| Good Morning. In today’s edition, economic challenges mount, the U.S. sees its deadliest day of the pandemic, Wuhan emerges from lockdown, and John Prine has died. As we track the coronavirus and shutdowns, the staff of The Wall Street Journal continues to bring you regular updates and the latest information from around the world as we all navigate this challenging time. Please visit our live coverage page, which is regularly updated, and keep an eye on wsj.com for the latest news. You can also read a collection of articles about navigating the virus during this time, with advice on health, family, helping others, and more. And please take care of yourselves. —Matt Murray, editor in chief |
| ✔️ Latest on the coronavirus: World-wide, more than 1,432,500 confirmed cases and 82,100deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., more than 399,900 confirmed cases and 12,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. Nearly a third of U.S. renters didn't pay their April rent during the month's first week. A travel ban on the Chinese city of Wuhan was officially lifted. Japan plans direct payments to households and businesses as part of a nearly $1 trillion economic package. |
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| | U.S. stocks ran out of steam yesterday in a volatile trading session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average give up an early gain of more than 900 points. The S&P 500 has climbed 6.9% this week and is on the cusp of exiting from a bear market by traditional definitions, close to jumping 20% from its March 23 low. Although that would be one of the shortest bear markets on record for the gauge, many analysts are calling the recent run a rally within a bear market. A quick exit would be a historical anomaly. U.S. futures edged higher today and global equities were mixed. Meanwhile, government officials and business leaders are turning their attention to a looming challenge: Reopening a $22 trillion U.S. economy that has been shut down like never before. U.S. statistical agencies are also struggling to measure the economy, with lockdowns and closures making it harder to gather information. The Trump administration and top lawmakers said they hope to move within days to approve hundreds of billions of dollars in new funding for small-business loans. But the Small Business Administration is under fire for failing to get aid quickly to struggling businesses. A top U.S. housing-market regulator said he isn’t likely to heed mortgage companies’ calls to help ease the cash-flow crunch expected when unemployed Americans stop making mortgage payments. Nearly a third of apartment renters didn’t pay any of their April rent during the month’s first week, according to new data. State funding woes are dragging the Fed into the muni-market reboot. |
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| | The U.S. death toll from the new coronavirus rose sharply, with nearly 50% more people killed yesterday than any previous day in the epidemic, according to a WSJ analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Between 8 p.m. Monday and the same time Tuesday, 1,939 people in the U.S. died from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. The U.S. continues to have the most infections, with almost 400,000 people testing positive for the fast-spreading virus. Meanwhile, President Trump said that his administration would look into withholding money from the World Health Organization, though the administration can’t unilaterally withhold funding, which is appropriated by Congress (▶️ Video). Mr. Trump also removed the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, who was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the $2 trillion pandemic stimulus law. Separately, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned after an uproar over his verbal attack on the former captain of the virus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. |
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| | | U.S. Navy personnel arrive Tuesday at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan, which has been turned into a temporary hospital. PHOTO: EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS |
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Detroit, already dealing with one of the worst outbreaks in the U.S., is forecast by officials to hit its peak of new cases this week. The outbreak has been particularly tough for the state’s black residents, who make up 41% of Michigan's reported deaths but only 14% of the total population. The virus has also shown signs of disproportionately affecting African-American residents elsewhere. In Louisiana, where less than 33% of the population is African-American, about 70% of those who have died from Covid-19 are black. ▶️ Video Update: Wuhan reopens, acting Navy Secretary Modly resigns. Hong Kong shows the world that masks work to curb the coronavirus. 🎧 The Journal podcast: Dr. Anthony Fauci on what it will take to open America back up after the pandemic: "It isn't like a light switch, on and off." |
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| | First, the store doors shut. Now, the walls are closing in. Retailers have furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers, cut executive pay and stopped paying rent, all to conserve cash. For the most-indebted retailers, particularly those already struggling before the crisis began, those measures may not be enough. Meanwhile, a number of companies are citing the federal government’s beefed-up unemployment benefits as they furlough or lay off staff. The stimulus package is changing the calculus for some employers, who can now cut payroll costs without feeling they are abandoning their employees. (🎧 Podcast) Amazon.com will halt a delivery service it ran in a handful of U.S. cities for non-Amazon packages. More than 1,000 companies responded to FEMA’s call to provide needed supplies to fight the pandemic. As of early Monday, only three had supplies the agency could actually buy. UnitedHealth Group is accelerating payments to doctors and hospitals, starting with about $2 billion over the next week. |
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| | Chinese leaders and many medical experts have held up the city of Wuhan as an example of what can be achieved through extreme efforts to contain the coronavirus. It’s now becoming clear the battle in Wuhan is far from over—and the human cost much higher than officially acknowledged. The city has announced only three new confirmed cases with symptoms since March 18. Authorities have formally ended the nearly 80-day lockdown on the city. In the past few days, however, it has tightened restrictions on some housing complexes, and said others will remain in place, after confirming dozens of new asymptomatic cases. Epidemiologists, U.S. intelligence sources and Wuhan residents suspect that Chinese authorities substantially undercounted infections and deaths, in part to boost President Xi Jinping’s image. Such doubts, combined with the reports of new asymptomatic cases, are triggering fears of a potential second wave of infections. ▶️ Video: Wuhan celebrates the end of its lockdown with a light show, but faces a tough road. The U.K. government sought to maintain a united front as Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in intensive care. The U.S. plans to block Iran’s requested $5 billion emergency loan from the IMF for funding Tehran says it needs to fight its coronavirus crisis. Japan plans direct payments to households and businesses as part of a nearly $1 trillion economic package to respond to the pandemic. India’s food-supply chain depends on millions of laborers, middlemen and shopkeepers working. In the coronavirus lockdown, the system is faltering badly. Italy’s month-old lockdown is slowing the coronavirus, but its economy is severely struggling. |
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| | | As doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals face an unrelenting flow of patients through their hospitals, they’ve taken to social media to share experiences. Many call the fight against the new coronavirus unlike any other health crisis they have faced. In the words of one doctor, it is “unprecedented and dire.” Doctors and nurses have also recounted extraordinary efforts among colleagues to pull together and find creative ways to care for the sick under difficult circumstances. Read some of their dispatches. Seven days, hundreds of deaths: New York City’s worst week yet is testing its coronavirus response. |
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| | In their own words, young people across the U.S. share their Covid-19 experiences in videos shot on their phones. | |
We are all living in limbo now, trying to adjust, day by day, to the realities of life in the era of Covid-19. Some of us are battling the virus itself, or trying to cope as it attacks people in our lives. Others are grappling with campus and workplace closures, job losses, risky working conditions, moves back home, relationship strains, and lots of uncertainty. In their own videos, college students, medical residents, early-career artists, gig workers and other young people describe how they are weathering challenges in the pandemic era. |
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| | What We're Following | | Robert Williams votes in Dunn, Wis., on Tuesday. PHOTO: JOHN HART/WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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Wisconsin Election: Voters headed to the state's polls yesterday, many in masks and gloves. Totals won’t be released until April 13, a date affirmed by a court ruling that was meant to give voters more time to return absentee ballots. Texas Abortion Ruling: A federal appeals court allowed Texas to suspend most abortions in the state during the coronavirus crisis. Airbnb Investment: Airbnb agreed to pay its new investors interest at a rate of more than 10%, and to strengthen its leadership, in return for the $1 billion in funding announced Monday. WeWork Suit: Two WeWork directors filed a lawsuit against SoftBank Group on behalf of the company after the Japanese conglomerate backed away from a deal to buy up to $3 billion in WeWork’s shares. Afghanistan Peace Process: The Taliban broke off talks with the Afghan government in Kabul yesterday, in a fresh stumbling block for the peace process. John Prine: The country-folk music icon whose witty and heartfelt songs of love, protest and social commentary helped shape a generation of songwriters, has died from complications related to the coronavirus. He was 73 years old. |
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| | | 💡 Joanna’s Daily WFH Tech Tip: Replace the Office Printer + Scanner And then it got so bad, we began to miss the office printer! If your home printer can’t print black-and-white documents fast enough, check out this $150 Brother laser printer. There’s no scanner but you’ve got a phone for that: iPhone users, open the Notes app, tap the camera icon and then Scan Documents. Always use a flat surface and keep your shadow out of the shot. Adobe’s Scan app for iOS and Android is also good. If you’re looking for an all-in-one color printer, we’re fans of Epson’s EcoTank models and this one from Brother. You can see all of Joanna’s WFH tips here. Send questions and suggestions to Senior Personal Tech Columnist Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com or leave a message at her WFH hotline: (314) 635-0388. Joanna might answer your message on our Tech News Briefing podcast, available wherever you listen. |
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| | Features & Diversions With beauty salons and barbershops closed, housebound Americans are picking up scissors, waxing strips, nail buffers and hair-dye brushes to nervously do the job themselves. We asked the experts how to avoid common grooming gaffes. (Read) The cheap thrills and instant gratification of home organization. (Read) "Peg, it will come back to you": Steely Dan's Donald Fagen on the 1977 hit. (Read) A Bentley Special that takes its owner back to the 1920s. (Read) ✏️ WSJ Puzzles: Our collection of elegant, adventurous and addictive crosswords and other word games. |
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| | Today’s Question and Answer In response to our continuing call to share your experiences, stories or ideas during the pandemic: Roxanne Rubell, New Hampshire I am Zooming my way through this, scheduling many video chats with friends who live 5 miles away and friends who live 3,000 miles away. I make an effort to dress up for them, typically putting on a little black dress and some makeup. I find that doing so provides just a bit of much-needed sparkle to the day, and it’s amazing how wearing a vibrant shade of red lipstick can—just for a moment—take one’s mind off the Covid-19 chaos. Tom Schallert, California My wife and I have sheltered in place since it was first suggested. We aren't preppers, per se, but have always been ready for earthquakes and have plenty of food. We walk early with masks, and neighbors who see us always ask if we need anything. I was prepared to get into the canned milk and told a neighbor—and a gallon of milk showed up. I commented to another and said we were down to 3 eggs, and a dozen organic brown eggs showed up. Many acts of kindness are being seen. We do like and enjoy our neighbors, so I think next time I'll say we are low on filet mignon or T-bone steak and see what happens. Email us your comments, which we may edit or shorten before publication, to 10point@wsj.com, and make sure to include your first and last name and location. See our comment guidelines here. |
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| | The 10-Point was the name given to the news column that runs on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Today’s newsletter was curated and edited by Eleanor Miller in New York and Adam Martin in Hong Kong in collaboration with Editor in Chief Matt Murray. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. The 10-Point is a WSJ member benefit. If someone forwarded you this email, we invite you to join us and enjoy the full breadth of scoops, analysis and great storytelling from our journalists around the globe. |
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