· Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world
- Total confirmed cases: More than 1,517,731
- Total deaths: At least 88,450
- The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 209 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances: the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship.
- US cases: At least 434,698 (+31,706), and deaths: 14,783 (1,935)
- Spain cases: At least 148,220 (+6,278), and deaths: 14,792 (747)
- Italy cases: At least 139,442 (+3,836), and deaths: 17,669 (542)
- Thailand cases: At least 2,369 (+111), and deaths: 30 (+3)
- Trump says plan to re-open shuttered U.S. economy to be completed soon
President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration was close to completing a plan to re-open the U.S. economy, which has been largely shut down to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In his daily news briefing, Trump noted that the number of deaths from the virus in the United States had begun to plateau, indicating that “social distancing” efforts had succeeded.
- Spain lifts some coronavirus lockdown measures; Italy records lowest daily deaths since March
Construction and factory workers in Spain return to work on Monday as the government lifts some of the most stringent lockdown measures, but opposition parties caution against an “imprudent” relaxation of the rules.
Spain, one of the worst-hit nations by Covid-19, has allowed some factories to reopen as well as some construction work to restart, after the sectors were ordered to stop production two weeks ago. However, the message from government officials is that the country remains in lockdown mode. Schools, bars, restaurants and other services continue to be closed to the public and Spaniards are meant to stay at home.
The decision to loosen some of Spain’s lockdown restrictions has been challenged by political opponents, at a time when Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wants a “great pact” to boost the economy.
“We must start the de-escalation in political tension now and give way to unity, dialogue, consensus and agreement as soon as possible,” Sanchez said Sunday.
“We need a great pact for the economic and social reconstruction of our country,” the prime minister added.
- World Health Organization officials warn nations against easing coronavirus restrictions too early
World Health Organization officials warned nations across the globe against lifting government lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 outbreak too soon, saying that the coronavirus spreads fast and is 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic.
“While Covid-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly. In other words, the way down is much slower than the way up,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters on Monday. “That means control measures must be lifted slowly and with control. It cannot happen all at once.”
- New Zealand jobless rate could hit 26% if virus curbs extended: treasury
New Zealand’s unemployment rate could reach 26% if tough lockdown measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus are extended, treasury department forecasts released on Tuesday showed.
Treasury forecasts that mapped economic scenarios under different restriction levels showed that extending the current Level 4 alert, which is the highest, would increase unemployment by 17.5% to 26%.
If the lockdown is eased this month, unemployment would be around 13%, it said.
Treasury estimated that declines in annual Gross Domestic Product in the year ending March 2021 would vary from around 13% in the least restrictive scenario, to close to one-third if tight curbs are in place throughout the year.
- G20 health ministers to speak next week about coronavirus: statement
Health ministers from the Group of 20 major economies will speak by video conference on April 19 to address the impact of the new coronavirus on the global health sector and society, the Saudi G20 secretariat said on Monday.
· U.S. deficit to soar to record $3.8 trillion in 2020, budget watchdog group says
A steep economic downturn and massive coronavirus rescue spending will nearly quadruple the fiscal 2020 U.S. budget deficit to a record $3.8 trillion, a staggering 18.7% of U.S. economic output, a Washington-based watchdog group said on Monday.
Releasing new budget estimates based on spending mandated by law, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) also projected that the fiscal 2021 deficit would reach $2.1 trillion in 2021, and average $1.3 trillion through 2025 as the economy recovers from damage caused by coronavirus-related shutdowns.
The estimates follow the U.S. Treasury’s report on Friday of a $744 billion budget deficit in the six months through March 30, which included minimal impact from the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Officials said significant budget impacts from spending and reduced revenues would appear in April’s budget results.
· 10-year Treasury yield rises to 0.75% after historic deal to cut oil output
Treasury yields climbed on Monday as investors digested an agreement between OPEC and its allies for record oil production cuts.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, rose two basis points to about 0.75%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 1.37%.
· Dollar flat in thin trade with Europe on holiday
The U.S. dollar was roughly flat on Monday morning in North America, with trading volumes thin due to a holiday in Europe.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, was up 0.04%. Against the euro, the dollar was 0.35% stronger at $1.090. Though the U.S. currency had earlier drifted higher against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as the weekend’s OPEC+ deal failed to soothe demand concerns, those trends had mostly reversed in mid-morning trade.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.348 after touching levels above 99.5 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.65 per dollar after strengthening from levels above 108.0 yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.6394, still above levels below $0.62 seen last week.
· Oil mixed as demand worries offset gains from output cut deal
Oil prices were mixed on Monday, as the historic production-cut deal inked by major global oil producers was not enough to assuage existing worries about the demand destruction brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Brent LCOc1 futures rose 26 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $31.74 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 slipped 35 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $22.41, its lowest since April 1. Earlier in the day WTI was up over 5%.
The cut by OPEC+ may be more than four times deeper than the previous record set in 2008 and overall oil supply may shrink by twice that with other measures. Yet the reduction remains dwarfed by a demand drop predicted by some forecasters to be as much as 30 million bpd in April.
“Even if these cuts provide a floor to prices they will not be able to boost prices given the scale of inventory builds we are still staring at,” Energy Aspects analyst Virendra Chauhan said.
“The absence of hard commitments from the United States or other G20 members is (a) shortcoming of the deal.”
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Worldometers
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