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TEHRAN — Iran said on Sunday it will allow "low-risk" economic activities to resume from April 11 as its daily coronavirus infection rates slowed for a fifth straight day.

      "Restarting these activities does not mean we have abandoned the principle of staying at home," President Hassan Rouhani said at a meeting of Iran's anti-coronavirus task force.

      The president, whose country has been battered by US economic sanctions, did not specify what qualified as "low risk" activities but said bans would remain on schools and large gatherings.

      A "gradual" return of "low-risk" economic activity will be permitted from next Saturday in the provinces and from April 18 in Tehran, Rouhani said.

      The coronavirus pandemic claimed another 151 lives over the past 24 hours, raising Iran's declared death toll to 3,603, health ministry spokesman Kianouche Jahanpour said on Sunday at his daily press briefing.

      He also reported 2,483 new cases of COVID-19 infection, the fifth straight day of declining numbers, compared to a record number of 3,111 infections on March 31.

      Iran, the Middle East country worst affected by the pandemic which originated in China, has declared a total of 58,226 infections, a figure which some foreign experts suspect is an underestimate.

      After resisting a lockdown or quarantine measures, Iran imposed an intercity travel ban late last month.

      Saturday should have marked a return to regular activity in Iran after a two-week holiday for the Persian New Year.

      "There have been a lot of people out on the streets the last two days. It's terrifying," a Tehran housewife, Zohreh, told AFP.

      Jahanpour at his briefing criticised "those who think that the situation is normal now that the holidays are over, because it is not normal".

LONDON — The price of crude oil surged again on Friday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it would talk to non-members, notably Russia, giving investors hope that they will stop a price war which has created market chaos along with crushed demand because of the coronavirus.

      The Saudi-led OPEC group of oil producers and their allies will meet on Monday via video conference, a source close to the cartel said.

      "There's certainly a lot of optimism that a deal is going to be done," OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.

      Global stock markets fell following another set of devastating American employment numbers, gloomy eurozone services data and news that the number of declared COVID-19 infections had hit one million worldwide.

      The US economy shed 701,000 jobs in March amid the damage inflicted by the coronavirus shutdowns -- several times the market's consensus forecast --  while the unemployment rate surged to 4.4 per cent, the Labour Department reported.

       'Likely to worsen'

      "The markets are digesting a larger-than-expected drop in March employment, which is likely to worsen on the heels of the past two weeks of spikes in jobless claims that approached the 10 million mark," said analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage.

      OPEC's move sparked fresh speculation of an oil production cut, one day after US President Donald Trump sparked a record crude price rally by hinting that Russia and Saudi Arabia planned to end their price war with a sharp reduction in output.

      According to a Russian source cited by the TASS agency, US officials have also been invited to take part in the meeting.

      "It is in all parties' interests to agree to a significant cut," said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

      But even a 10 million barrels per day reduction "is unlikely to be enough to push prices up much higher from here with demand on the floor", Hewson cautioned.

      Friday's oil price surge extended a dizzying recovery seen on Thursday.

      In the runup to the upswing, oil prices had plunged this year as the market reeled from the effects of the new coronavirus pandemic, with WTI shedding around 65 per cent of its value in the first quarter.

      A price war, triggered last month by Saudi after Moscow refused to tighten oil supply to counteract the sharp drop in demand, added to the bloodbath.

      'Recession knocking'

      Equity investors remain hostage to uncertainty as they try to gauge the long-term economic impact of the pandemic, which is widely expected to plunge the planet into recession.

      "The short-term impact of the coronavirus tragedy is straightforward: a complete shutdown of businesses worldwide is taking a heavy toll on the global economy," Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP.

      "The coronavirus outbreak hits all layers of the population, has had an impact on each and every single business regardless of their size, and paralyzed each and every household regardless of their wealth," she added.

      "You do not need to be an economist or an expert to predict a meaningful recession knocking on the door."

      Investors hoped that with trillions of dollars pledged in government support, wild volatility seen at the start of the crisis would give way to some form of stability.

      But key stock markets in Europe, after posting strong gains last week, posted hefty weekly losses going in the weekend, with US stock markets on track to follow suit.

 BAGHDAD — As crude prices plunge, Iraq's oil sector is facing a triple threat that has slashed revenues, risks denting production and may spell trouble for future exports.

      So what are the challenges facing the only significant industry in Iraq, as global oil prices fall to around $25 a barrel?

       How will Iraq pay the bills?

      The price crash means Iraq's monthly crude revenues were slashed by nearly half from February to just $2.99 billion in March.

      The second-biggest crude producer in the OPEC oil cartel, Iraq pays international oil companies (IOCs) about $3 billion quarterly to extract its crude. With oil so cheap, the government is desperately looking to cut costs and delay payments.

      Last week, the Basra Oil Company -- the state-owned firm coordinating production in the oil-rich southern province -- asked IOCs to accept a delay in six months' worth of payments and cut work budgets by 30 per cent, according to letters seen by AFP.

      "A delay in first quarter payments is necessary, and we asked for the second quarter just in case," said Khaled Hamza Abbas, BOC's assistant director and a signatory to the letter, telling AFP that oil companies had yet to respond.

      But IOCs are already taking independent action, according to internal letters seen by AFP.

      Oil superpower ExxonMobil immediately asked sub-contractors to "reduce overall cost" with other firms asking suppliers for discounts.

      "IOCs are cash-strapped," a source at the main operator in the south told AFP.

      The trouble does not stop there.

      IOCs expense Iraq at the end of each quarter for what it cost to extract crude, and the Iraqi government pays them in oil.

      "With the lower prices, the government would have to use virtually all its crude to pay oil companies and would have barely enough to sell," a top Iraqi official told AFP.

      Iraq relies on oil revenues for more than 90 per cent of state expenses. Its 2020 budget was based on an estimated barrel price of $56, more than twice the current rate.

      How is coronavirus affecting production?

      The spread of the novel coronavirus has severely disrupted rotations of key foreign nationals working at Iraq's oil fields, risking a drop in the usual 4.5 million barrel per day (bpd) production.

      To stem the spread of the respiratory illness, Iraq has shut its airports and imposed a countrywide lockdown until at least April 19, although many expect an extension.

      The Gharraf field in Dhi Qar province, which has produced up to 100,000 bpd, is offline after last month's evacuation of dozens of Malaysian workers by operator Petronas over COVID-19 fears, according to a source at the province's state-owned oil company.

      Most foreign oil workers live on the fields in Basra, and are currently stuck there beyond their normal six- to eight-week rotations due to travel bans.

      "We're seeking approvals for an exemption for foreign staff so that we can secure the rotating teams. These companies have internal rules and you can't keep the teams here for more than two months," said BOC's assistant director, Abbas.

      A source from a major European oil firm operating in Basra told AFP a halt to foreign staff rotations would be a bigger threat to production than payment delays.

      Britain's BP, too, would have to trim production if 4,000 British nationals working in the south could no longer travel.

      "There are no two ways about it," a source with knowledge of BP's operations told AFP.

      Who will buy Iraqi oil?

      The third threat is a global drop in oil demand for the first time in a decade, with the International Energy Agency expecting 2020 demand to decrease by 90,000 bpd, a sharp downgrade from forecasts it would grow by more than 800,000 bpd.

      "It has no equal in the history that we see such a strong decline in demand and a huge massive overhang of supply at the same time," IEA director general Fatih Birol told AFP.

      Two countries facing shrinking demands are India and China, where Iraq sells "the lion's share" of its crude, according to geopolitical analyst Noam Raydan.

      China, where the COVID-19 strain first emerged, is struggling through a huge economic slump and India just entered a three-week lockdown.

      April would be a make-or-break month, said Raydan, but the outlook is bleak considering Iraq's main rival in Asian markets, Saudi Arabia, intends to flood the oil market this month just as OPEC production limits expire.

      "Countries are stocking up on cheap oil. So even if we don't feel it now, the real problem will come in the next months when no one is buying," the Iraqi official said.

By Maya Gebeily

SINGAPOR — Oil rebounded strongly in Asian trade on Thursday on hopes for a US intervention to end a Saudi-Russia price war.

      Analysts said however the market remained hobbled by low demand because of business shutdowns amid the spread of the novel coronavirus, the grounding of air travel and other social distancing measures put in place to contain the outbreak.

      In afternoon Asian trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading 7.14 per cent higher at $21.76 a barrel.

      International benchmark Brent crude advanced 8.21 per cent to $26.77 a barrel.

      Both benchmarks fell to their lowest levels in 18 years on Monday, with WTI briefly dipping below $20 a barrel.

      "Oil prices are higher on news that President (Donald) Trump will hold a round table discussion with the country's top oil executives," said AxiCorp global market strategist Stephen Innes.

      The meeting is "presumably to discuss possible coordinated production curtailment measures in an attempt to buy some time for the struggling US shale industry," he said in a note.

      Innes said that Trump's "acknowledging of the problems in the oil patch is critical" as he could be instrumental in resolving the price war that has led to the supply glut.

      Phillip Futures in Singapore said oil prices were also supported by "reports that Russia does not want to boost its crude oil production in the current environment" and traders expecting US shale producers to "come under pressure to cut production".

      ANZ Bank said US crude prices were also being bolstered by reports that the US energy department might rent space in the country's emergency oil reserves to local producers.

      "This would help drillers store excess crude," it said.

      Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter, on Wednesday ramped up its price war with Russia, boosting crude oil supply to record levels.

      State giant Aramco offered 18.8 million barrels on a single day despite pressure from Washington.

SAN FRANCISCO — Xerox on Tuesday dropped its unwelcomed bid to buy computer and printer maker HP for about $36 billion, blaming market turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

      The end of the hostile takeover campaign came less than two months after the imaging and copying giant upped by about 10 per cent a bid rejected by the HP board of directors last year.

      "The current global health crisis and resulting macroeconomic and market turmoil caused by COVID-19 have created an environment that is not conducive to Xerox continuing to pursue an acquisition of HP," Xerox said in a statement.

      "While it is disappointing to take this step, we are prioritising the health, safety and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and other stakeholders, and our broader response to the pandemic."

      California-based HP had rejected the last Xerox bid as too low and contended that the takeover campaign was being driven by corporate raider Carl Icahn, who has a stake in Xerox.

      "His large ownership position in Xerox means that his interests are not aligned with those of other HP shareholders," an HP statement said in January.

      "Due to Mr Icahn's ownership position, he would disproportionately benefit from an acquisition of HP by Xerox at a price that undervalues HP."

      Xerox on Tuesday said it was also dropping its effort to elect a new slate of HP board members who had been expected to support the takeover deal.

      The current HP was created by the 2016 breakup of Hewlett-Packard, leaving the HP consumer division making printers and PCs, spinning off HP Enterprise for cloud computing and servers.

      "There remain compelling long-term financial and strategic benefits from combining Xerox and HP," Connecticut-based Xerox said in its statement on Tuesday.

NEW YORK — Wall Street stocks closed a historically bad quarter on a weak note on Tuesday, while European and Asian bourses gained following better Chinese economic data.

       The Dow dropped almost two per cent more to finish at 21,917.16, a loss of more than 23 per cent for the quarter, its worst since 1987.

      "Although stocks settled down this week following several weeks of wild swings, the key trend indicators continue to be bearish, and the benchmarks might still 'retest' their lows in the coming weeks," warned Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman.

      Earlier, European stock markets got a boost with solid Chinese manufacturing data that pointed to signs of revival after much of the economy shuttered due to the coronavirus -- a condition now hammering other economies.

      China's Purchasing Managers' Index, a key gauge of factory activity, jumped to 52.0 from a record low 35.7 the month before. Any figure above 50 is considered to point to growth.

      "Chinese factory data overnight gave a flicker of hope that the world's second largest economy is firing back up, despite large parts of the world grinding to a halt," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta.

      The Chinese data initially helped oil prices rebound from 18-year lows struck on Monday as measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak have hit demand. 

      But European benchmark Brent crude began to fall once again and finished nearly flat, although the main US contract, WTI, mustered a gain.

      An ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has also put downward pressure on prices.

      "Until markets can start to understand how bad the demand shock will be since practically the whole world is on lockdown, most oil rallies will get faded," said analyst Edward Moya at OANDA.

       'Bear market rally'

      While the number of infections and deaths continues to rise, some observers believe traders are getting used to the new normal, with some suggesting the worst of the stock selloffs are over.

      Trillions of dollars pledged to offset the economic impact of the deadly virus have provided a semblance of stability to world markets, which were initially pummelled by the rapid spread of the disease, which has forced swathes of the planet -- and the global economy -- into lockdown.

      But others are more sceptical.

      "It is becoming obvious that lockdown measures around the world will need to be extended, and that will likely make everyone's GDP decline forecast a little uglier," said OANDA's Moya.

      "Despite today's stock market resilience, this is still probably a bear market rally," he added. 

SINGAPORE — Oil fell in Asian trade on Wednesday as a rally lost steam with Saudi Arabia flooding the market with crude and the escalating coronavirus pandemic sapping global demand.

      Prices plunged to their lowest levels in 18 years on Monday but staged a strong rebound the following day as investors took heart from moves by policymakers to support the virus-hit world economy.

      In afternoon Asian trade Wednesday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 1.66 per cent to $20.14 a barrel after trading higher in the morning.

      Brent, the international benchmark, tumbled 3.42 per cent to $25.45 a barrel in volatile trade.

      A price war between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia has led to a supply glut at a time when world economies are being hammered by business shutdowns and a halt in air travel due to the disease, which has killed more than 42,000 worldwide.

      ANZ Bank commodities analysts said ship-tracking data showed Saudi Arabia had boosted crude exports over the past week from seven million barrels per day to around nine million barrels.

      This suggests that the biggest producer in the OPEC cartel is on track to reach a record 12.3 million barrel a day in April, they said in a note.

      Ignoring requests from US President Donald Trump to slow down, Saudi Arabia is "intent on flooding the world with oil when there's nary a demand," said AxiCorp global markets strategist Stephen Innes.

      Innes warned of an "unparalleled oil demand destruction" as countries tip into recession.

      As of the end of March, oil prices have tanked by more than 60 per cent from levels seen at the start of the year.

      "Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile (first) quarter with their biggest losses in history," said Sukrit Vijayakar, an analyst with Trifecta Consultants.

LONDON — Britain's supermarkets experienced their busiest month on record in March as the coronavirus outbreak saw shoppers empty shelves, industry data showed on Tuesday.

      Total grocery sales, including in-stores and online, rocketed by a record 20.6 per cent to a new high of £10.8 billion ($13.4 billion, 12.1 billion euros) in the four weeks to March 22 compared with a year earlier, said retail research firm Kantar.

      Alcohol sales jumped 22 per cent, while cupboard ingredients and frozen foods combined surged 28 per cent, Kantar said in a statement.

      The figures do not include the impact of the nationwide lockdown -- that had been widely expected and the UK government implemented it on March 23 in a bid to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

      "Retailers and their staff have been on the front line as households prepare for an extended stay at home," said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar's head of retail and consumer insight.

      British food stores have been inundated with shoppers, with people panic buying toilet paper and long-life items such as pasta and canned goods.

      Online shopping, a popular choice in Britain, has meanwhile been disrupted for weeks, with long waiting times for scheduled deliveries and some supermarkets' websites crashing owing to the high demand.

      "Government advice may have been to get groceries delivered if possible but limited delivery slots meant that only 14.6 per cent of households received an online delivery in the past four weeks, up from 13.8 per cent in March 2019 but probably well below actual demand," McKevitt noted.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday its members have agreed to renew arrangements ensuring the fund has lending firepower, especially as the coronavirus pandemic creates a demand for financing.

      "This action is part of a broader package on IMF resources and governance reform that will help maintain the IMF's lending capacity of $1 trillion," the fund said in a statement.

      The executive board of the Washington-based development lender on Monday approved the bilateral borrowing arrangements to take effect on January 1, 2021, just after the current round expire, which will be in place for three years but can be extended through the end of 2024.

      The arrangements currently in place provide $450 billion from 40 countries, and add to the IMF's other resources including usual quotas provided by each member, as well as financing under the New Arrangements to Borrow which will be doubled to just over $500 billion.

      IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week said the global economy already has entered recession due to the sudden stop in activity caused by the pandemic and more than 80 countries, mostly of low incomes, have requested emergency aid.

      Emerging markets, which have suffered an exodus of capital of more than $83 billion in recent weeks, face financing needs of $2.5 trillion, which will require some outside assistance, she said.

SHANGHAI — Huawei said on Tuesday it had sustained solid growth in its global businesses in 2019 despite a US campaign to isolate the Chinese tech giant, but warned of its "most difficult year" ahead.

      The stark warning came as a result of stringent US sanctions, with their impact worsened by the fallout from the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

      Huawei — the world's top supplier of telecom networking equipment and number-two smartphone maker behind Samsung — said group revenue expanded 19.1 per cent last year to 858 billion yuan ($120 billion), a nearly identical growth rate to that seen in 2018.

      Net profit last year, however, grew 5.6 per cent, compared with 25 per cent in 2018, as a result of the US sanctions.

      Eric Xu, the firm's rotating chairman, said: "After Huawei was added to the US entity list on May 16... we had to step up investment in research and development to fix the gaps."

      "All of a sudden, a large number of suppliers could not supply to us, and we had to rebuild our supply chain," he told a press conference Tuesday.

      "Under such circumstances, it was impossible for us to continue maintaining as high a growth rate in our net profit as in 2017 and 2018."

      But he noted the company turned in a strong performance "despite enormous outside pressure".

      He warned, however, that 2020 would be Huawei's "most difficult year", given that it would be subject to entity-listing for the full year.

      While the firm had substantial stockpiles to respond to customer needs last year, these are running low and 2020 would be a "test of Huawei's supply continuity programme".

      On top of that, the company has to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought about global economic decline, financial turmoil and slowing market demand, Xu said.

      He added it would be tough to make a forecast on the company's full-year outlook for now.

       $10 billion hit

      Huawei has been under relentless pressure from the Washington, which has lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company's telecom gear over security concerns, in the shadow of a wider US-China trade conflict.

      Washington last year said it would blacklist Huawei from the US market and from buying crucial American components, though it has extended a series of reprieves to allow US businesses time to adjust.

      The US blacklisting could prevent Huawei from getting hold of key hardware and software including smartphone chips, and exclude it from the Google Android operating system, which equips the vast majority of smartphones in the world.

      The company has already seen a hit to consumer business revenue outside of China, which Xu said amounted to at least $10 billion.

      Asked about reports that the White House could impose new restrictions on Huawei, Xu said he believed the Chinese government would not "allow Huawei to be slaughtered by others or stand by without helping".

      If China retaliated, opening a "Pandora's box", this would unleash a devastating chain of destruction on the global industry chain, he warned.

      Huawei, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, shipped more than 240 million smartphones, up 16 per cent, last year.

      Overall, Huawei's consumer-segment revenue grew 34 per cent last year.

      The US has expressed suspicions that Huawei equipment could contain security loopholes that allow China to spy on global communications traffic.

      But the company has repeatedly denied the accusation, saying Washington has never provided any evidence of the claim.

      Last month, US lawmakers passed legislation offering $1 billion to help telecom carriers "rip and replace" equipment from Huawei and fellow Chinese tech firm ZTE.

      Huawei last week unveiled its flagship P40 smartphone, which uses no Android apps.

      It is progressively eliminating Google software from its phones after having shipped its first Google-free model last year.

      The company now faces the challenge of creating an alternative mobile phone ecosystem, which tech analysts say will be extremely difficult given the worldwide dominance of Android and Apple's iOS.