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Monday, May 18, 2020

Markets rally as Fed's Powell pledges more ammunition to fight Covid-19 downturn

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Jerome Powell insists the Federal Reserve can do more to help America through the coronavirus recession * Powell: We’re not out of ammo * Japan has fallen into recession * 8.30am: FTSE 100 jumps 2% * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage 9.24am BST SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES HAVE LIFTED THEIR BAN ON SHORT-SELLING SHARES, IN ANOTHER SIGN THAT THE PANIC CREATED BY COVID-19 HAS EASED. France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Greece are all scrapping restrictions that prevented traders from selling shares they didn’t own (hoping to buy them back cheaper). - France, Spain, Italy and Belgium have lifted short-selling bans as expected - Austria's ban will be lifted at midnight local time “Markets have partly reduced their losses, trading volumes and volatility have returned to levels that are still high compared to mid-February, however this reflects market participants’ uncertainties in the current context 9.11am BST THE GOLD PRICE HAS HIT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 2012, AMID PREDICTIONS THAT THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK WILL DRIVE INFLATION UP. Gold bullion is up 1.2% this morning at $1,760 per ounce for the first time since October 2012. Gold has emerged as a clear winner from the economic turmoil created by the pandemic. There has been more energy about gold bulls today and prices have driven up to above $1760, the highest since Oct 2012. The peak in that month of $1795 is the next target for bulls. Gold prices spikes to levels last seen in 2012 on concerns over the weekend about; a deeper recession monetary stimulus from central banks flooding the system with liquidity. pic.twitter.com/onISNL5bJp Continue reading...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com