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FINANCIAL MARKETS
Asian shares extend losses as toll from pandemic surges
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian markets have started the week with fresh losses as countries report surging numbers of infections from the coronavirus that has prompted shutdowns of travel and business in many parts of the world.
Japan's benchmark fell nearly 3% and other regional markets are mostly lower. Shares in Australia surged 7% after the government promised more recession-fighting stimulus.
The Kospi in South Korea reversed early losses, gaining 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite shed 0.7%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4%.
Shares fell in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. India's Sensex fell 2%.
Hopes that a $2 trillion relief bill would ease the economic havoc brought by the pandemic fell flat on Friday, as the major indexes ended lower. The S&P 500 still gained 10.3% last week, its biggest weekly win since 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average's 12.8% weekly gain was its biggest since 1938. But the market is still down 25% from the peak it reached a month ago.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FEDERAL GUIDELINES EXTENDED
President Trump extends stay at home for another 30 days
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is extending federal guidelines recommending people stay home and away from one another for another 30 days as the coronavirus continues to spread across the country.
Trump made the announcement during a Rose Garden briefing. The guidelines originally tagged as “15 days to slow the spread” had been set to expire Monday.
Trump had said last week he hoped to have the country “re-opened” by Easter. But public health experts sounded the alarm, saying a rollback would speed transmission, making the situation worse.
The federal guidelines recommend that older people and those with preexisting conditions stay home and away from other people, and also recommends that all Americans avoid social gatherings, work from home and steer clear of bars and restaurants.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-INSTACART
Instacart workers seek strike as jobs get busier, riskier
NEW YORK (AP) — A possible strike by Instacart workers highlights the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the grocery delivery business, where workers are worried about their safety as they try to meet a surge in demand for online groceries.
A group called the Gig Workers Collective is calling for a nationwide walk-out Monday. They've been asking Instacart to provide workers with hazard pay and protective gear, among other demands. Instacart said Sunday it would soon provide workers with a new hand sanitizer upon request and outlined changes to its tip system. The group said the measures were too little too late.
While some workers say they intend to join the strike for at least a day — or have stopped filling orders already for fear of getting the virus — other, newer workers are content to have a paying job at a time of mass layoffs in other industries.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHINA-WUHAN REVIVES
City at center of China's virus outbreak gradually reviving
WUHAN, China (AP) — Shopkeepers in the city at the center of China’s virus outbreak are reopening but customers are scarce as authorities lift more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months.
Over the weekend, Wuhan’s bus and subway service resumed, easing curbs that cut most access to the city of 11 million people on Jan. 23 as China fought the coronavirus. The train station reopened, bringing thousands of travelers to the city, the manufacturing and transportation hub of central China.
Some 70% to 80% of shops reopened but many imposed limits on how many people could enter. Shopkeepers set up dispensers for hand sanitizer and checked customers for signs of fever.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TOYOTA
Toyota halts production in Europe
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. says its auto plants in Europe will halt production, at least until April 20, because of the new coronavirus outbreak.
Its European plants are in France, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Turkey and Portugal.
A Toyota spokeswoman says all the automaker’s plants in China resumed normal production today.
Japan’s top automaker also has stopped production in Russia, through Friday. It earlier halted assembly lines in North America and has partially shut down production in Japan, South America and parts of Asia.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-OLYMPICS-SPONSORSHIPS
Vis Extends sponsorships
UNDATED (AP) — Visa has told its global roster of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls that their sponsorships will be extended into 2021 after the Tokyo Games were postponed, providing some financial certainty amid the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The credit card giant's Team Visa features 96 athletes across 27 sports, including soccer star Megan Rapinoe, gymnast Simone Biles — a quadruple gold medalist at the Rio de Janeiro Games — and two-time defending 800-meter Olympic champion David Rudisha.
The athletes were contacted Friday to be given the option of extending their sponsorship terms with the company. It is the first clear commitment by a major sponsor to extend such sponsorship support after the unprecedented year delay of the Olympics was announced last week by the IOC.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-AUSTRALIA
Australia announces plan to subsidize businesses hurt by virus
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has announced a 130 billion Australian dollar ($80 billion) plan to subsidize businesses damaged by the new coronavirus to pay to up to six million staff a minimum wage to keep them in the work force for the next six months.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says businesses that have lost 30% of revenue because of the COVID-19 outbreak would be eligible for the subsidy, which is part of what he describes as a hibernation strategy for the economy.
The government would pay AU$750 a week of employees’ wages, which is equivalent to the minimum wage and 70% of Australia’s median wage. The government expects half of Australia’s employees will be subsidized.
The government will have to recall Parliament to approve the spending.
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