The amount paid out by big companies to their investors plummeted between April and June as firms cancelled or cut their dividends to conserve cash during the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
Total shareholder payouts made globally slumped by $108.1bn (£82.6bn) to $382.2bn, a fall of 22%.
A quarter (27%) of companies expected to pay a dividend in the second quarter slashed their payments, while half of that group cancelled the payout altogether:
France sees highest cases since May
After France reported almost 4,900 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its highest figure since May, the country’s health minister acknowledged there were risks in the surging infection levels.
“We are in a situation where there are risks,” Olivier Veran said in an interview with the Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper as the French prepare to return to work from the summer holidays.
He emphasised however that the situation was “not the same as it was in February” when the virus began spreading in France, with Covid-19 now circulating four times as much among the under 40s as the over 65s.
Testing had now been ramped up so France can undertake 700,000 tests a week, he added but acknowledged the risk was that young people could pass on the virus to the elderly.
Veran lamented that most infections were happening in “festive situations” attended by young people where social distancing was not respected.
However, he insisted a new nationwide lockdown was “not on the agenda” and unlike in the spring “we have more knowledge and means at our disposal” with targeted local measures the best action to take.
Veran said he was aware of speculation that the virus was now less deadly because it had mutated but said the argument “alas” had no scientific basis.
“The Covid that is spreading is the same that has killed 30,000 French. Only the profile of the patients has changed, they are younger and have fewer symptoms,” he said.
Boris Johnson moves to seize control of schools agenda after exams chaos
Boris Johnson attempted to reassert his grip over education after days of chaos by making a personal plea to parents to send their children back to the classroom in England in September.
The prime minister, who was criticised for going on holiday to Scotland during the A-level debacle, has spoken out to say the risk of contracting coronavirus in school is low and that it is damaging for children to be out of education for any longer.
His decision to personally front the return-to-school drive rather than Gavin Williamson, the beleaguered education secretary who has faced calls to quit over the fiasco, is part of a deliberate attempt to switch the “messenger” and win back the public, a senior Tory suggested.
Johnson’s intervention comes after the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said children could be at greater harm by staying at home than attending school.
Regarding the expected return on 1 September, Johnson said: “I have previously spoken about the moral duty to reopen schools to all pupils safely, and I would like to thank the school staff who have spent the summer months making classrooms Covid-secure in preparation for a full return in September.
“We have always been guided by our scientific and medical experts, and we now know far more about coronavirus than we did earlier this year. As the chief medical officer has said, the risk of contracting Covid-19 in school is very small and it is far more damaging for a child’s development and their health and wellbeing to be away from school any longer.
“This is why it’s vitally important that we get our children back into the classroom to learn and to be with their friends. Nothing will have a greater effect on the life chances of our children than returning to school.”
Trump authorizes plasma treatment for coronavirus amid attacks on FDA
After expressing frustration at the slow pace of approval for coronavirus treatments, and causing controversy by publicly linking the Food and Drug Administration to the “deep state” conspiracy theory, Donald Trump on Sunday announced the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma, a method which has been used to treat flu and measles, for Covid-19 patients.
‘The haves and the have-nots’: how Covid revealed Florida’s wealth gapRead more
Covid-19 has killed more than 175,000, cratered the economy and upended the president’s hopes of re-election. The White House has sunk vast resources into an expedited process to develop a vaccine, known as Operation Warp Speed, which aides hope will produce an “October surprise” before the presidential election on 3 November.
Making the announcement at a press conference, and with FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn standing with him, Trump added to days of White House officials suggesting politically motivated delays in approving a vaccine and therapeutics.
“This is what I’ve been looking to do for a long time,” Trump told reporters on Sunday at the White House. “I’m pleased to make a truly historic announcement in our battle against the China virus that will save countless lives.”
