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"The polls are proving wrong again."
That's currency analyst Giles Coghlan, at HYCM, a trading services company based in London, who remarked on the volatile stock markets across Europe and the U.S. today as America's election results continue to trickle in.
On the the tech-heavy Nasdaq bourse, futures prices rose by nearly 4 percent, with traders looking further ahead. The crude oil price also climbed through the night as the tight race, expected by many on the trading floors, rumbled on.
Two specific winners from the night were ride-hailing firms** Uber and Lyft, **which made combined gains of $13 billion on the markets as voters in California voted to classify drivers for the app-based services as contractors, not employees.
But, although it might not be obvious from some news channels today, there is other news we need to talk about.
One such story is the sales growth reported by** BMW** – which centered around its luxury market in China. Another German car firm, Volkswagen , has signed a deal with a Greek island community to turn it into a full-electric vehicle area.
Let's not forget that when we turn our eyes back home from the U.S. there will still be a pandemic. Scroll down to today's video to look at the measures being enforced in Hungary.
Happy reading,
Patrick Atack
Digital business correspondent
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The United Nations is seeking to purchase more quality "relief" items from Chinese suppliers, including some "innovative" products and services
, an official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in Shanghai
. The UNHCR purchases $1 billion worth of goods every year to aid and protect refugees across the world. But Chinese suppliers only account for 3 percent of the total relief items purchased.
German car maker BMW was reserved in revealing profit hopes for the remainder of the year, despite sales growth of 10 percent driven by luxury cars in China . "If the pandemic takes an even more serious course and the global economy experiences a perceptible downturn, the risk exposure could be considerable, particularly on the demand side," the company said.
Cross-border e-commerce in China is on track for growth this year despite global lockdowns that constrained shipping capacity and supply chain operations in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to government figures.
** Japan, the U.S., and Australia are the key import partners**
, with food, cosmetics and clothing leading the products imported.
Lockdown in Europe is returning for many citizens this winter and hospitality businesses that will be forced to operate "al fresco" are preparing by buying electric heaters for outside spaces. **Mitchells Butlers owns pub, bar and restaurant brands across the UK and told the ****Financial Times **
it plans to invest $1.7 million in outdoor heaters . Liangdi, a Changzhou-based manufacturer, said its output has doubled on the year and it has been able to extend its workforce by 30 percent.
Beijing has explained the postponement of the historic Ant Group IPO was made to protect investors and capital markets. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the government hopes to "better maintain the stability of the capital markets and to protect investors' interests."
One of the biggest names on the UK high street, department store ** Marks Spencer, has recorded its first quarterly loss since it began to trade publicly 94 years ago** . It lost at least $22 million in the three months ending in late September, as its key clothing and homecare sales fell by 21 percent - after falling more than 60 percent in the first quarter.
One of ** Greece's many small islands announced a completely green transport system, after receiving backing from German car giant Volkswagen** . Astypalea, one of 12 islands in the Dodecanese archipelago of the Aegean Sea, has a population of just 1,300. At present, public transport is limited to two buses a day, which run on diesel and islanders generally use private cars to get about. VW will provide electric vehicles, charging points and ride-sharing services.
In China, VW is launching two models of its ID electric SUV as it aims to take on Tesla in the world's largest auto market . The cars are made in conjunction with VW's local partners, FAW Group andSAIC Motor.
As the world waits for the results of the U.S. presidential election, UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has said he has confidence in the prospect of a new U.S.-UK trade deal, whatever the outcome. "I'm confident that the relationship will be in good shape and ** I'm confident there's an excellent free trade deal there to be done, there's been a lot of progress so far** ," he told the UK's
Sky News
.
Renewed lockdown restrictions in the Republic of Ireland have started to take a toll on employment numbers,** with 85,000 more people claiming temporary COVID-19 jobless benefits. Limits on retail and leisure sectors have pushed the number above 300,000.**
Luxury sports car brand Ferrari has raised its full-year profit expectations after it beat sales forecasts for the third quarter. The company now expects to make $1.3 billion this year – which was previously seen as the absolute ceiling of profit expectation.** CEO Louis Camilleri said the results confirm the brand is "now running on all cylinders."**
French insurance giant AXA said it is injecting $1.1 billion to bolster its business insurance XL arm , after COVID-19 claims make an impact on the firm's profit. Falling revenues also led the firm to increase its renewal prices by as much as 20 percent.
The Spanish government has agreed to bail outthe Air Europa airline to the tune of $556 million , from a fund set aside by Madrid to help key sectors recover from the pandemic. In return for the loan, the government will now get a say in Air Europa's agreed acquisition by British Airways and Iberia owner IAG.
CLICK: HOW AUSTRIA'S CAPITAL FACED UP TO TERROR - PICTURES AND VIDEO
WATCH: Hungary set for new lockdown measures
02:20
Paul Stevens, a Chatham House fellow specializing in energy and environment, spoke to CGTN Europe about Saudi Aramco's poor third-quarter results (as we reported on Tuesday).
How do you rate Aramco's latest quarter?
They've not done too badly. They've suffered in the same way that all the oil companies have suffered, because the pandemic has led to a dramatic fall in oil demand, which in turn has led to a dramatic fall in the oil price. But they're not going to go bankrupt.
What does this loss mean, from Saudi Arabia's viewpoint?
From a Saudi point of view, it's not the profits that matter, it's the oil revenue that they get.
The fall in oil price, it's been around $40 a barrel for a month or so, is very important because Saudi Arabia has a fiscal break-even price, according to the IMF, of around $90 dollars a barrel.
And what that means is that they're not going to be able to maintain their spending, which they need to do in order to be able to satisfy their population.
Despite the loss, the company intends to pay its dividend ** – even when others aren't. Why?**
Well, it's very simple ... they only went on to the stock market last year and so they're desperately trying to keep their shareholders happy.
But also … a lot of the Saudi shareholders borrowed significant amounts of money to buy the shares, from the Saudi banking system. So if the share price goes to too low, the Saudi banking system is effectively sitting on a loss of not very good debts.
