Covid-winners: SA retail stocks, rebars replace gold, new billionaire; interest rates; Zim closes borders
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In today's headlines:
* A rush by worried South African shoppers to stock up on food and vital supplies spurred sharp gains in Johannesburg retail stocks Tuesday, after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national disaster because of the coronavirus outbreak;
* Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom Video Communications, has added $2bn to his net worth in 2020, the fourth-biggest increase in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. After starting the year unranked, he’s now at No. 274 on the list with a $5.6bn fortune;
* The price of steel reinforcement bar, the somewhat unglamorous but ubiquitous commodity used to strengthen concrete, has risen almost 5% over the past month in Shanghai on expectations that the Chinese government will stimulate the economy with infrastructure spend;
* Central bankers in five key sub-Saharan African countries will meet on interest rates in the next 10 days as the focus turns to them for measures to shore up their economies that are expected to be hit by the novel coronavirus; and
* Zimbabwe and Namibia declared national emergencies on Tuesday as the coronavirus begins to spread in the region.
* A rush by worried South African shoppers to stock up on food and vital supplies spurred sharp gains in Johannesburg retail stocks Tuesday, after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national disaster because of the coronavirus outbreak;
* Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom Video Communications, has added $2bn to his net worth in 2020, the fourth-biggest increase in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. After starting the year unranked, he’s now at No. 274 on the list with a $5.6bn fortune;
* The price of steel reinforcement bar, the somewhat unglamorous but ubiquitous commodity used to strengthen concrete, has risen almost 5% over the past month in Shanghai on expectations that the Chinese government will stimulate the economy with infrastructure spend;
* Central bankers in five key sub-Saharan African countries will meet on interest rates in the next 10 days as the focus turns to them for measures to shore up their economies that are expected to be hit by the novel coronavirus; and
* Zimbabwe and Namibia declared national emergencies on Tuesday as the coronavirus begins to spread in the region.
