Here’s what you need to know:
U.S. stocks wobble in another turbulent day.
Policymakers have stepped in with promises to do whatever it takes to support their economies, and Senate Republicans are working on a $1 trillion economic stimulus bill. China is reporting that it has now contained the coronavirus’s spread, and the Japanese government is considering when to reopen schools — indications that the worst of the pandemic may be behind both of those countries.
That’s the good news. But the bad news is equally persistent: The number of cases of coronavirus infections in the United States continues to climb fast, California has imposed a “shelter in place” restriction on the state and a wave of jobless claims is only just beginning to swell.
On Friday, traders seemed unable to decide which was more important, and the S&P 500 swung from gains to losses and back again. The moves were small, however, a welcome respite from a month that has seen markets take some head-spinning turns.
Investors in Europe fared better, with stocks in Paris and Frankfurt up more than 3 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 was up nearly 2 percent.
It has been the worst week for U.S. markets in decades, and a month of selling that has brought major benchmarks back to levels last seen in 2017. A relentless barrage of troubling economic developments has battered stocks, bonds and oil prices.
The Labor Department on Thursday reported a surge in unemployment claims — 281,000 new claims — last week, one of the largest spikes on record. But Goldman Sachs analysts, in a research note, estimated that the claims for the week of March 15-21, which will be reported next Thursday, could hit more than two million.
“Even the most conservative assumptions suggest that initial jobless claims are likely to total over 1 million, which would easily surpass the highest level on record of 695,000 in 1982,” they wrote.
Tax Day moved to July 15.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that Tax Day will be moved to July 15 from April 15, giving all taxpayers an additional three months to file their returns.
Mr. Mnuchin said that the decision was made at the direction of President Trump. Previously, the Treasury Department allowed individuals and companies to defer tax payments to July 15 but were still required to file their returns in April.
The Treasury secretary encouraged all taxpayers who were expecting a refund to file on time so that they could get their money. Mr. Mnuchin has said that the delay will inject $300 billion of temporary liquidity into the United States economy.
The Fed announces more actions.
The Federal Reserve will backstop municipal money market mutual funds, helping to ensure that investment vehicles holding local debt can meet redemptions as investors cash out.
Using its emergency lending powers, the Fed will offer banks loans that are secured by assets from state and municipal money market mutual funds.
The move will “enhance the liquidity and functioning of crucial state and municipal money markets,” the Fed said in a statement Friday.
The measure is just the latest in a steady drumbeat of actions the Fed has taken to keep markets in the United States and around the world functioning normally as coronavirus fears prompt a rush to cash, tanking asset prices and clogging up the inner gears of the global financial system.
Earlier, the Fed took another step to make sure dollars continue flowing around the world, teaming up with five partner central banks to make short-term currency swap operations more frequent.
The Fed had improved the terms of its currency swap lines with The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank earlier this week. On Friday, the central banks have agreed to hold daily swap operations with 7-day maturities.
China lifts quarantines, aiming for a return to work.
China is removing barriers to the movement of people and goods in much of the country after announcing that new cases of local coronavirus transmissions had fallen to zero.
The government will take measures to speed up the return to work for millions of people, including getting rid of mandatory quarantines for workers in parts of the country now considered “low-risk,” Li Keqiang, China’s No. 2 official, said in a statement.
China is eager to get the economic engines of the world’s second-largest economy up and running again after damaging government data pointed to the possibility that it will face its first economic contraction since 1976.
Earlier this week, the government said it reached a record number of imported cases of the virus, just as local cases in China dropped to zero. Chinese authorities are now focusing on travelers who are arriving from abroad who could potentially start a second wave of cases.
Inbound and outbound tourism will continue to be suspended. On Thursday, China’s aviation regulator said that airlines were asked to reduce capacity on international flights arriving in China.
China’s push to return to work comes as governments around the world have begun to announce new policies this week to close businesses and restaurants and keep citizens indoors as they face a steep rise in coronavirus cases.
A torrent of job losses threatens to overwhelm the U.S. economy.
In an early sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on American workers, the Labor Department on Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in unemployment claims last week, one of the largest spikes on record.
The surge — 281,000 new claims — reflects a crushing new reality: Any hopes that businesses could keep their staffs largely intact have quickly evaporated.
Job losses have become so sensitive that the Trump administration is asking state labor officials to delay releasing the precise number of unemployment claims.
As employers at global conglomerates and kitchen-table offices anxiously grapple with the economy’s partial shutdown, tens of thousands of laid-off workers are jamming government websites and phone lines to apply for unemployment insurance.
In some states, overwhelmed systems collapsed under the weight.
Netflix and YouTube in Europe will reduce video quality to help internet.
European officials are raising alarms that the region’s internet infrastructure is beginning to feel the strain as millions of people are told to stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus.
In response, Netflix and YouTube said they would reduce the streaming quality of their services in Europe for the next 30 days. By switching to standard definition video rather than high definition, the services will not swallow up as much bandwidth, freeing up space.
The steps were announced after the European Union called on the companies to find ways to limit the amount of data needed for their services. In Europe, like the United States, internet services that people use at home are largely designed to handle short periods of high demand, mostly in the evenings. But now they are being relied upon for work video calls and other data-intensive daytime tasks that people typically perform at the office.
Coronavirus shipping delays are stalling construction.
When it comes to obtaining building materials, real estate developers often buy globally, not locally. But as the coronavirus spreads across the world, bringing countries to a standstill, the lack of access to overseas supplies is sending jitters through the construction industry.
Delayed so far at large-scale residential and commercial projects have been goods like marble, tile, paving stones, furniture, lighting equipment and elevators — and even models of buildings themselves, workers say.
Warning signs are appearing on multiple fronts. And the setbacks threaten jobs in an industry that employs millions of people. In many cases, no materials means no work, analysts say.
Catch up: Here’s what else is happening:
The value of Japan’s SoftBank corporation has cratered. On Friday afternoon in Tokyo, shares of the company — which has used its $100 billion Vision Fund to become a kingmaker in Silicon Valley — were trading at just under half of their value a month ago.
Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong, said on Friday it would cut its passenger capacity by 96 percent in April and May, operating three flights per week to 12 cities. Cathay Dragon, a regional airline, will be reduced to three flights per week to three cities and Hong Kong Express, a low-cost airline owned by Cathay, said it would shut down through April 30.
Tesla said on Thursday that it would temporarily shut down production at its factory in the San Francisco Bay Area starting Monday. The company was under increasing pressure from local government officials and workers in recent days to stop making cars.
Airbnb has been holding talks with investors about new funding as the spread of the coronavirus ravages its business ahead of its planned initial public offering. It began fielding unsolicited offers last week from venture capital firms, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Reporting and research were contributed by Alexandra Stevenson, Ben Dooley, Jason Karaian, Adam Satariano, C.J. Hughes, Ben Casselman, Niraj Chokshi, Daniel Victor and Kevin Granville.
2020-03-20 16:01:14Z
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/business/stock-market-today-coronavirus.html
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