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Special Edition: The Latest on the Coronavirus Pandemic |
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Compiled by Risk and Compliance Journal and WSJ Pro Staff |
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Good evening. Investors found nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide Wednesday, selling off stocks, bonds and commodities. Cash may be king again—and the only haven. Businesses began the tough task of cutting hours, suspending or laying off employees. Here's where things stand: The Dow fell 6% to 19903, dipping below 20000 for the first time since early 2017. Trading was halted briefly this afternoon—the fourth time this month. Activity for some individual stocks, such as Alaska Air Group Inc. and Darden Restaurants Inc. was paused as well. Saudi and Russian plans to increase output while governments restrict travel and put lockdowns into effect decimated oil markets. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 13% to $24.88 the lowest level since May 2003. The Treasury department wants the authority to backstop money markets. The Senate passed a bill that would provide free testing for Covid-19—the disease caused by the virus—and require smaller employers to provide at least two weeks of paid sick leave to many of those affected. Detroit automakers are temporarily shutting down factories in the U.S., affecting more than 150,000 factory employees. |
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While the Federal Reserve’s move to provide short-term funding to U.S. companies will likely allay the fears of many finance chiefs, small suppliers and main-street businesses could still face a liquidity crunch, economists said. |
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Investors in private equity say they're hoping coronavirus-related stock volatility doesn’t force them to miss out on what could be a great opportunity to buy low, write Chris Cumming and Preeti Singh for WSJ Pro Private Equity. |
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Some investors are worried that their private-market holdings may appear overweight compared with the rest of the portfolio, like it did during the credit crisis, and force them to pare down some of these investments. Public pension systems are telling retirees that their benefits are safe even as volatile markets cut millions from asset values. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s assets under management fell almost 13%, to $352.89 billion as of March 12 from $404.14 billion on Feb. 19.
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71% | Percentage of board directors who said executive teams have effective crisis-management plans in place, according to the National Association of Corporate Directors |
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| Chicks at a farm in Nantong, China. PHOTO: CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS |
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As the world grapples with a potential economic shutdown, one data company’s number-crunching points to slowly rebounding poultry prices as a key indicator of damage to the country’s economy—and how quickly it can ramp back up, writes David Uberti for WSJ Pro Artificial Intelligence. The wholesale price of chicken in China fell more than 50% between mid-December and mid-February. Prices have slowly risen in recent weeks as the reported growth rate of new infections has slowed, according to Gro Intelligence. In another effort, epidemiologists are teaming up with data scientists to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus by tapping big data, machine learning and other digital tools, writes Angus Loten for CIO Journal. Their goal is to get real-time forecasts and other critical information to front-line health-care workers and public policy makers as the outbreak unfolds. |
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“At a very, very deep level, modeling macroeconomic behavior is modeling human behavior. And in times of crisis, food is a very basic starting point.” | — Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence Inc. |
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There's a growing risk that millions of businesses and households won’t be able to pay their everyday bills—rent, payroll, utilities—as business activity grinds to an unprecedented halt. Canada announced a fiscal-stimulus and tax-deferral package amounting to nearly 4% of its GDP. The British pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar in 35 years. China leaned hard on state-owned enterprises to fight the spread of the coronavirus, hastening a retreat from a market-oriented economy. |
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