Oil Below Zero, U.K. Unemployment, Central Banks’ Spree: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Tuesday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• Central bank balance sheets are expanding to record levels due to their current buying spree, raising questions about how big they can get and whether those assets can ever be sold back to markets
• Oil went negative for the first time on concerns the world is running out of places to store crude. Traders were willing to pay $40 a barrel just to get somebody to take crude off their hands
• U.K. jobless claims increased last month as coronavirus pandemic began to have an impact on the labor market
• African businesses face ruin as lockdown stop economic activity, and as most governments were already facing budgetary constraints and grappling with rampant unemployment before the virus hit, they’ll be hard-pressed to provide bailouts
• A video call between EU leaders on Thursday may fall short of giving investors clarity over how it will finance recovery efforts, risking keeping borrowing costs high across peripheral euro-area countries
• One of the Arab world’s most isolated economies is fast succumbing to the coronavirus pandemic and the crash in oil prices
• Australia’s central bank sees GDP falling 10% in the first half of this year, and the jobless rate is also expected to hit 10% of the workforce
• For millions of Filipinos, money sent home by a relative working overseas can make the difference between hunger and survival. This year, those funds may not arrive
• The 10-year U.S. breakeven rate plunged back below 1% accompanied by a historic slump in crude oil prices. Here’s an explanation of why deflation is poison for virus-plagued economies
• India’s central bank has a number of policy options to draw upon to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic

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With assistance from Bloomberg