China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang has confirmed that China will continue to open up its economy and create more opportunities for foreign companies to do business in the country. Li stated that China’s economic growth will help boost the global economy even if the world situation changes. He made this announcement at the China Development Forum on Monday, as reported by Chinese state-run CCTV.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden held a press conference in response to the shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday morning (March 27) local time. Three children died, and three adults were injured before the assailant was shot and killed by police. Biden condemned the violent act and vowed to do more to stop gun violence, saying that it is dividing society.
In Honduras, Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio Garcia ordered Taiwanese officials to leave the embassy in Tegucigalpa within 30 days. This followed the Honduran President’s announcement to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with China. China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, confirmed that there were no special conditions for Honduras to formalize diplomatic relations with China.
In Germany, the Verdi union announced a nationwide strike on Monday, demanding higher wages. The strike affected plane, train, and bus travel, disrupting the plans of millions of travelers. All airports in Germany, except in Berlin, were affected.
Federal Reserve Vice President Michael Barr reassured the public that the US banking system is robust and flexible. He stated that the Fed is committed to ensuring that all deposits in US banks are safe and ready to use tools to help banks of all sizes if necessary to protect the financial system.
On the business front, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger revealed that the company will start laying off workers this week. This will be the first round of three, with the second and third rounds of layoffs taking place in April and before the summer, respectively, resulting in a total of 7,000 employees being laid off.
Finally, Bitcoin tumbled below $27,000 on Monday after US authorities filed a lawsuit against Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng for violating US federal law relating to commodity markets. As of 10:57 p.m. local time, Bitcoin was down 3.35% to $26,922.14 in trading on Coinbase.
Key economic data to be released today includes Australia’s February retail sales, France’s March business sentiment, and the US’s February wholesale inventory, January house prices from S&P/Case-Shiller, and the March Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board.