World Coronavirus Dispatch: Google ad sales bounce back sharply

Opening early helped Pakistan boost exports, German economy grows 8.2% in third quarter, UK house prices post biggest annual gain since 2015, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Google ad sales bounce back sharply from pandemic slump: Google’s advertising business staged a much stronger rebound from its coronavirus slump than expected in the latest quarter, boosting revenue and earnings of parent Alphabet well above what analysts had expected. 

Earnings from the search giant — which came just days after it was hit with a landmark antitrust lawsuit from the US government — showed that its core search business had returned to growth after the pandemic led the company to report its first-ever business contraction. Alphabet shares rose as much as 9 per cent higher in after-market trading. Along with a 3 per cent rally in earlier trading, the surprise recovery added more than $100bn to Alphabet’s stock market value on the day.

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Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 45,075,642

Change Over Yesterday: 593,975

Total Deaths: 1,182,010

Total Recovered: 30,334,814

Nations hit with most cases: US (8,946,876), India (8,088,851), Brazil (5,494,376), Russia (1,588,433) and France (1,327,853)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

IMF urges UK to keep spending to tackle pandemic crisis: The UK government should continue to spend on support for workers and businesses to weather the economic shocks of the pandemic and Brexit, and wait to put the public finances back on an even keel, the head of the IMF said. Concluding a regular review of the UK economy, the IMF acknowledged that the outlook for growth had darkened even in the two weeks since it published its most recent global forecasts. Read more here

Opening early helped Pakistan boost exports during pandemic: Pakistan’s decision to loosen pandemic restrictions early has helped the nation’s exports emerge stronger than its South Asian peers. Outbound shipments have grown at a faster pace than Bangladesh and India as textiles, which account for half of the total export, led the recovery, data show. Islamabad saw total shipments grow 7 percent in September, compared with New Delhi’s 6 percent and Dhaka’s 3.5 percent. Read more here

UK house prices post their biggest annual gain since 2015: UK house prices posted their biggest annual gain since 2015 this month as a revival in the housing market defied a wider economic malaise. Values climbed 5.8 percent from a year earlier to an average of 227,825 pounds ($294,000), Nationwide Building Society said Friday. The report comes a day after Bank of England data showed mortgage approvals reached a 13-year high. Read more here

Total cuts investment target, keeps dividend amid pandemic: Total trimmed its 2020 investment target on Friday after a sharp drop in third-quarter net profit, though the French oil and gas producer maintained its dividend. The company cut its investment target to $13 billion from $14 billion and said it was keeping a lid on operating costs too, even as it strives to grow in renewable energy and electricity markets. Read more here
 

German economy grows record 8.2 percent in third quarter: The German economy grew by a record 8.2 percent in the third quarter as higher consumer spending and exports helped Europe’s largest economy to recover partly from its worst-ever recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The jump in output from July to September was the biggest since the Federal Statistic Office began collecting quarterly growth data in 1970. Read more here
 

National Covid lockdown in England not inevitable, UK minister says: A national lockdown in England is not inevitable to contain an increase in Covid-19 cases, British foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday, adding that a localised approach could work if everyone stuck to the rules for their area. Britain has recorded over 20,000 new cases a day on average over the last week, and an average of over 200 deaths a day in the same timeframe. Read more here

Rebound in French and Spanish economies overshadowed by virus: The eurozone’s four biggest economies outstripped expectations for growth in the third quarter with a rebound from their coronavirus-induced recession earlier in the year, but output remained well below pre-pandemic levels. Quarterly growth rates in the three months to September ranged from 8.2 per cent in Germany to 18.2 per cent in France. Italy reported record quarterly growth of 16.1 per cent, while Spain’s output was up 16.7 per cent. Read more here

Specials 

Virtual influencers make real money while Covid locks down human stars

Virtual influencers were already gaining, well, influence long before Covid-19 struck. 

While most flesh-and-blood social-media stars are stuck at home, Seraphine can enjoy the sun by the beach. At a time when interacting safely with other humans can no longer be taken for granted, the appetite for digital spokespeople is accelerating. Brands are expected to spend as much as $15 billion annually on influencer marketing by 2022, up from $8 billion last year, according to Business Insider Intelligence. A growing slice of that money belongs to virtual influencers, and traditional marketing is experiencing serious disruption. Read more here

Big tech posts solid results while sounding caution over virus 

The world’s largest tech companies notched a blowout third quarter on Thursday, aided by a pandemic that spurred demand for smartphones, e-commerce and cloud computing for at-home workers. Less upbeat was the outlook for the rest of the year. In a closely watched measure of how four of the five biggest companies in the world are faring, Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple and Alphabet shrugged off fears over regulatory scrutiny and a frothing tech bubble to post earnings for the September quarter that beat projections. But shares in Apple, Amazon and Facebook dropped as the companies sought to temper expectations of sustained outperformance, warning that growth later this year and beyond will be affected by the ongoing coronavirus. A virus that sometimes benefited Big Tech at the outset also poses new threats to the sector as cases spread in winter and economic stimulus runs out. The share slump was another sign that estimates for the industry have grown overly optimistic. Read more here

At home: How to do school when motivation has gone missing

The school year is still young, yet parents and students alike may have noticed that academic motivation is already low. No surprise there. Whether school is remote, in-person or hybrid, many students have come to feel that, if this year were a meal, it would be all vegetables and no dessert. Gone, or hamstrung by screens, masks and plexiglass, are the encouraging company of classmates and teachers, the camaraderie of tackling tedious work alongside friends and the school day boost of exchanging a few words with one’s crush. Still here is the steady stream of assignments, assessments and lectures. With the bulk of the academic year yet to come, here’s what teenagers can do to equip themselves to continue to move forward during this difficult and frustrating time. Read more here