The looming return of lockdowns to contain Europe’s latest wave of Covid-19 cases poses risk on economic recovery and postponement of the timetable for the ECB’s wind down of emergency stimulus. Euro zone bond yields dropped on Friday and Germany’s entire yield curve fell into negative territory for the first …

German central bank head set up a clash over Eurozone monetary policy warning that inflation is to stay above the ECB’s target for longer than expected.Jens Weidmann told a banking conference in Frankfurt on Friday: “Given the considerable uncertainty about the inflation outlook, monetary policy should not commit to its …

Baker Hughes reported, Friday, that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by seven to 461 this week.The new figures followed increases in each of the previous three weeks, including a climb of four oil rigs last week, Baker Hughes data shows.The total active U.S. rig count, …

In the early morning, Bitcoin was trading at $58,089, up 4.4% from its Thursday’s low but down 0.9% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is down 10.4% over the past week, so the trend was definitely lower this week. Cryptocurrencies are having another volatile day on Friday but this time …

Texas is home of the most vulnerable power grid across the United States. The state is preparing to be hit by a surge in demand for electricity that’s twice as much as the size of Austin’s.An army of cryptocurrency miners opted to head to Texas state to utilize cheap power …

Central banks in different countries can usefully share analysis and may adopt similar policies in response to common global shocks, but explicit coordination would likely do more harm than good, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Friday.The Fed official signaled skepticism toward adopting coordinated interest-rate policies among major …

Renewed concerns about COVID-19 in the face of looming European lockdowns impacted a range of sectors Friday, pushing stocks and oil down. This latest news boosts the US dollar.Stocks have been shaken in morning trading on Wall Street Friday and major indexes were on track for a mixed finish to …

The House of Representatives on Friday passed the largest expansion of the social safety net in decades, a $1.75 trillion bill that funds universal pre-K, Medicare expansion, renewable energy credits and affordable housing. The final vote was 220-213, and only one Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the bill. …

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Christopher Waller said on Friday that the rapid improvement seen in the labour market and high inflation makes him favour faster taper and sooner rate increase. Inflationary pressures are becoming more extensive, and will last longer into 2022 than expected. Waller added that the …

US bond yields experienced a sharp drop on Friday, the primary catalyst for which was a continued ramp up in concerns about lockdowns in Europe where Covid-19 infection and hospitalization rates continue to surge. The drop in bond yields coinciding rally in bond prices reflects a broader outperformance of safe-haven …