The US-based National Bureau of Economic Research has released a new report that looks at which countries' taxpayers have the most wealth stored in so-called "offshore tax havens."

With stock prices gyrating every day to coronavirus related developments, the weekend must come as a relief.

Here's a look at how deep the impact has been felt in the global financial markets:

1. Stock markets worldwide saw sharp losses on Thursday, with the benchmark indices on Wall Street and London saw their steepest daily falls since the Black Monday in 1987.
2. In the US, stocks witnessed a sharp sell-off on Thursday.
   • Thursday's dive follows the intense fall on Wall Street seen throughout the week. The S&P 500 triggered the first circuit breaker of the week on Monday after falling 7%. This fall came after the crash in crude oil prices.
   • The markets bounced back Tuesday, only to retreat on Wednesday after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a pandemic.
   • At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down around 2,350 points (down 10%). The S&P 500 plunged 9.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 9.4%.
   • Stocks were deep in the red the entire session, which was paused for 15 minutes early in the day. Automatic suspension was triggered after the S&P 500's losses hit 7%.
   • On Thursday, equities erased their losses briefly after the US Federal Reserve announced measures to inject an additional US$ 1.5 trillion in cash into financial markets. The announcement, which came after European markets had closed, sent shares higher, but they dropped back by the end of the day.
3. Coming to the European markets now, the main UK index dropped more than 10% yesterday in its worst day crash since 1987. Losses on the UK's FTSE 100 wiped some 160.4 billion pounds in wealth from the market.
4. Frankfurt had its worst day since 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, while Paris suffered its biggest one-day loss on record.
5. However, European stock markets rallied this morning. The signs of a US stimulus package helped soothe fears about an economic shock. At the time of writing, European indices were trading mixed. Shares in London were up 4.1%, while the Paris CAC gained 3.5%. However, the Frankfurt DAX crashed 9.3%.
6. Stocks in Asia also saw consistent sharp falls throughout the week. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 6.1% lower today.
7. Shanghai was down around 1% as the number of new cases in China shrunk and people slowly returned to work in the worst-hit areas.
8. In Asia, circuit breakers were also triggered in many exchanges including India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines this week.
9. Indian share markets saw their biggest ever single day fall this week. The indices today hit their lower circuit limits within 15 minutes of the opening session. This was seen the first time in 12 years that trading in Indian markets had to be halted. The carnage didn't continue, however, as Indian indices recovered after major free-fall as trading resumed after 45-minute halt.
   
   From there on, it was an upward rally as markets went on to witness buying interest and saw their biggest intraday recovery ever.
10. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the worst fall has been witnessed by European markets. Here's a view on how the world markets have performed since January 2020.

US Markets			European Markets			Asian Markets
The Dow	Nasdaq	S&P 500	London	Paris	Germany	Hang Seng	Nikkei 225	Shanghai	Sensex
-27%	-21%	-24%	-31%	-33%	-32%	-16%	-25%	-6%	-17%

This worldwide crash has put March 2020 into the history books. Now, how markets perform in the coming days will be something to watch out.



This article (Worst Week for Global Stock Markets: Coronavirus Impact in 10 Points) is authored by Equitymaster.

Equitymaster is a leading 'independent' equity research initiative focused on providing well-researched and unbiased opinions on stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.


Full Article

The worldwide death toll from the novel Coronavirus pandemic rose to 160,685 on Sunday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. More than 2,334,130 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.

Of these cases, at least 518,900 are now considered recovered. The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation, probably reflect only a fraction of the actual figures.

Only serious being tested
Many countries are testing only the most serious cases. In the US, now the worst-hit country, the death toll stood at 39,090 with 7,35,287 infections. At least 66,819 patients have recovered. Italy is the next most-affected country with 23,227 deaths and 1,75,925 confirmed infections.

It is followed by Spain with 20,453 fatalities and 1,95,944 infections, France with 19,323 deaths and 1,51,793 infections and Britain with 15,464 deaths and 1,14,217 cases. China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — has to date declared 4,632 deaths and 82,735 cases.

Europe has listed 1,153,148 cases and 101,493 deaths to date, the US and Canada together have 7,68,670 cases with 40,619 deaths, Asia 1,62,256 cases with 6,951 deaths, the Middle East 1,22,819 cases with 5,559 deaths, Latin America and the Caribbean 98,202 cases with 4,915 deaths, Africa 21,165 cases with 1,058 deaths and Oceania 7,879 cases with 90 deaths.

2,334,130
No. of people infected worldwide

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Almost 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy, nearly half of the global workforce, face an immediate danger of losing their livelihoods due to the continued sharp decline in working hours because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said. Over 430 million enterprises in hard-hit sectors such as retail and manufacturing risk "serious disruption", the UN agency added. The findings appear in the ILO Monitor third edition released on Wednesday.

Globally, there are some 3.3 billion workers. Two billion have jobs in the informal economy, the most vulnerable workers in the labour market. ILO said 1.6 billion in the informal economy "have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living" as a result of the economic meltdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to lockdowns or because they work in hard-hit sectors, these workers globally have seen a 60 per cent drop in income during the first month of the crisis. This translates into a over 80 per cent decline in Africa and the Americas, 70 per cent in Europe and Central Asia, and 21.6 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, the ILO said.

The ILO called for "urgent, targeted and flexible measures" to support both workers and business, particularly smaller enterprises and those in the informal economy.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

[Source: Research & Innovation] A total of 117 innovative solutions to tackle the coronavirus have been selected as winners of the European Innovation Council-led #EUvsVirus Hackathon.

The fund house said the remarks made by Jenny Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Templeton during their quarterly earnings call were quoted "out of context" by media outlets

Inmarsat, together with Global Marine Networks and Network Innovations, announced on February 22 that the trial of Fleet Xpress in Antartic waters was a success. The service – the world's first globally available high-speed broadband service from a single network operator – was installed on board the adventure cruise ship Ocean Nova.

The OECD has committed to providing proposals to fix the taxation of the digital economy by 2020, in an update to G20 leaders on international efforts to mitigate base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

Governments raised about USD33bn in carbon pricing revenue last year, a 50 percent increase from 2016, according to a new update by the World Bank.

Three years on from the commitments made at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, the overwhelming majority of governments have not taken the necessary action to contain growing risks to the climate, says the OECD. It said, with emissions on the rise again, OECD governments need to get serious about shifting their economies to a low-carbon model and stop investing in carbon-intensive infrastructure.

The OECD has reported on the progress achieved to improve tax transparency internationally under the new Common Reporting Standard (CRS), ahead of the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Fukuoka, Japan.

Highlights: World Encephalitis Day is celebrated annually on 22 nd February Its major objective is to raise awaren

The pace of tax reform has slowed across most leading economies, a new report from the OECD says, calling for bolder tax reforms to address future challenges.

200 delegates from more than 90 delegations met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on November 15-17, 2017, for the 10th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes which now includes 147 countries and jurisdictions.

G7 finance ministers have said that there is an urgent need to address the tax challenges posed by the digitalization of the economy.

Oral health has been separated from routine healthcare and health policy for too long, despite the fact that oral diseases constitutes a major global

Tokyo, Japan (March 21, 2014): A research program that pinpointed how perverse subsidies were causing India to export virtual water has won the coveted ‘Water for Life’ UN-Water Best Practices Award. The IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Program (ITP), a partnership between the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the Sir Ratan Tata […]

Study finds irrigation more common on city farms than rural farms, intensifying water demands in sprawling urban zones.

A new initiative seeks to unite organizations to promote sustainable groundwater management.

Dr Claudia W. Sadoff announced as IWMI's next director general.

Researchers analyzed data with geographic information systems (GIS) rather than depending on case study results, as in previous studies.

The call to action highlighted in Nature this week cites recent scientific breakthroughs on groundwater’s vital role in supporting rivers globally.

Coal use is down dramatically in the United States and the European Union, but rising natural gas and oil use in 2019 increased the world's carbon dioxide emission.

According to Karen Villholth, a principal researcher focusing on groundwater for the International Water Management Institute, poorer rural communities in South Africa similarly struggle with groundwater issues — a problem exacerbated by the recent drought that has stricken the country.

It is about time that we see these creatures as less of a nuisance to be avoided, and more of a “super-fly” with the ability to help us solve global food and energy problems at once.

A new research has revealed that a nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50-125 million people--more than

National and global goals are outlined by experts in a new report published in iCirculation/i to help people live healthier for longer. "We believe

Exponential growth seen in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths, the WHO warned on Thursday. According to latest data from Johns Hopkins University''s

The report showcases some of the leading global businesses in Black Soldier Fly production.

More than two-thirds of all people affected with high blood pressure in low- and middle-income countries go without treatment, claim researchers. Based

Global confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 1.5 million on Wednesday afternoon local time, reports Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

Around 880,000 more ventilators are in demand globally because of COVID-19 pandemic, revealed GlobalData analysis. According to GlobalData analysis,

The death toll from COVID-19 exceeded 90,000 worldwide on Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The fresh figure reached 90,057 as of 12.

The United States component of a global registry that aims to help protect health care providers who intubate patients with COVID-19 and better quantify

COVID-19 death rate is still mounting high across the globe. The number of newly infected cases is increasing day-by-day amid lockdown. The global death

The global prevalence of erectile dysfunction vary widely, ranging from 3% to 76.5%, stated a review of published studies. The findings are published in BJU International.

Various unparalleled events happening since last few months have upended societies and healthcare systems alike. Monetary and drug donations have become

To consider other business matters......

...

International calling service Reliance Global Call on Friday launched 'RGC India app that enables direct dialing of international contacts without the need to enter toll-free or pin numbers.

India has been ranked at a lowly 25 among 27 pension systems globally while Denmark maintained the top position for the fifth year, says a survey.

International calling service Reliance Global Call on Friday launched 'RGC India app that enables direct dialing of international contacts without the need to enter toll-free or pin numbers.

Positive global cues, coupled with short covering and value buying, lifted the Indian equity markets during the mid-afternoon trade session on Friday.

At the Global Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, delegates from 81 jurisdictions and 11 international organisations evaluated whether all Forum members are exchanging tax information effectively.

By participating more effectively in the global production of goods and services, Africa can transform its economy and achieve a development breakthrough, according to the latest African Economic Outlook, released at the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings.

Ministers expressed full support for the OECD’s global relations strategy, as an essential element to increase its impact and relevance. This strategy has been the centrepiece of Secretary-General Angel Gurría’s vision to transform the Organisation into a more inclusive, global policy network and a prime forum for evidence-based policy exchange and global standard setting.

Today, L&T technology Services Limited, an ER&D service provider to myriad technology continuum, inked a multi-million dollar contract with a giant global semi-conductor company.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today the first 10 outcomes of a new and enhanced peer review process aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities.

World Trade Center is a global network of office complexes that has so far connected 330 cities in 100 countries across the world. It is managed and regulated by renowned World Trade Center Association...

During the Gaidar forum on "Russia and the World: Challenges of Integration", OECD Chief of Staff and G20 Sherpa Gabriela Ramos gave a presentation on the role of the G20 in solving the global economic and financial crisis, the most pressing challenges the Group faces today and OECD recommendations to address them, as well as Russian G20 Presidency’s role in moving forward the G20 agenda.”