Lower for longer…the U.S. Federal Reserve promises to keep rates near zero until at least 2022 to support the economic recovery in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, with chair Jerome Powell emphasising that policymakers are “not even thinking about thinking about raising rates.” The central bank has also issued its first economic forecasts since the outbreak, saying the U.S. economy could contract by 6.5 per cent this year. The Dow and S&P both dip after an unsteady Wednesday session with Asian indices and U.S. futures also trading firmly in the red. The Nasdaq diverges again, closing above the milestone 10,000-point mark for the first ever. In M&A news, Just Eat takeaway gobbles up its U.S. rival GrubHub in a $7.3bn all-stock deal. In Hong Kong, internet giant Netease sees its shares rally during its first trading session as Chinese companies face greater scrutiny over their U.S. listings. And in the wake of racial tensions in America, Amazon has frozen police use of its facial recognition technology.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.