US Markets Extend Spiral on Covid-19
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OUR GUIDE TO THE BEST SPORTS FILMS TO WATCH DURING THE VIRUS HIATUS P26 BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY TUESDAY 17 MARCH 2020 ISSUE 3,578 CITYAM.COM FREE US markets extend spiral ‘CATASTROPHIC’ on Covid-19 HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE INDUSTRIES SOUND ALARM AFTER BORIS HARRY ROBERTSON JOHNSON TELLS BRITS TO AVOID THE OFFICE, PUBS AND RESTAURANTS AND EDWARD THICKNESSE @harrygrobertson @edthicknesse US STOCK markets suffered their biggest single-day fall since 1987’s infamous Black Monday crash for the second time in three sessions yesterday, as investors shrugged off a dramatic Federal Reserve stimulus package aimed at propping up the economy during the coronavirus outbreak. The S&P 500 crashed 12 per cent by the end of trading, while the Dow Jones finished 12.9 per cent lower and the Nasdaq ended 12.3 per cent down. Yesterday’s collapse surpassed the carnage of last week’s so-called Black Thursday crash, in which US stocks shed around 10 per cent, with markets now well and truly in freefall. Late on Sunday night the Fed slashed its base interest rate to a range of zero to 0.25 per cent, also announcing a $700bn (£570.3bn) worth of quantitative easing in an attempt to protect markets EDWARD THICKNESSE, JESS CLARK acknowledged was unprecedented in with long-term conditions, those over 70 saying Johnson had “now pulled up the from the ravages of the AND ANDY SILVESTER peacetime, he urged Londoners in and pregnant women, should shield life raft”. global disease. particular to “avoid all non-essential themselves from social contact for 12 Though the Prime Minister told Brits to The action was mirrored on @edthicknesse @jclarkjourno @silvesterldn contact” with others and work from weeks. Furthermore, any household avoid large gatherings and forgo pubs a worldwide scale by the THE UK’s hospitality industry issued a home wherever possible, as the spread which has a single member displaying and restaurants, he stopped short of International Monetary doom-laden warning last night after of Covid-19 in the capital appeared to symptoms should self-isolate for 14 days. mandating their closure as governments Fund, which pledged $1 Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday be a “few weeks ahead” of the rest of As businesses and the wider public have done across Europe — with serious trillion in lending. The told Brits to steer clear of pubs, eateries the country. absorbed the latest measures, an implications for businesses’ ability to drastic step also had a and theatres as the government Updating guidance to the public, almighty row erupted between the claim on insurance. negligible impact. escalated its coronavirus “fightback”. Johnson announced that those in the cultural and hospitality sectors and the The FTSE 100 fell 4.01 per In a statement which Johnson most high-risk groups, including those government, with one industry body £ CONTINUES ON P2 cent by the close. £ CONTINUES ON P3 THE CITY VIEW AVIATION TRAVEL BAN AUTO ‘WHATEVER IT TAKES’: CHAOS IN AIRLINE VON DER LEYEN BANS EURO CAR FACTORIES TIME FOR BORIS TO INDUSTRY AS DEMAND OUTSIDE VISITORS BEGIN SHUTTING UP ECHO DRAGHI P2 ENTERS COLLAPSE P3 FROM SCHENGEN P4 SHOP FOR WEEKS P9 FTSE 100▼5.151.08 -215.03 FTSE 250▼14.349.75 -1,212.25 DOW▼20,188.52 -2,997.10 NASDAQ▼6,904.59 -970.28 £/$▼1.226 -0.009 £/€▼1.100 -0.016 €/$▼1.114 -0.008 That’s how much an active trader £0 pays dealing US shares with IG.* Your capital is at risk Share dealing ISA IG Smart Portfolio Spread betting *Deal three or more times in the prior month to qualify for our best commission rate. 02 NEWS TUESDAY 17 MARCH 2020 CITYAM.COM MIND THE GAP Transport for London to ask for Westminster bailout as revenues expected to plummet by up to half a billion THE CITY VIEW It’s time for Johnson to say: ‘Whatever it takes’ T THE start of a crisis, especially one as alien and as fast- moving as the Covid-19 pandemic, governments can count Aon a certain amount of public support. Quite a high amount, in fact, as has been borne out by recent polling revealing high levels of approval for the government’s handling of things so far. But as the crisis takes hold, as its impact deepens and its consequences loom larger, the public can start to question elements of the official response. Firstly, a political ceasefire that held in the first few weeks can fail as Westminster combatants get bored of peace. For its part, the government is more than capable of provoking a resumption of hostilities, and the past 24 hours have shattered the truce. Ministers, for the first time in this emergency, have dropped the ball. When Boris Johnson urged the public to avoid pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants TRANSPORT for London (TfL) was the latest to warn of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, writes Stefan Boscia — in the past and theatres he should have week, passenger numbers on the Tube were down by 19 per cent year on year, while bus passenger numbers fell 10 per cent. TfL announced a watertight has accumulated an estimated £11bn in debt and will “be looking to the government for financial relief to cope with losses”. commitment to support these industries. Furthermore, by stopping short of issuing an A public health order to close such businesses, crisis could soon he has condemned them to Insurance worries add to limbo: devoid of customers but be an economic with no recourse to their catastrophe insurance or existing support schemes beyond those announced in the Budget last week. It is telling that those measures, hailed as a £12bn resilience footfall fear in the capital package, now seem wholly inadequate. Business rates relief and some help with sick pay will do next to nothing for thousands CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE away from running out of cash. they are planning to save livelihoods,” upon thousands of businesses facing an immediate cash crunch The anger was mirrored by the UK’s he added. and an utterly bleak few months. Added to this, the calls for “This is catastrophic for businesses creative industry bosses, with Caro- All called for urgent support from help from other industries are now deafening. Airlines are and jobs,” UK Hospitality chief execu- line Norbury, chief executive of the the government. tive Kate Nicholls said. Creative Industries Federation and Chancellor Rishi Sunak held an facing a crisis of epic proportions and the sector is braced for its “The government has effectively Creative England, describing it as a emergency meeting of a new Eco- own Lehman Brothers moment. The rail industry cannot shut the hospitality industry without “crippling blow”. nomic and Business Response Council survive with passenger numbers plummeting and retailers, any support.” “As the social distancing measures yesterday — with sector-specific meet- many of whom were struggling before anyone had heard of “The PM’s statement is the worst of announced this afternoon are only ings to come later today — in which he all worlds, leaving businesses, guests advisory, rather than an outright ban, is expected to outline a support pack- Covid-19, are increasingly concerned. Behind all of this and and teams all unprotected and in we are deeply concerned that creative age for business. It follows a number seemingly resistant to the medicine of central banks, the stock limbo. No insurance will apply unless organisations and cultural spaces will of measures included in last week’s market is gripped by fear and volatility. Now is not the time for the government requires closure, find they are unable to claim compen- Budget. Sunak said yesterday: “We are academic arguments about creative destruction or the perils of and even then any payout will come sation for the huge losses they will doing everything we can to can to far too late to save millions of jobs,” experience as a result of Covid-19,” keep this country, and our people, state intervention. If the government wants to stop a public she added. she added. healthy and financially secure.” health crisis being compounded by an economic catastrophe, it Emma McClarkin, chief executive of Jonathan Downey, the chief execu- Last night a government spokesman must act. Confidence must be restored. It’s time for the PM to the British Beer and Pub Association, tive of street food market operator told City A.M. that they understand said the “very existence of some pubs London Union, said the decision to the “considerable impacts” placed on channel his inner Mario Draghi and declare that he will do is now at threat”. advise customers to stay at home business by yesterday’s announce- “whatever it takes”. Hospitality venues in London had rather than close venues is a “passive ment. “We will continue to engage already reported a 47 per cent drop aggressive lockdown”. with business to discuss what support in year-on-year footfall on Sunday “I understand how they are saving they need in this challenging pe- Follow us on Twitter @cityam and some firms are around a month lives, but I don’t understand how riod,”they added. FINANCIAL TIMES THE TIMES THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AB INBEV DRAWS DOWN WHAT THE VIRUS CURFEW IMPOSED AS UNION: RISK TO DELIVERIES US AIRLINES TO SEEK $50BN ENTIRE $9BN LOAN FACILITY OTHER US SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN AS TRUCKERS BLOCKED CORONAVIRUS AID PACKAGE Anheuser-Busch Inbev (AB Inbev), the Three US states banned gatherings of Lorry drivers who are essential for Reeling from the coronavirus crisis, US world’s largest brewer by volume, has PAPERS SAY more than 50 people yesterday, with keeping supermarket shelves stocked airlines are seeking over $50bn become the latest big company to New Jersey announcing the first curfew during the coronavirus crisis are being (£40.8bn) in financial assistance from bolster its cash position by drawing THIS in America after the country's leading blocked from washing facilities at the US government, more than three down the entirety of a $9bn (£7.34bn) public health body urged an end to delivery sites — risking sweeping times the size of the industry’s bailout loan facility from global banks, people MORNING large events.