· Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world:
- Total confirmed cases: More than 531,698
- Total deaths: At least 24,070
- The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan).
- US cases: At least 82,280 (+17,069), and deaths: 1,293 (+266)
- Italy cases: At least 80,589 (+6,203), and deaths: 8,215 (+712)
- Thailand cases: At least 1,045 (+111), and deaths: 4
- US now has more coronavirus cases than either China or Italy
The United States now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than Italy and China, making it the country with the largest outbreak in the world.
The total number of cases in the U.S. reached 82,404 Thursday evening, eclipsing China’s 81,782 cases and Italy’s 80,589, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The virus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December. It has since spread to more than half a million people in almost every country around the world and continues to pick up speed, the World Health Organization warned earlier this week.
“The pandemic is accelerating,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday at a press briefing from the organization’s Geneva headquarters. “It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases.”
- Italy’s death toll rises above 7,000 — but the number of new cases declines for the 4th day in a row
Glimmers of hope are being seen in Europe as the number of new coronavirus cases continues to decline in Italy, the country that has seen the most acute outbreak of the infection.
Italy’s death toll from the virus passed the 7,500 mark on Wednesday, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said, however it noted that the rate of new cases of contagion fell for the fourth day running.
- UK announces emergency measures to help self-employed as coronavirus bites
The U.K. government has announced emergency measures to help self-employed people, after facing intensifying pressure to match the financial aid offered to other workers.
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday that the government would pay self-employed people a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly profits over the last three years. The grant will be open to people with trading profits of up to £50,000 ($60,800).
He announced details of the income support scheme after conceding many workers were still “deeply anxious about the support available for them.”
- EU leaders agree on more time to decide coronavirus economic rescue
European Union leaders failed to agree on Thursday on the scale of support for their economies battered by the coronavirus, but gave themselves two more weeks to work out details in a dispute between the ailing south and the fiscally conservative north.
Highlighting how the pandemic is testing the bloc’s cohesion, Germany and the Netherlands blocked a call from Italy, Spain and France to issue joint debt to help finance a recovery.
All 27 national EU leaders wrangled during a six-hour videoconference over setting up a credit line worth some 2% of their economic output from the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund of the 19-member single-currency zone.
In the end, they tasked their finance ministers to work out the details in the next two weeks.
- Tens of millions face losing jobs in escalating coronavirus crisis
Global job losses from the coronavirus crisis could far exceed the 25 million estimated just days ago, U.N. officials said on Thursday, as U.S. jobless claims surged to record levels, starkly showing the scale of the economic disaster.
The International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency, had estimated a week ago that, based on different scenarios for the impact of the pandemic on growth, the global ranks of the jobless would rise by between 5.3 million and 24.7 million.
However Sangheon Lee, director of the ILO’s employment policy department, told Reuters in Geneva on Thursday that the scale of temporary unemployment, lay-offs and the number of unemployment benefit claims were far higher than first expected.
· Senate passes $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill — House aims for Friday vote
The Senate passed a historic $2 trillion coronavirus relief package Wednesday night, as it tries to stem the destruction the pandemic has brought to American lives and wallets.
The chamber approved the mammoth bill — the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history — in a unanimous 96-0 vote after days of furious negotiations, partisan sniping and raised tempers on the Senate floor. The bill now heads to the House, which will push to pass it by voice vote Friday morning because most representatives are out of Washington.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expects her chamber will approve the measure in a “strong, bipartisan vote” on Friday, she told reporters Thursday.
The Senate rushed to pass the sweeping aid bill as data are expected to show a historic spike in unemployment claims after businesses across the country shuttered in an attempt to slow the outbreak’s spread. Some hospitals have started to buckle under a flood of patients, asking for critical supplies such as masks and ventilators.
· Jobless claims soar past 3 million to record high
Americans displaced by the coronavirus crisis filed unemployment claims in record numbers last week, with the Labor Department reporting Thursday a surge to 3.28 million.
The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. The previous week, which reflected the period before the worst of the coronavirus hit, was 282,000, which was higher than expected at the time.
Consensus estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones showed an expectation for 1.5 million new claims, though individual forecasts on Wall Street had been anticipating a much higher number. The surge comes amid a crippling slowdown brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
· Dollar drops as US jobless claims surge
The dollar dropped to a one-week low against a basket of currencies on Thursday after data showed an unprecedented surge in Americans filing for unemployment benefits, as businesses across the country shut down in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits shot to record of more than 3 million last week.
The dollar index fell 1.5% to 99.57, the lowest since March 18.
The euro gained to $1.0972, up 0.85% on the day and the highest since March 18. The greenback dipped 1.53% against the Japanese yen to 109.49 yen. The Australian dollar jumped 1.31% to $0.6036.
· Powell on whether the Fed has enough firepower: ‘We’re not going to run out of ammunition’
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pledged Thursday that the central bank will keep using the tools it has to fight the economic slowdown brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
In an interview with NBC’s “TODAY,” the central bank chief said the recent initiatives the Fed has taken will help provide capital to businesses that need it and will be especially helpful once the virus is brought under control.
“When it comes to this lending, we’re not going to run out of ammunition, that doesn’t happen,” Powell told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. “We still have policy room in other dimensions to support the economy.”
Over the past two weeks, the Fed has taken its benchmark rate to near-zero and initiated a slew of measures aimed at keeping credit flowing. The Fed also has joined the Treasury Department in programs that will provide funding to businesses of all sizes, and has begun buying corporate bonds and other assets where it has not been involved previously in order to free up frozen credit markets.
Powell said the Fed is aiming at “places where credit is not being offered where it should be offered.”
“We can step in and make that happen. That’s a very positive thing and appropriate thing in this highly unusual situation we’re in,” he said.
In addition to the other steps, the Fed has relaunched its asset-purchasing program, vowing to buy as many bonds as needed to keep markets and the economy functioning properly.
· Fed balance sheet tops $5 trillion for first time as it enters coronavirus war mode
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s balance sheet soared past $5 trillion in assets for the first time this week as it scooped up bonds and extended loans to banks, mutual funds and other central banks in its unprecedented effort to backstop the economy in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The Fed’s total balance sheet size exploded by more than half a trillion dollars in a single week, roughly twice the pace of the next-largest weekly expansion in the financial crisis in October 2008. As of Wednesday, the Fed’s stash of assets totaled $5.3 trillion, according to data released on Thursday.
The Fed bought $355 billion of Treasuries and mortgage-backed bonds in the last week in what is now an open-ended commitment to stabilize financial markets rocked by the outbreak and the halt in economic activity that has come in its wake.
It also offered more than $200 billion in credit through so-called foreign currency swap lines to other central banks to allow them to pump much-needed greenbacks into their jurisdictions to help foreign borrowers stay current with their dollar-denominated liabilities.
The weekly snapshot of the Fed’s balance sheet, released each Thursday, also showed sizable demand for a pair of brand new liquidity facilities aimed at stabilizing money markets and supporting primary dealers, the banks that transact directly with the central bank.
The new Primary Dealer Credit Facility had been tapped for $27.7 billion in loans as of Wednesday, while the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility had borrowings of $30.6 billion.
· Oil prices fall more than 7% as demand continues to shrink
Oil prices fell on Thursday following three days of gains, with the prospect of rapidly dwindling demand due to coronavirus travel bans and lockdowns offsetting hopes a U.S. $2 trillion emergency stimulus will shore up economic activity.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 7.7%, or $1.89, to settle at $22.60 per barrel, while Brent crude futures fell $1.01, or 3.69%, to trade at $26.43 per barrel.
Reference: Worldometers, Reuters, CNBC
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