Tag Archives: Eurozone

Germany

Yields on German 10-year Bund fell to a 5-week low on coronavirus concerns | Instant News


* Eurozone suburban government bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) – German 10-year bond yields fell to a five-week low on Wednesday, a sign of growing discomfort over the eurozone’s economic outlook amid tighter restrictions to contain the new wave of COVID-19.

Across the single currency bloc, the 10-year bond yields fell by 2-3 basis points as investors returned to the safe-haven bond market.

France has reintroduced lockdowns and Germany has extended lockdowns to April 18. Signs of an increase in the European Central Bank’s rate of bond buying may also help explain the move lower in bond yields this week.

“While Bund yields may struggle to break below the current range, refocusing on the domestic pandemic front against the backdrop of increasing ECB buying – even if only slightly – could contribute to keeping yields lower for now,” said Benjamin Schroeder, senior interest rate strategist. on ING.

The yield on the German 10-year Bund fell to -0.375%, the lowest level in five weeks. That’s down about 7 bps this whole week.

Germany will auction off 4 billion euros of 10-year bonds at a later date.

Focus in the meantime shifted to the release of the flash purchasing managers’ index in the euro area countries.

France’s Flash Composite PMI rose to 49.5 in March from a final reading of 47 in February, data showed.

While the PMI data is considered a forward-looking economic indicator, the latest release may have a muted market impact, given the new spike in coronavirus cases and tighter restrictions likely to weigh on economic activity going forward, analysts said. (Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe Editing by Gareth Jones)

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Germany

Germany stops shooting of COVID-19 AstraZeneca as a ‘deterrent’ | Instant News


BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday, making it the latest of several European countries to pause following reports of blood clotting disorders in recipients.

FILE PHOTO: Health workers prepare syringes with the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 at a new vaccination center inside the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany March 8, 2021. Tobias Schwarz / Pool via REUTERS

Spahn said the decision followed a recommendation from the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), the German authority in charge of vaccines, following a newly registered thrombosis case.

“Today’s decision is purely a precautionary measure. This is purely a technical decision and not a political decision. And that’s why I’m following the recommendations of the Paul Ehrlich Institute here, ”said Spahn, adding that cases are very rare.

PEI said in a statement that more cases of coagulation disorders had been reported following vaccination with AstraZeneca injections since Thursday.

The institute noted a “striking accumulation” of very rare cases of cerebral venous thrombosis along with a deficiency of blood platelets known as thrombocytopenia and hemorrhages.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday that several cases of immune thrombocytopenia, a lack of platelets in the blood that can cause bleeding and bruising, had been reported in the process of monitoring vaccine safety.

He added that his party would review the condition report after being given vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, and Moderna.

Several EU countries have discontinued the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports from Denmark and Norway of possible serious side effects, including bleeding and blood clots.

Spahn said on Monday the results of an open review and he is counting on the EMA to make decisions and recommendations ideally this week.

The EMA said that as of March 10, a total of 30 cases of blood clots had been reported among the nearly 5 million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca injections in the European Economic Area, which links 30 European countries.

PEI said people who still feel unwell four days after receiving their injection dose of AstraZeneca should seek medical care immediately.

Millions of people in the UK have received the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company vaccine so far.

Spahn said there were seven reported cases of venous thrombosis out of the 1.6 million vaccines in Germany.

Karl Lauterbach, top health expert with Chancellor Merkel’s junior coalition partner SPD, called the suspension a “grave mistake” of undermining confidence in a much-needed vaccine.

The state health minister of Thuringia called the decision to stop AstraZeneca vaccinations a “disaster”.

Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Ludwig Burger and Caroline Copley; Edited by Maria Sheahan and Nick Macfie

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Italy

Italy is stopping the use of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine nationwide | Instant News


FILE PHOTO: Bottle labeled “AstraZeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine” and syringe in front of the AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken March 10, 2021. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration

ROME (Reuters) – Italy on Monday suspended use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, making it the latest European country to suspend the product following reports of recipients falling ill.

The announcement comes shortly after Germany took similar steps, and follows the seizure of hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine by Italian prosecutors in the northern region of Piedmont.

Italy’s drug authority AIFA said it was taking the decision as “a precautionary and temporary measure” pending a decision from the European Medicines Agency.

Reporting by Angelo Amante, written by Gavin Jones, editing by Crispian Balmer

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Travel

France relaxes COVID-19 restrictions on international travel | Instant News



PARIS (Reuters) – France will ease some COVID-19 restrictions on international travel outside Europe, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday, which said in a statement that travelers to or from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Israel, Japan and Great Britain and Singapore would no longer need a compelling reason to travel. French Tourism Minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said the easing was due to the improvement in the health situation in these countries. “The list includes Great Britain, as the British variant now circulates widely in France. All other restrictions, such as requiring a negative COVID-19 test less than 72 hours before travel, would remain in place,” a the ministry said, adding that a decree was to be issued on Friday. Lemoyne said that for other countries outside the European Union, the list of legitimate travel reasons would be expanded, especially to take into account family situations. r travel would be the fact that a person in a couple – both married or in a civil partnership – resides abroad for professional reasons; other legitimate reasons would be for families living abroad but having children attending school in France, couples with children abroad and in France, students taking an exam, as well as people returning to their home country. primary residence if it is in France. The ministry said in general it strongly recommends limiting international travel as much as possible. France announced stricter rules on travel from third countries on January 14 , report by Geert De Clercq and Matthieu Protard; Edited by Alex Richardson and Angus MacSwan.



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Travel

EasyJet sees flight and holiday bookings soar with hopes of UK travel restart | Instant News



LONDON, Feb.23 (Reuters) – EasyJet said flight bookings jumped more than 300% and holiday bookings jumped more than 600% week on week, after Britain planned the restart international travel, suggesting that the borders could reopen from mid-May. The British airline said travel from the UK to seaside destinations such as Malaga, Alicante and Palma in Spain, Faro in Portugal and Crete, Greece were the most popular destinations with the most eager holidaymakers. to travel in August. Reservations have come about despite continued uncertainty over how and when to reopen international routes. Vacationers will know more on April 12, when the government publishes a travel review. He said a lockdown ban on most international travel will remain until at least May 17. Britain’s vaccination plan is progressing rapidly and more than 17.7 million people, or a quarter of the population, have already received a first dose of the vaccine. hopes desperate airlines and travel agents to start generating revenue after pandemic restrictions that the UK can lift holiday bans and quarantine restrictions and allow travel from mid-May Governments foreigners must also agree that UK holidaymakers can visit without the need for quarantine. Currently, France and Spain, for example, have closed their borders to the British due to new variants of the coronavirus. (Report by Sarah Young, edited by Paul Sandle).



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