Week of March 9th, 2020

The central bank said the effects of the outbreak will weigh on economic activity in the near term and pose risks to the economic outlook.

After years of navigating a rocky retail landscape, a mall manager braces for COVID-19.

“Credit is the mother’s milk of economic activity,” said one analyst.

Questions like where the Fed’s $1.5 trillion went, how algorithmic trading is affecting volatility and what numbers to watch as we prepare for a recession.

Under the Stafford Act, a disaster relief fund will become available to combat the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

In California, most of the state’s 150,000 homeless people are living unsheltered, outside or in structures not meant for human habitation.

Even the most basic economic relationships are starting to go a little haywire.

After this week’s global market crash, the credit market is showing signs of stress.

Stock markets are up enough to get your attention. In some job fields, companies are actually trying to hire more right now. Health insurance and the question of a public good during the time of COVID-19.

The next step in relief efforts is set to include a variety of provisions making it easier for people to stay home when they are sick.

Job websites have reported a spike in postings, from epidemiologist to registered nurse to data scientist.

After the biggest stock market drop since the 1987 crash, prices stabilizing so far. A lot happening in financial markets that isn’t supposed to happen. A COVID-19 response bill.

European markets up, but worries that the sell-off will continue. And, keeping an eye on the corporate bond market.

The near-future sci-fi series jumps ahead one year in each episode.

Dan Mendelson, founder of healthcare advisory consultancy Avalere Health, argues that healthcare is a legitimate public good in times of pandemics.

Chains and independent markets have different supply chains.

When the S&P 500 drops 7%, all trading is halted.

The COVID-19 epidemic may make it harder for government agencies to track and report rapid changes in the U.S. economy.

Annie Lowrey of The Atlantic expects the coronavirus to cause a jobs crisis, but government spending could help.

We’ll talk with experts, business owners, a farmer and a doctor (who’s also school board president) about how they’re feeling the spread of COVID-19 and what they’re bracing for.

For physician Scott Anzalone of Ohio, the scariest part of the outbreak isn’t the illness.

One Manhattan retailer is seeing 60%-80% drops in revenue this week.

Would you spot a friend money if they needed it? How about if they asked every month? This week: the limits of friendship.

Across the world, markets are seeing red because of COVID-19. How brick-and-mortar retailers are trying to keep customers safe. Companies in the U.S. are changing their paid sick time policies.

People are continuing to go to work and take public transportation at the border.

Stores are adding policies to help customers feel safe.

A travel ban on Europe, promises of aid to U.S. workers. How the European Union and its markets are handling the news. Checking in with the cruise industry.

President Trump has announced sweeping travel restrictions on 26 European countries. All eyes on the European Central Bank as markets await stimulus measures. The NBA halts all games after a Utah Jazz player tests positive for the virus.

Maybe its a good time to seriously rethink the ginormous trade show thing.

Trump says the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom, and the U.S. will monitor the situation to determine if travel can be reopened earlier.

There is no federal mandate for paid sick time, though some states require it.

As the Trump administration plans to boost the economy, a look at how it will be different from the past.

There’s more to Mexican cuisine than tacos and burritos.

“I feel a little bit like Chicken Little for it, but I cancelled that date,” said one online dater.

Whatever you do, don’t call it a “bailout.”

Plus, online dating and stockpiling “essentials” during an outbreak. 

It has a lot to do with the economic concept of scarcity.

We break down one builder’s complaint: government regulations.

Events like Coachella generate hundreds of millions for the parts of the country they take place in.

Governments around the globe figure out how to fight back against COVID-19. The Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals scheduled for next month get postponed. The federal government still needs to find 500,000 people to work the 2020 census.

President Christine Lagarde has said the ECB is “ready to take appropriate and targeted measures” to address the crisis.

On Wednesday, just hours before the U.K. government will outline new spending plans, the Bank of England announced the cuts.

President Trump’s push for a payroll tax cut. What action will Europe take to support its economy during the new coronavirus outbreak? How banning political ads on certain social media platforms is affecting campaigns.

The Bank of England has announced an emergency cut in interest rates to shore up the economy amid the COVID-19 outbreak. U.K. Chancellor Rishi Sunak will unveil his first budget today. Singapore presents an instructive test case for virus containment.

The Census Bureau is offering higher wages and pulling workers in from neighboring states.

Google’s new policies mean campaigns need to spend more to get their messages out.

Extra cash probably wouldn’t get people to take cruises or go to concerts.

Like social platforms, they’re fighting misinformation and trying to quash price gouging.

We checked in with owners of a florist, a women’s boutique and a small pharmacy.

Low oil prices affect all producer nations. Each has different vulnerabilities.

With transit systems encouraging people to wash their hands and avoid touching their face and businesses stepping up their own efforts, the country finds itself in a disinfecting moment.

Deciding which flights to cancel means considering the effects on the entire, byzantine, schedule.

Payroll tax cuts, used to boost the economy, only help those who get a paycheck.

Today, we’ll look at how a payroll tax cut would work. Plus: canceled flights, canceled classes and a price war on oil. 

Does the government have the tools to mitigate the damage that will be caused by COVID-19?

The way we talk about poverty and the the people living in it could be getting in the way of solving inequality. One example? Lunch shaming.

Police intervened in a funeral procession in Sicily because it broke new quarantine rules in Italy.

Is a payroll tax cut coming? A CDC budget meeting in the middle of COVID-19 response. How the virus outbreak may interfere with medical school clinical rotations.

Teaching hospitals prepare for COVID-19.

Congress just approved $8 billion in emergency funding to help the CDC combat the virus.

If the S&P 500 falls an additional 1.4%, the bull market run will have officially ended.

There’s cultiness all around us, at workout classes, in fandom, even at work. That’s not always a bad thing, but here’s what to look out for.

Reviewing the Dow’s deepest plunge since the 2008 financial crisis. Economic advice for retiree investors. Life under Italy’s total COVID-19 lockdown.

What’s behind the latest financial market gyrations. A closer look at Italy, where citizens woke up to an entire country on lockdown.

If working from home is not a perk but a requirement, will VR become a useful job tool? And will the “goofiness factor” get in the way?

This week we’re talking with different kinds of CEOs: three people who run their own small businesses.

On Wall Street’s most turbulent since the COVID-19 outbreak, a Harvard economist explains what’s going on.

After weeks of being closed because of COVID-19, it might take some persuading for people to go back to the resort.

But that may not be signaling that the economic damage from the coronavirus will be as bad as the Great Recession.

How bloody the shakeout becomes likely depends on how long crude prices stay in the basement.

Let’s trip our own “circuit breaker” and talk through everything that happened with stocks and oil today.

Our Shanghai correspondent, forced to stay home like so many others, shares what she’s hearing about the virus on the airwaves.

The S&P 500 plunged as much as 7.4% in the first few minutes of trading, and losses were so sharp that trading was temporarily halted.

A sharp dip in stock prices pauses trading for 15 minutes Monday morning. Government bonds in demand, pushing the 10-year interest rate to a new low. COVID-19 challenges for emerging markets.

But some developing countries might see a silver lining.

It’s the first time in the festival’s 34 years that the show will not go on.

Crude oil and U.S. futures plummet. The CDC has new guidelines for how to clean airplanes. And, with South by Southwest canceled, how Austin, Texas, businesses are responding.

If airline staff see someone who appears to have a fever, they should do a deep clean of everything within 6 feet of the passenger.

From cleaning to serving coffee, these workers’ overnight schedules come with upsides and downsides.

Financial markets in fresh turmoil amid an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Some European markets are now set to enter a bear market at the close of trade.

It depends not only on the access to online learning tools, but also that students and teachers are prepared for an online environment.