Brazil jobless rate dips from record in August-October

20:30, December 29, 2020

• 

  Wall St dips from record levels, additional stimulus uncertain

  US stocks edged lower on Tuesday in choppy trading after hitting record highs, as investors worried about the path of economic reopening and whether the Senate would authorize additional pandemic aid checks.Modest gains in early trading brought stocks to an intraday record, but the advance evaporated after US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked immediate vote on the measure calling for an increase in stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000. Final passage of the proposal would require 60 votes and the backing of a dozen Republicans. McConnell said the chamber would address the increased payments this week along with limits on big technology companies and election integrity. McConnells comment comes a day after the Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the move to bump up direct payments."The move by Majority Leader McConnell to not endorse the $2,000 disbursements turned equity markets from green to red around midday," said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. "The plan that was originally signed is baked in. The question as to whether the bigger individual checks get passed is up for debate."View of the New York Stock Exchange building and tree decorations in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, New York, US, December 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters)The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.3 points, or 0.22 percent, to 30,335.67, the S&P 500 lost 8.32 points, or 0.22 percent, to 3,727.04 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 49.20 points, or 0.38 percent, to 12,850.22. Volumes are expected to be light in the holiday-shortened week, and market volatility is expected to be heightened. The S&P 500 is up 15.4 percent so far this year, with just two trading days left in 2020. Wall Streets three main indexes opened at new highs for a second straight session after Trump signed a $2.3 trillion fiscal bill that restored jobless benefits and averted a federal government shutdown. More tha...

• 

  Virus rates show Germany 'still very far from normality': minister

  Germany remains far from a return to normal life amid persistently high coronavirus rates, Germanys health minister said Wednesday as the daily death toll crossed 1,000 for the first time.German Health Minister Jens Spahn addresses a press conference addresses a press conference in Berlin, Germany, on December 30, 2020, to comment on the current situation amid the new coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination campaign in Germany. (Photo: AFP)"The infection and death figures show that we are still very far from normality," Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin."I dont see how, in this situation, we can return to how things were before the lockdown," he added.

• 

  UK economy grew by record 16% in Q3 but still recovering from crash

  A man was seen walking out of a London underground, December 21, 2020. (Photo: CFP)Britains economic recovery from its coronavirus crash was quicker than expected in the third quarter, according to official data, which again showed government borrowing soaring to pay for the coronavirus crisis.Gross domestic product grew by a record 16.0 percent from July to September, revised up from a previous estimate of 15.5 percent, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday.But that still did not make up for its 18.8 percent slump in the second quarter, when much of the economy was shut down.Britains economy was hit harder than most others by the pandemic, which has led the deaths of more people than any other country in Europe after Italy.The economy almost ground to a halt in October, according to previously published figures, and the Bank of England thinks GDP will shrink again in the fourth quarter as worries about the December 31 deadline for a Brexit trade deal with the European Union compound the damage from COVID-19."Novembers surge in borrowing is unlikely to be reversed much over the next few months as the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions keep many businesses closed," noted Capital Economics analyst Thomas Pugh."This will only increase talk of how to pay for the crisis, but the successful rollout of vaccines next year and a rapid rebound in GDP could mean that the deficit returns to its pre-crisis level within the next few years without the need for much fiscal tightening," he added.The ONS said Britain borrowed a record 241 billion pounds ($323 billion) in the first eight months of the financial year, nearly 190 billion pounds more than in the same period a year earlier.Public debt stood at almost 2.1 trillion pounds or 99.5 percent of annual economic output, the highest debt-to-GDP ratio since 1962, the ONS said.Finance minister Rishi Sunak reiterated his pledge to tackle the huge shortfall, but not immediat...