Euro-Area Recovery Stronger Than Expected (4:00 p.m. HK)
Businesses in the euro zone saw stronger-than-initially reported growth in July, with output expanding for the first time since lockdowns in March.
Services providers and manufacturers both saw activity pick up. A composite purchasing managers' index rose to 54.9, the highest level in just over two years and above a flash estimate. Orders increased for the first time in five months.
Taiwan Requires Longer Quarantine for Visitors From Japan (3:23 p.m. HK)
Travelers from Japan will now need to undergo 14-day quarantine when entering Taiwan, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control said, after the country was dropped from a list of areas that posed a low to mid-level of virus risk due to a surge in cases.
BMW Reports Loss on Virus Impact (2:24 p.m. HK)
The widening pandemic pushed BMW AG into its first quarterly loss in more than a decade as deliveries tanked. It rounded out a dismal quarter for German car manufacturers, with main rivals Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG also posting big losses.
The German manufacturer lost 666 million euros ($787 million) before interest and taxes between April and June, its first quarterly deficit since the financial crisis in 2009.
Virus Will Remain in Germany 'For a Long Time' (1:45 p.m. HK)
The coronavirus will be present in Germany "for a long time" and the health care system must be ready to cope if infections rise further, according to the chair of the World Medical Association Council, Frank Montgomery, who spoke on DLF radio.
The country has seen an uptick in daily infections in recent days compared with mid-July. The number of cases rose by 717 in the 24 hours through Wednesday, taking the total to 212,828, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
U.K. to Invest in Vaccine Factory (1 p.m. HKT)
The U.K. government and Valneva SE will each invest 14 million pounds ($18 million) in a Scottish plant that will make the French biotech firm's Covid-19 vaccine, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Britain has reached deals for at least 250 million doses from four different vaccine developers in recent weeks, giving it one of the highest number of Covid-19 vaccine doses per capita globally.
Convalescent Plasma Lowers Mortality: WSJ (10:53 a.m. HK)
Transfusions of blood rich with antibodies from recovered Covid-19 patients to those currently hospitalized with the virus reduced their mortality rate by about 50%, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data slides it saw from researchers who presented their analysis to physicians at a Mayo Clinic webinar.
The data, based on an analysis of about 3,000 patients, was submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration but hasn't been published in a journal or subject to peer review. An FDA spokesperson told WSJ it can't comment on the conclusions.
Australia's Virus Hotspot Sees Record Cases (11:08 a.m. HK)
Victoria reported a record daily coronavirus case total as Australia's second-most populous state enters its strictest lockdown since the pandemic began.
The state had 725 new cases in the past 24 hours, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne. Fifteen people died in that period.
Meanwhile, economists at Australia New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said they now see nationwide employment falling by 50,000 in August and September, reversing an earlier forecast of a 40,000 increase in jobs.
Azar to Visit Taiwan, Discuss Covid-19 Virus (10:09 a.m. HK)
Azar is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan "in the coming days" to discuss the global response to the pandemic and give supplies of medical equipment and technology, according to a statement on Wednesday from the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei. It is the first cabinet-level visit to Taiwan in six years.
The visit comes amid steadily escalating tensions between the U.S. and China, which Taiwan officials accuse of taking a more hostile posture toward the island with a sharp increase in military incursions into its air defense identification zone.
Gates Urges U.S. to Help Poorer Countries (9:01 a.m. HK)
The Microsoft Corp. founder and philanthropist said in an interview that while the U.S. leads in research, "we've only taken care of ourselves" in producing and procuring a vaccine.
He's encouraged Congress to consider adding $8 billion to a relief bill currently being debated to help less-developed countries procure an eventual vaccine.
Gates also said he believes a vaccine will likely be approved by the beginning of 2021, though that may be a "stop-gap" primarily available to wealthier nations. More effective vaccines, Gates said, may take longer to develop.
WHO Urges Caution Over Russia Covid-19 Vaccine (8:15 a.m. HK)
The World Health Organization has urged caution over a coronavirus vaccine that Russia has been developing, the Telegraph reported, citing a document from the organization.
The global health body said that while the vaccine is in clinical trials, no second- or third-phase trials from Russia have been listed to date. The vaccine by the Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow is still in phase one trials and far behind some of other prospective candidates.
Tokyo Olympics to Be Held 'With Corona' (7:55 a.m. HK)
Toshiro Muto, chief executive of Tokyo's Olympic organizing committee, told the Financial Times that the event will still take place next summer, and that the national government must take a larger role since a comprehensive virus strategy will be crucial.
"I don't know what the state of coronavirus infections will be next summer, but the chances it is a thing of the past are not high. Rather, the important thing is to deliver an Olympics for people who must live with Covid-19," the FT cited Muto as saying.
New Zealand Warned to Brace for Virus Return (6:05 a.m. HK)
New Zealand must prepare for another local outbreak of the coronavirus, the Director-General of Health warned. "It's a matter of when, not if," Ashley Bloomfield told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday.
"We are working on the basis it could be any time, of course coupled with doing everything we can to intercept the virus at the border," he said.
Texas Positivity Rate Increases (5:05 p.m. NY Tuesday)
Texas's positivity rate climbed for a third straight day, reaching 13.88%, the highest since July 22, according to state health department data. The figure was still down from the July 16 peak of 17.43%.
The Lone Star state also detected 9,167 new cases, bringing the total to date to 451,181. In Houston, the fourth-biggest US city, Covid-19 hospitalizations declined for a 14th consecutive day, according to the Texas Medical Center.
U.S. Cases Rise 1.1% (4 p.m. NY Tuesday)
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 1.1%, as compared with the same time Monday, to 4.74 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The increase was lower than the average 1.4% daily gain over the past week. Deaths rose 0.7% to 156,133.
- Arizona reported 1,008 new cases, a drop from the day before and the lowest since late June. Total cases grew by 0.6%, less than the seven-day average of 1.2%.
- Florida's cases rose 1.1% from a day earlier to 497,330, compared with an average increase of 1.8% in the previous seven days. Deaths reached 7,402, an increase of 245, or 3.4%
- Hawaii experienced a 9.2% increase in the number of cases from the same time yesterday, bringing the total to 2,448, according to the data from Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg News.
