Some medical workers have also tested positive for the virus, the English-language China Daily newspaper reported. The head of a Chinese government expert team said Monday that human-to-human transmission has been confirmed in an outbreak of a new coronavirus, a development that raises the possibility that it could spread more quickly and widely. Wuhan health authorities said Monday an additional 136 cases have been confirmed in the city, raising the total to 198. The outbreak has put other coun

Stocks in Asia were little changed in morning trade on Tuesday, with the Bank of Japan (BoJ) set to release its quarterly outlook report as well as its interest rate decision later in the day. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was slightly lower in early trade while the Topix index was largely flat. The Bank of Japan is set to release its quarterly outlook report at around 11:00 a.m. HK/SIN, which could provide clues regarding the direction of the central bank’s monetary policy. The BoJ will also announce

Stocks in major Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday, with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) keeping the loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged. Mainland Chinese stocks saw gains on the day, with the Shanghai composite up 0.66% to about 3,095.79 while the Shenzhen composite was 1.311% higher at around 1,829.95. Shares of Chinese drugmakers and facial mask firms also surged amid concerns over a coronavirus outbreak in the the country. The moves came as the People’s Bank of China kept the one year

The dollar held near a one-month high against major currencies on Monday after last week’s run of data confirmed that the United States economy is holding up well, while China’s yuan hit a new six-month high. Investors are focused on central bank meetings in Japan, which is on Tuesday, and the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday. The strength in the United States comes as European economic data points in the opposite direction, though with possible signs of bottoming out both there and in

The precious metal pared losses and climbed back up above the $1,550 level, buoyed by a low interest-rate environment and lingering geopolitical tensions. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,557.90 per ounce, after hitting its highest since Jan. 8 at $1,568.35 in early trading. On Jan. 8, gold pierced the $1,600 ceiling for the first time in nearly seven years on escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. Global Investors, adding gold will be supported by the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping

Libya has been producing about 1.2 million bpd recently. Anti-government unrest in Iraq, another major oil producer, also supported oil prices initially, but officials later said output from southern oilfields has been unaffected by the unrest. ING said that spare OPEC capacity, which stands in excess of 3 million bpd, was reassuring the market. Barclays on Tuesday forecast 2020 oil demand to rise by 1.4 million bpd, 50,000 bpd higher than its previous forecast and up from growth of 900,000 bpd

Hanno Renner was 25 when he set up Personio, a software start-up looking to take the myriads of boring admin tasks and piles of paper out of human resources. “The only job I had next to my studies was being a skipper of sailing yachts,” Renner, now 29, told CNBC in an interview. “They had a problem with having all their people’s data in an Excel sheet,” Renner says. “What we really cover are the bread and butter things that every company needs, but that are really hard to do with pen and paper a

J.P. Morgan Chase announced the creation of a new business called the Development Finance Institution to boost private investment in emerging-market development projects. The lender said it can finance more than $100 billion annually from its investment bank and created a formal methodology to define projects that fit both commercial and development targets, according to a release from the New York-based bank. It also hired Faheen Allibhoy, an 18-year-veteran of the World Bank-affiliated Interna

Tesla blasted customer complaints that its cars may suddenly accelerate on their own Monday, calling the reports “completely false.” The 127 complaints about Tesla vehicles suddenly accelerating are contained in a petition calling for a federal defect investigation of the matter. “I am also concerned that these potential defects represent risk to the safety of Tesla drivers, their passengers, and the public.” Historically, the Department of Transportation (and NHTSA) receives myriad complaints a

President Donald Trump and France’s President Emmanuel Macron shake hands as they meet, ahead of the NATO summit in Watford, in London, Britain, December 3, 2019French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he had a “great discussion” with President Donald Trump over a digital tax planned by Paris and said the two countries would work together to avoid a rise in tariffs. Macron and Trump agreed to hold off on a potential tariffs war until the end of the year, a French diplomatic source said,

Burgeoning social app TikTok could grow larger than Facebook-owned Instagram, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said. Facebook has attempted to similarly mimic TikTok, with the 2018 roll out of Lasso, a nearly identical app to TikTok. “I love TikTok,” Spiegel said on stage Sunday. While Instagram boasts more than 1 billion monthly active users globally, third-party market research firm App Annie says TikTok has about 625 million monthly active users around the world. Snapchat has not reported its number of

Finding a place to invest capital is the biggest problem for wealthy investors and fund managers attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, according to one prominent U.K. finance player. On Monday, the International Monetary Fund forecast a global growth rate of 2.9% for 2019 and of 3.3% for 2020 — trimming previous estimates. “The biggest problem that the people I meet here have — the investors who give money to us — is ‘where do we put our money?’ “So they are buying infrast

In France, the figure is 23% and in Italy it is 14%, up 3 percentage points on last year. Speaking to CNBC’s Karen Tso in Davos, Bob Moritz, chair of PwC International, said U.K. consumers were also more confident. U.S. CEOs are also more confident in the U.K. this year, with 20% viewing the country as an attractive growth target, up 4 percentage points on 2019. More Australian bosses see the U.K. as a growth target, up 6 percentage points to 19%, while 11.5% of CEOs in Japan are also positive a

DAVOS, Switzerland — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is hoping that China and the United States will reach a broader trade agreement in the coming months, despite the recent signing of their “phase one” deal. “While we have had positive news with the U.S.-China ‘phase one’ trade deal, there’s obviously a lot more that still needs to be done,” Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, told CNBC Monday. “We would hope there would be a more comprehensive deal between the U.S. and China as the

Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner, Global Optimism, on Centre Stage during day two of Web Summit 2019 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. DAVOS, Switzerland — The architect of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement told CNBC on Monday that it cannot be easy for President Donald Trump to justify his approach to the climate crisis — both to himself and citizens of the world. How can he face citizens of the United States and of the world? Figueres’ comments come as policymakers and business lea

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the Democratic-led House of Representatives’ impeachment charges, describing the allegations that he had abused his power and obstructed Congress as affronts to the U.S. Constitution that must be rejected. “The Senate should speedily reject these deficient articles of impeachment and acquit the president,” an executive summary of the Republican president’s pre-trial brief said in Trump’s first comprehensive defense before the start of his Senate trial. T

The tails of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked at Boeing facilities at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, September 16, 2019. Boeing is in talks with banks to secure a loan of $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter, as the company faces rising costs stemming from two fatal 737 Max crashes. For example, Jefferies earlier this month forecast Boeing would issue $5 billion in debt this quarter. Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages

A Honolulu police vehicle enters the Nimitz Gate entrance to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Honolulu, Hawaii on Dec. 4, 2019. In Kansas City, Missouri, police said say at least two people were killed and 15 more were injured in a shooting outside a bar. Two people were found dead, a woman in the parking lot and and a man police believe to be the gunman. In a tweet, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas praised the actions of the security guard, who he said “appears to have kept the situation from

Today, more than two-thirds of college graduates have student debt, compared with less than 50% in the early 1990s. Americans are more burdened by student debt than they are by credit card or auto debt. Examine their budgets to see the sacrifices and anxiety that student debt leaves people facing for years, often decades, after they’ve left school. His monthly student loan bill made living in a city like Portland or Seattle, where he had hoped to spend his 20s, unaffordable. Still, his student l

Thousands of armed pro-gun activists from across the United States rallied outside Virginia’s capitol building on Monday to protest new restrictions proposed by state lawmakers, with authorities bracing for violence. People across the United States were focused on the Virginia gun issue, said Philip Van Cleave, leader of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is organizing Monday’s rally. “They don’t want us to fail in stopping this,” Van Cleave said on Sunday. Van Cleave has rejected calls