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"The outlook for the economy remains unusually uncertain."
On the day England begins a four-week (or more) lockdown to curb a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Bank of England presented that far from cheery forecast, as it becomes the latest central bank to pump further funds into its economy ahead of an expected deep recession.
"It depends on the evolution of the pandemic and measures taken to protect public health, as well as the nature of, and transition to, the new trading arrangements between the European Union and the United Kingdom," the BoE added on its outlook.
In the same breath, the UK finance minister Rishi Sunak has also further ramped up his $262 billion economic rescue program , with a furlough scheme extension and increased support for self-employed people, who will likely further struggle during this second lockdown.
Not wishing to state the obvious, but all eyes are still on the U.S. presidential election , and at the time of writing, the world is holding its breath, anxiously waiting for the results as the race tightens to a nail-biting margin and the incumbent Donald Trump threatens to fight the outcome – plenty of drama there for sure.
But as Democrat Joe Biden inches closer to the White House and is favored to oust Trump after recent victories in key states, global markets are already reacting, with Europe and Asia's bourses climbing and bonds extending their rally.
Scroll down to the end for more analysis on the biggest news of the past few days as we speak to Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who has been called "the best-known criminal lawyer in the world," about the potential legal implications of the vote.
Enjoy reading,
Arij Limam
Digital correspondent
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The Bank of England has increased its already huge bond-buying stimulus by a larger-than-expected 150 billion pounds ($196 billion) as it prepared for further economic damage from new coronavirus lockdowns and the looming risks associated with Brexit . The BoE has also said Britain's economy was set to shrink 2 percent during the fourth quarter and the economy would contract by a record 11 percent in total over 2020.
British finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday he was extending his coronavirus furlough scheme, which provides 80 percent of the pay of temporarily laid-off workers, until the end of March. Previously, this support covered only the month of November. As well as the furlough extension, Sunak also extended income support for self-employed people from November through January, costing an extra 7.3 billion pounds ($9.6 billion) according to the finance ministry.
Bitcoin's price rose to more than $14,900 on Thursday, its highest level since January 2018, amid volatility caused by the U.S. election and investor hopes that more** central bank stimulus** to support economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic will push up the value of digital assets.
China's top securities watchdog has said it backed the Shanghai Stock Exchange's (SSE) move to halt Ant Group's "hasty" initial public offering (IPO), to "protect the lawful rights and interests of investors, to ensure transparent, accurate information disclosure, as well as to uphold the fairness and justice in the market." Ant shares should have started trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai today in what would have been the biggest ever listing .
Ant group affiliate Alibaba Group , however, received good news today as it beat estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, as its core e-commerce business continued to grow following China's emergence from coronavirus lockdowns.
German airline Lufthansa has said it swung to a heavy loss of 1.97 billion euros ($2.31 billion) in its third quarter, but it confirmed its 2021 cash target despite what is likely to be a bleak winter due to increasing travel restrictions related to the pandemic. Revenue plunged 74 percent to 2.66 billion euros ($3.15 billion), it said.
British supermarket group, Sainsbury's , has said up to** 3,500 jobs** were at risk in a restructuring through which it will close 420 standalone Argos stores and shut down all in-store meat, fish and delicatessen counters. The chain said it aimed to find alternative roles for as many affected employees as possible.
The Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), which manages $50 billion for investments, has said it plans to stop lending money to fossil fuel projects by the end of 2030, according to Reuters. It also said it would align all new lending to the Paris Agreement on climate change by 2022 and would ensure that all investment portfolios achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Spanish wind energy group Iberdrola has said it plans to invest 75 billion euros ($88.8 billion) in its renewable energy production, grids and retail operations by 2025 to capitalize on growing global demand for clean power . Pursuing the opportunities created by the "energy revolution" facing the world's major economies should help to boost net profit by more than 40 percent from 2019 to 5 billion euros ($6 billion) in 2025, Iberdrola said.
International Business Machines Corp (IBM) on Thursday became the latest U.S. technology company to launch a cloud platform directed at telecom operators deploying 5G and signed up Nokia and Samsung as partners.
**CLICK: **
SWEDEN'S ABILITY TO AVOID LOCKDOWN IS THE ENVY OF EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS BUT IS IT WORKING?
WATCH: Espresso producers in Italy are calling for the product to be recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage item.
A national consortium says its cultural and economic importance needs to be protected from foreign competition that it says is incorrectly using the espresso name.
02:35
American lawyer and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz spoke to CGTN Europe about the legal implications of a very close U.S. presidential election outcome.
What is the latest on the U.S. elections results?
Well, we're entering a potential nightmare scenario where the voters don't decide the election, but nine justices of the Supreme Court, including one just nominated by one of the litigants, President Donald Trump, may decide the election as the Supreme Court decided in the year 2000 for George W. Bush. That's not consistent with democracy, but we may be on the road to that result.
What options have already been explored to contest this result?
I think the main option will be in Pennsylvania. If it turns out to be a very close election and Pennsylvania determines the outcome, that's only a possibility. And if the outcome is decided by ballot instead of mail-in ballots that are counted late, that's a constitutional issue that the Supreme Court has already voted on in a four-to-four decision because the newest justice was appointed. So that's the likely place and the likely scenario that we're facing.
And if that all comes to pass, for how long is this all going to play out?
As long as two months and as sure as a few weeks. But we're not going to probably know the outcome of any litigation until probably the middle or end of November. Now, all of this may not come to pass if it's not a close election.
Lots of governments in Europe take months and months to form an administration. Why would it matter if the U.S. takes a long time to decide who is rightfully president?
There are major differences. First of all, in the U.S., the administration of this president ends on January 20, no matter what happens, unless he is elected, he has to leave office, it's not like a parliamentary system where the prime minister can serve until a new prime minister is elected.
And second, we have a separate executive branch in most European countries, the legislature continues to operate and can govern even without a prime minister, but here, without a president, one entire branch of the government – the branch that determines foreign policy – doesn't have a head, so it's very different from the European situation.
As the UK starts its second COVID-19 lockdown today, like several other countries across Europe, employees are being told to work from home where possible, severely reducing the number of commuters.
Here's a look at just how big the decrease was in the second quarter of this year, during the first wave of lockdowns, compared with the same period last year.
