getty Images

Now that black and rural

voters have helped to save

Joe Biden’s hide, I hope we

can dispense with the idea

that moderation is a

narrowly elite taste

“

Janan Ganesh

Page 9

MARCH 5 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 3/20204/ - 19:09 User:simon.roberts Page Name:1FRONT USA, Part,Page,Edition:EUR, 1, 1