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* Dollar hits near one-week high

* Equities hit by halted vaccine trials, stimulus talks
impasse

* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/

(Recasts, adds comments, updates prices)

By Brijesh Patel

Oct 14 (Reuters) – Gold firmed on Wednesday after last
session’s sharp drop spurred demand for the safe-haven metal
from investors worried about global economic recovery and
uncertainty surrounding next month’s U.S. presidential election.

Spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,895.41 per ounce by 0947
GMT, after shedding as much as 1.9% on Tuesday in reaction to
the dollar’s jump. U.S. gold futures gained 0.2% to
$1,899.20.

“We’re seeing some price recovery as lower prices generated
buying interest by investors since the general backdrop of gold
is still positive,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

“Low interest rates, expansion of monetary policy,
ballooning public debt, uncertainty regarding U.S. elections;
all these factors are supportive for gold prices,” he

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In: Business Line

The US dollar held on to gains against most currencies on Wednesday as renewed questions about a Covid-19 vaccine and lack of an agreement on additional US fiscal stimulus prompted a shift to safer assets.

The yuan was little changed versus the dollar after the central bank’s daily fixing of the yuan’s mid-point was largely in line with estimates, suggesting authorities have paused their attempts to rein in the currency. The euro and British pound are likely to extend declines, analysts said, as a return of restrictions on economic activity in Europe and Britain to battle a second wave of Covid-19 infections unnerves investors.

Currency moves, however, are likely to be subdued as the US presidential election looms on November 3, but analysts said sentiment is leaning against riskier bets, which should support the dollar in the coming days. “Many factors are pointing to more upside for the dollar,” said

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Japan’s currency in circulation and bank deposits rose at a record pace in September, data showed on Tuesday, as companies and households hoarded cash instead of spending it due to uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic.

The data underscores the fragile nature of Japan’s economic recovery, which is heavily reliant on overseas demand as consumption and capital expenditure remain weak.

Money stock

Japan’s M3 money stock — or currency in circulation and deposits at financial institutions — rose 7.4 per cent in September from a year earlier, marking the biggest increase since comparable data became available in 2004, Bank of Japan data showed.

The rise topped a 7.1 per cent gain in August. Bank deposits surged a record 15.5 per cent in September from a year earlier, while cash in circulation grew 5.7 per cent, the data showed.

Savings surge

“What’s happening since spring through summer is that households are curbing

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In our previous analysis, we discussed one primary reason that Bitcoin will make a good long-term investment as the price is likely to go up and stabilize once institutions gain SEC-regulated access. Fidelity and the NYSE-founded Bakkt are two examples of platforms that will influence the first phase of bitcoin’s broader adoption. These two platforms have not yet launched, but a new supply-and-demand dynamic will occur when institutional investors can access cryptocurrencies.

The next phase for Bitcoin stability and price support will hinge on the eroding trust in fiat currencies – both globally and also from younger generations who are digital natives with good reason to seek alternatives outside of the fiat system.

Global Unrest Sees Bitcoin as Alternative to Fiat Currency

Economists have discussed the effects of going off the gold standard during Nixon’s presidency ad nauseum, yet this has been a futile conversation in the past as there

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That’s on top of the fact that layoffs continue to pummel the job market, forgivable loans for small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program have run out, and more than 20 million Americans are no longer receiving enhanced unemployment benefits.

It’s a perfect storm hitting everyday workers who are trying to keep their lives afloat.

Truck driver Derrick Beauvais used to deliver paper products to 40 Boston-area restaurants every day, but since the pandemic hit, he’s lucky if he has half that. His paychecks are down by half, as well. An extra $200 a week in unemployment benefits has helped, and he is counting on another stimulus package to get by.

“My wife doesn’t work because I always made enough money where she could stay home and take care of our son,” he said, adding that he recently decided to get an emergency credit card because he doesn’t have any

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In: Business Website

HONG KONG, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Investment news site Motley Fool will shutter its Hong Kong operations due to the uncertain political outlook in the Asian financial hub, according to a post on the company’s website earlier this week.

The move adds to ongoing concerns about the media and the investment environment in Hong Kong, following the implementation in late June of a new national security law, imposed by China, which introduced severe penalties for anything deemed as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

The post, by Hayes Chan, Motley Fool’s Hong Kong lead analyst cited last year’s protests, the introduction of a National Security law and the United States and China’s economic decoupling as reasons for the uncertainty.

“With all those uncertainties, it’s hard to make predictable decisions to grow our Foolish business here over the next 3-5 years,” the statement said.

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam

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By Leika Kihara

TOKYO, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday uncertainty over the country’s economic and price outlook remained “very high” as the coronavirus pandemic continued to inflict pain on global growth.

Kuroda said the world’s third-largest economy was emerging from a severe downturn caused by the pandemic and was likely headed for a moderate recovery.

But he stressed the central bank was ready to maintain the range of measures put in place to ease corporate funding strains, and to top up monetary support if needed to cushion the economic blow from the health crisis.

“There is very high uncertainty on the economic and price outlook. Risks are skewed to the downside,” said Kuroda in a video message to an annual meeting of securities firms.

While consumer prices will fall for the time being due to sliding oil prices and weak demand,

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The Rev. Deborah Bowsher looked around the empty halls of her Zanesville church and saw an opportunity.

“While the Red Cross has been finding it quite difficult to have blood drives because all the businesses and schools have said, ‘No, you can’t do that in our premises,’ we’re an empty building most of the time, and we’ve opened our doors,” Bowsher said.

Trinity United Presbyterian Church has hosted weekly blood drives for the nonprofit organization since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and sent millions of Ohioans into seemingly endless work-from-home situations.

The novel coronavirus threw the world into disarray in 2020. Whole states shut down, people were forced to quarantine or shelter in place, economies ground to a halt and more than 200,000 American lives have been lost. But amid the chaos and the confusion, Ohioans have found ways to innovate.

The church represents both the tension and the innovation.

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News that President Donald Trump has been infected with a virus that’s killed more than 200,000 of his fellow Americans has further unsettled investors and business leaders who were already on edge ahead of the November election.



Donald Trump standing in front of a television screen: A man wearing a face mask walks near a TV screen reporting about U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump during a news program with a file image of Trump at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. Trump said early Friday that he and Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election. The Korean letters read: "President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

© Lee Jin-man/AP
A man wearing a face mask walks near a TV screen reporting about U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump during a news program with a file image of Trump at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. Trump said early Friday that he and Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election. The Korean letters read: “President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.” (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

It’s a truism that investors hate uncertainty. But this year had been unusually chaotic,

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In: Business Insider

By April Joyner and Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) – Investors are gauging how a potential deterioration in President Donald Trump’s health could impact asset prices in coming weeks, as the U.S. leader remains hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

So far, markets have been comparatively sanguine: hopes of a breakthrough in talks among U.S. lawmakers on another stimulus package took the edge off a stock market selloff on Friday, with the S&P 500 losing less than 1% and so-called safe-haven assets seeing limited demand. News of Trump’s hospitalization at a military medical center outside Washington, where he remained on Saturday, came after trading ended on Friday.

Many investors are concerned, however, that a serious decline in Trump’s health less than a month before Americans go to the polls on Nov. 3 could roil a U.S. stock market that recently notched its worst monthly performance since its selloff in March while causing

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