Covid-19: Global pvt wealth takes a hit; India sees 20% dip in Jan-March

Private wealth growth rates have turned out to be negative for all major economies in the January-March quarter of 2020. Emerging economies, including India, faced the brunt of the meltdown, with total wealth growth rate ranging between (-) 14 per cent to (-) 26 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, estimates a research report by New World Wealth.
In India, the drop was fueled by local currency depreciation from around Rs 71 per US dollar to Rs 75 a US dollar during the quarter, the report said. The loss in local stock market - the BSE index down by 31 per cent in local currency terms during the first quarter of 2020 - was the other major reason for the erosion in value of private wealth in the country, the report added.
“Apart from the human cost, the coronavirus has also had a severe economic impact - our estimates show that global private wealth levels have dropped by around 15 per cent in the 1Q of 2020 (in US dollar terms),” the report noted.

This drop has been driven by declining global stock market returns, even as most major currencies weakened against the US Dollar, the report added.
“This has negatively impacted on the US Dollar based wealth of most people globally, especially those living in emerging markets,” the report said.
‘Global private wealth’ refers to the wealth held by all private individuals globally. It includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities.
The report also noted that some countries have handled the outbreak better than others, which may impact on their ability to recover economically in the second half of the year. Countries that appear to have handled the crisis best include Australia and South Korea.

Gold rises as ECB measures to limit coronavirus impact lift investors' mood

International News
Gold costs rose on Thursday after a precarious fall in the past meeting, as the European Central Bank's measures to moderate the monetary impacts of the coronavirus pandemic lifted speculator assumption.
Basics
* Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,491.40 per ounce by 0040 GMT, having risen 1% prior in the meeting.
* The metal fell about 3% on Wednesday alongside different valuable metals, as financial specialists sold across advantages for crowd money.
* U.S. gold fates rose 1.2% to $1,495.80 per ounce.
* Asian financial exchanges battled to balance out, as the most recent guarantee of boost from the European Central Bank propped up notion while the world battles to contain the infection pandemic. U.S. stock fates turned positive.
* The euro rose against the dollar and the pound after the ECB's advantage buy program declaration because of the coronavirus flare-up.
* The European Central Bank propelled a 750 billion euro ($818 billion) crisis bond buy program on Wednesday to push down getting costs in an alliance battling with the financial aftermath of coronavirus.

* Japan's yearly center shopper swelling facilitated in February as vitality costs fell and the flare-up blurred the standpoint as buyers develop increasingly wary about spending, adding to fears the economy could be sliding into downturn….Read More

Uber puts brakes on growth at any cost strategy and investors will be happy

International News
Uber Technologies Inc seems to have decided to stop chasing stupid growth. This is exactly what investors wanted, yet the company’s latest results, announced on Monday, show how far Uber has to go to be sustainable and rational.
In the third quarter, the total value of Uber rides, restaurant meal deliveries and other transactions increased 29% from a year earlier — the slowest rate of increase since Uber began reporting that figure. The total figure of $16.5 billion was also a little short of analysts’ expectations, as was the growth in average monthly customers using Uber services at least once. That most likely contributed to the after-market decline in Uber shares.
What Uber seems to be doing is precisely what investors want now. The company is trying to stop growing where it doesn’t make sense. Third-quarter revenue from rides, excluding what Uber classifies as excessive driver incentives and driver referrals, increased 23% in the quarter, rebounding from a growth slowdown. The adjusted revenue growth for Uber Eats, the restaurant delivery service, also accelerated.
The divergence between slowing growth in total transactions and a faster pace of revenue in crucial segments suggests that Uber has increased consumer prices, reduced incentives or made other tweaks to keep more revenue from each ride or food delivery — even if that means some people are turned off enough not to use Uber at all. This is rational, yes, but acting like a sensible company may also crimp Uber’s eventual size and ambition.
Uber also said it’s aiming to have positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 2021. That is far earlier than analysts have expected Uber to be profitable — or profitable-ish. Lyft made a similar pledge last month to be in the green by the end of 2021 on a massaged profit number that excludes stock compensation and some other costs.
It’s useful to step back and see how much has changed for Uber, Lyft and other young and richly-valued companies. Ever since these companies went public in the first half of this year, Uber and Lyft have been forced to shift gears and chase profits, or some semblance of them, rather than boasting about how big they can grow if they swallow more of people’s current spending on transportation.

This is the new normal for young companies like Uber: Investors want them to grow, but not if the growth is achieved with unsustainable spending or rash financial trade-offs. There in the penalty box is WeWork, the office leasing startup that did exactly that.READ MORE