Despite the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 3 March rate cut of 0.5 percent, which took the yield on 10-year Treasury notes to a historic lows, it failed to slow the stock markets’ slide. As Fed chair Jerome Powell was announcing the cut and answering reporters’ questions last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 603...
Tag: Mar 10 2020
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VIRUS VICTIMS: TOURISM, TRADE SHOWS, THEATERS, SPECIAL EVENTS
The Louvre, St. Peter’s Basilica, the La Scala opera house, and other cultural meccas of Europe are begging for visitors. Thousands of tourists have canceled airline tickets, hotel reservations, and plans to visit conferences and trade shows since the coronavirus outbreak struck northern Italy and began to travel across the continent. Some Paris restaurants and...
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REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS CATCH THE VIRUS
Retail landlords may see stores miss lease payments as shoppers avoid public places, cutting stores’ sales, profits, and cash flow. The FTSE Nareit Allk REITS Index, which includes all real estate investment trusts traded on major U.S. stock exchanges, dove 12.3 percent last week, a far worse performance than broad-based market index funds. “People were...
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CAR SALES GET SICK
Vehicle sales have plunged along with stock markets in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In February, China’s sales were down 80 percent compared to the same month in 2019. South Korea’s sales were at 20 percent – their lowest level since 2009. Germany’s sales fell 10.8 percent, Japan’s dropped 10.7 percent, and Italy’s 8.8. The...
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VIRUS TANGLES OCEAN SHIPPING
The intricate schedule of cargo ships carrying everything from apples to auto parts between the U.S. and Southeast Asia has been undone by the coronavirus. Loaded ships are backed up at Chinese ports, where workers have been furloughed to keep from spreading the illness, and businesses that would receive the goods have either remained closed...
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VIRUS HALTS PLANES, TRAINS, SHIPS
The virus panic has crushed airline travel, with passengers canceling reservations in droves and airlines canceling thousands of flights, including lucrative transatlantic hops. In late February, the industry estimated it had lost $30 billion in canceled flights to and from China alone, which by some estimates totaled 25,000 flights a day. Virgin Atlantic has reported...
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BANKS TAKE ANTI-VIRUS EMERGENCY STEPS
British and U.S. banks are testing the hardiness of their emergency operating and back-up systems, installing trading screens in employees’ homes, and pressing regulators to ease banking rules so banks can continue to operate without interruption if the coronavirus becomes a health pandemic. “You don’t want to wake up and find that the U.S. has...
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VIRUS INTERRUPTS PHARMA SUPPLY CHAIN
About 40 percent of generic drugs are made in India from ingredients that come from China. With Chinese industry only now beginning to revive, and India seeing its coronavirus outbreak growing, India has restricted exports of 26 drugs and drug ingredients, including several common antibiotics as well as acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. The...
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VIRUS PANIC HIKES RISK OF CORPORATE DEFAULTS
The coronavirus economic panic has raised the risk that more corporations will default on their debts, already at record levels, especially in the junk bond market. At the same time, the global economy is slowing and the credit market is tightening. That makes it more difficult for corporations to roll over debt. Also, as conditions...
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U.S. HOUSE BUDGETS $8.3 BILLION TO BATTLE VIRUS
The U.S. House of Representatives rushed through an $8.3 billion spending measure to fight the coronavirus outbreak and passed the measure to the Senate, which is expected to approve it immediately. The president has said he will sign it. The measure allots $2.2 billion to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the...