 | | | | Global equity markets slumped on Friday as the fast-spreading coronavirus drove investors into safe havens, with gold hitting a fresh seven-year high and the yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond sliding to an all-time low. | | | | | | U.S. stocks sold off and the Nasdaq had its worst daily percentage decline in about three weeks on Friday as a spike in new coronavirus cases and data showing a stall in U.S. business activity in February fueled investors' fears about economic growth. | | | | | | Federal prosecutors investigating Boeing Co are examining whether the U.S. planemaker knowingly misled the Federal Aviation Administration while it was seeking approval for its 737 MAX jet, the New York Times reported https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/business/boeing-737-max-investigation.html, citing two people familiar with the matter. | | | | | | In the next economic downturn, the Federal Reserve and other central banks may need to roll out their big guns sooner and use them more aggressively, or risk getting mired in growth-sapping deflation or worse. | | | | | | Verizon Communications Inc has pulled out of the RSA cyber security conference due to coronavirus-related concerns, the organizer said https://www.rsaconference.com/novel-coronavirus-update on Friday. | | | | | | U.S. regulators have opened a probe regarding Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc's investment in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. | | | | | | The dollar juggernaut rolls on. The U.S. currency has rocketed to a near three-year high versus the euro <EUR=>, a 10-month high against the yen and an 11-year peak versus the Aussie. This month alone it's added 2.5% against six currency peers. | | | | | | Wells Fargo & Co and one of its units will pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil probes into years of fraudulent sales practices, U.S. authorities said on Friday, wrapping up one of the last one major investigations looming over the bank. | | | | | | Elon Musk's SpaceX is looking to raise about $250 million, taking the private rocket company's valuation to about $36 billion, CNBC reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the financing. | | | | | | The U.S. consumer watchdog on Friday proposed establishing a national standard for how debt collectors must inform borrowers when they cannot be sued for expired debt. | | | | | | At Germany's Bambi Awards for the media industry in November, celebrities posed for red-carpet photos against a backdrop of established luxury brands. Alongside the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Swiss watchmaker Chopard was a newer name: IQOS, a "reduced risk" heated-tobacco device sold by cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. | | | | | |
