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Market News
July 6, 2020
BOSL Investments Introduces Senior Manager/Registered Principal, Mr Cedric Charles
Cedric Charles was officially appointed to the Senior Management Team effective April 2020. His experience in the Banking and Finance industry spans over 20 years, in diverse fields such as investment and liquidity analysis, portfolio management and creation, scenario analysis, investment advisory and product generation. In his former capacity, he was the Senior Fund Manager at the Bank of Saint Lucia Investment Management Division primarily responsible for the management of the proprietary and discretionary portfoliosacross asset classes. He holds a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Accounting from the University of the West Indies and Master's Degree in Finance and Financial law from the University of London. Mr. Charles holds a Principal Licence from The Eastern Caribbean Securities and Regulatory Commission.
Caribbean unveils initiatives to support tourism sector
Caribbean hotel, tourism and health officials have unveiled a new initiative they say will help safeguard the health of travellers and employers within the tourism sector.
The COVID-19 Caribbean Tourism Task Force said the comprehensive health safety guidelines, supported by an aggressive training schedule are aimed at reaching thousands of the region’s tourism employees in the coming weeks and months.
It said that the initial set of guidelines includes detailed checklists backed by health safety training for various tourism industry sectors, including ground transportation, accommodation providers, food and beverage, and attractions.
General health safety protocols have also been created and will be supported with training delivered by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to a wide cross section of employees and owners in the tourism industry.
Companies in the region which participate in the training will be recognised, and accommodation providers which also join CARPHA’s online Tourism Health Information System (THiS) will be eligible to receive the Caribbean Travel Health Assurance (CTHA) Stamp, adding further assurance to travellers about their commitment to health safety.
The officials say building upon a unique partnership established over five years ago by CARPHA and the region’s public and private sector tourism stakeholders, and recognising the severe negative impact which COVID-19 could have on the tourism-dependent economies of the region, CARPHA, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) started working on COVID-19 preventative and education initiatives early in February.
They said this led to the formalisation of the COVID-19 Caribbean Tourism Task Force a month later between CARPHA, CTO and CHTA, and later joined by the Jamaica-based Global Tourism Resiliency and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Commission (OECSC).
“Not intended to replace specific national and territorial guidelines, or those being put in place by specific hotels and the industry, the procedures serve to reinforce and complement existing policies which have been drawn up to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“The initiative has also been put in place to provide support particularly for the independent hotels, tourism-related businesses, and smaller destinations which lack the expertise or resources to develop their own,” the officials noted.
The task force undertook a review, which engaged a cross representation of Caribbean tourism stakeholders, of health safety protocols and guidelines for tourism protocols issued by a range of destinations, industry enterprises, and regional agencies and are further synced with global protocols, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
Article Published July 5, 2020 on barbadostoday.bb
Scotiabank, Sagicor cancel distribution deal
Scotiabank T&T and Sagicor Financial Corporation Ltd have cancelled their distribution deal.
In a release issued yesterday Scotiabank T&T said both companies “have mutually agreed” to not proceed with the 20 year ddistribution agreement for insurance products and solutions in T&T.
Sagicor provides financial services in the Caribbean as well as life insurance in the United States. The sale of ScotiaLife T&T Ltd would therefore not proceed.
Scotiabank T&T said it remained committed to providing high quality insurance solutions to its customers through ScotiaLife T&T Ltd, adding that this will be supported by ongoing investments in insurance systems, new products and digital solutions to help its customers with all their protection needs.
The cancellation follows a decision made in November 2019 by Sagicor to call off its deal to buy Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Co Ltd following a similar decision regarding a distribution agreement.
According to previous market filings, Sagicor planned to purchase Scotiabank’s insurance assets in Jamaica and Trinidad as one in a series of moves aimed at growing future earnings of the company by 50 per cent over the short term.
Alignvest Acquisition II Corporation, which owns Sagicor also indicated at the time in those filings in Canada that other acquisitions were potentially in the making.
The Canadian special purpose acquisition company previously indicated that it planned to spend US$240 million to acquire the Scotia insurance portfolio: split US$144 million for Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance Company, and US$96 million for Scotia Life T&T.
Alignvest and Sagicor also expected that the acquisition and partnership agreement would have contributed annual run-rate net income of approximately US$30 million following its anticipated closing in 2020.
In its fillings, Alignvest and Sagicor also expected both transactions to close in Q4 of 2019, but subsequently amended the expectations to reflect the acquisition of Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance to close in the second half of 2019 and the completion of the purchase of ScotiaLife T&T wrap up in the first half of 2020.
The purpose of the investment, according to Alignvest, would have been for Sagicor to provide insurance products to Scotiabank’s customers, where Sagicor would be able to leverage the partnership to cross-sell more of its products.
Alignvest noted that the transaction would bring significant opportunity for Sagicor to further enhance its penetration in the Jamaica and T&T markets.
As a result of the partnership with Scotiabank, Sagicor expected to increase its revenue growth by 14 per cent in 2020 for the Scotia Jamaica Life Insurance and ScotiaLife T&T acquisitions as new product penetration of the cus-tomer bases increase.
Article Published July 3, 2020 on guardian.co.tt
American and 4 other airlines reach loan agreements with US
DALLAS -- American Airlines and four smaller carriers have reached agreement with the government for billions more in federal loans, a sign of the industry’s desperate fight to survive a downturn in air travel caused by the virus pandemic.
The Treasury Department said Thursday that it had signed letters of intent for new loans to American, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and SkyWest Airlines.
All the leading U.S. airlines had previously accepted a combination of grants and loans to help cover payroll costs through Sept. 30. These five are the first carriers to tentatively accept loans from a separate $25 billion kitty that Congress set aside under a $2.2 billion measure to help companies hurt by the pandemic.
American Airlines said it signed a term sheet with Treasury for a $4.75 billion loan, which would be in addition to $5.8 billion that Treasury has already agreed to extend to American.
“We have to complete some legal work to reach a definitive credit agreement, but we expect to finalize that loan during the third quarter,” American CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a note to employees. They said the additional loan would give American liquidity of about $15 billion.
American is generally considered the financially weakest of the largest U.S. airlines, having entered the pandemic with the largest amount of debt. Isom said in May that the airline was considering using its AAdvantage frequent-flyer program as collateral for a federal loan.
Details about terms of the new loans for American and others were not immediately clear. The Treasury Department said it would post documentation within 72 hours of the agreements becoming final — which, judging from American's comments, could be weeks from now.
A spokeswoman for SkyWest, which operates regional flights for the major airlines, said the company is still “evaluating our level of participation with the Treasury.” The other three airlines signing letters of intent did not immediately answer requests for comment.
Spirit and Frontier are budget carriers that appeal primarily to leisure travelers. Hawaiian depends heavily on vacationers visiting the islands from the U.S. mainland and Asia – they have been subject to a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.
Airlines received special treatment from Congress and the White House during drafting of the virus-aid measure, which was approved in March. It provided up to $50 billion in grants, loans and guarantees to passenger airlines, plus $8 billion for cargo carriers. The measure gave Treasury power to seek compensation for taxpayers, including in the form of partial ownership stakes.
The airlines are expected to slash thousands of jobs in October, when the federal payroll help runs out. Many are encouraging employees to quit or retire.
American Airlines, which began the year with about 130,000 employees, still expects to have 20,000 too many for the number of flights it expects to fly this fall, its leaders said Friday. Delta Air Lines warned 2,500 pilots last week about potential furloughs.
Six leading airline unions have asked Congress to give the companies another $25 billion to prevent layoffs through next March.
Analysts believed interest in the second batch of federal loans would be lower because of the terms — including giving the government a potential ownership stake — and the availability of money from private sources. Major carriers including American, United, Delta and Southwest have raised billions in available cash on the private credit market.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his department was still talking with other airlines about loans and hopes to reach agreements as soon as possible. Some, including United Airlines, have said they would apply for loans but might not use them.
Air travel within the United States fell about 95% from March 1 through mid-April, as the government restricted travel to slow the spread of the virus and travelers feared contracting it. Travel has recovered slowly since then, but the number of airline passengers is still about 75% lower than a year ago.
Investors gave a muted reaction to Treasury's announcement. Shares of American Airlines and its three closest competitors — Delta, United and Southwest — ranged from down 1% to up 1% in midday trading.
Article Published July 2, 2020 on abcnews.go.com
China Propels Global Stock Rally to One-Month High: Markets Wrap
Global stock markets are starting the week with a bang after China’s influential state media stoked bullish enthusiasm. The dollar index fell for a fifth day and Treasuries dipped.
Uber Technologies Inc. shares climbed after people familiar with the matter said the company agreed to acquire Postmates Inc. in a $2.65 billion deal. Banks, construction and insurance shares led gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Copper is on the cusp of erasing this year’s losses after virus-related disruptions tightened supplies.
A front-page editorial in China’s Securities Times on Monday said that fostering a “healthy” bull market after the pandemic is now more important to the economy than ever. Chinese social media exploded with searches for the term “open a stock account,” with bullish sentiment also lifting the yuan. The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 5.7%, the biggest advance since 2015.
The MSCI World Index is now at the highest level since early June, with investors putting their faith in an economic recovery powered by historic government stimulus.
But there’s a long way to go before the economy gets back to normal. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut estimates for U.S. growth this quarter and said consumer spending appears likely to stall this month and next. Still, economists led by Jan Hatzius said other economies have proved it’s possible to resume activity and changes in behavior such as wearing masks will help too.
“The willingness of investors to look through the current disruption to an anticipated recovery this quarter is imperiled by still rising virus infection rates,” said Michael McCarthy, a markets strategist at CMC Markets Plc in Sydney.
Here are some key events coming up:
• The EIA crude oil inventory report comes Wednesday.
• All eyes will be on the U.S. weekly jobless claims report on Thursday.
• Singapore holds its general election on Friday.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index increased 1.2% as of 7:35 p.m. New York time.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.3%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.7%.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 1.8%.
Currencies
• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%.
• The euro advanced 0.6% to $1.1315.
• The British pound gained 0.2% to $1.2506.
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 107.52 per dollar.
Bonds
• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 0.69%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to -0.44%.
• Britain’s 10-year yield gained two basis points to 0.204%.
Commodities
• West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.8% to $40.60 a barrel.
• Gold strengthened 0.3% to $1,777.27 an ounce.
• LME copper climbed 1.5% to $6,105.50 per metric ton.
Article Published July 6, 2020 on bloomberg.com
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