When I first began writing about economics in the early 1970s, I made a private vow that I would never use the word “depression” in describing the state of the economy. The economists and politicians who occasionally did so were, I thought, engaged in partisan hyperbole. Their game was to scare people into thinking the end of the world was ...

Venerable apparel retailer Brooks Brothers says it is “in the process of converting its New York, North Carolina and Massachusetts factories from manufacturing ties, shirts and suits to now making masks and gowns.” Michigan-based workwear maker Carhartt is shifting over to mask and gown production, too. In Houston, Gourmet Table Skirts & Linens, which normally sells to hotels and cruise ...

As coronavirus spreads across the US, epidemiologists and public health experts keep hitting one message: Stay home. Without social distancing, Covid-19 could kill nearly 2 million Americans — perhaps 17 times as many as there would be if everyone hunkers down. This is why, as of early April, the vast majority of Americans are living under shelter-at-home orders. But what ...

US employment continues to collapse, with a shocking 6.65 million new jobless claims reported yesterday. The Federal Reserve has predicted that the unemployment rate could reach 32% — considerably higher than at the depths of the Great Depression. Much of the US economy is based on local services and with people across the entire nation confined to their homes because ...

In the past week, four UK doctors have died from Covid-19; the youngest was 55. There will be more to come if the government doesn’t quickly resolve the shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE, in hospitals and medical centers. The British Medical Association wasn’t being dramatic when it said that health workers treating Covid-19 patients face “life-threatening” shortages of ...

Donald Trump wasn’t alone in hoping everyone’s lives could get back to normal by Easter weekend. Retailers’ decisions to furlough hundreds of thousands of US retail workers underscore that store closures are set to go on for much longer than initially anticipated. Closings in many major markets around the world will remain in place through next weekend and beyond, wreaking ...

The federal government’s $2 trillion economic relief bill to help the nation cope with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has many excellent features. The amount of money is large — probably enough to cushion and sustain the economy for the next two months. To some extent, the bill addresses the needs of individuals, families, small businesses, big businesses, and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), is positioned to drive value for the UAE and will continue to invest responsibly to deliver on its 2030 smart growth strategy during this complex and challenging period. Following the UAE leadership’s wise guidance, Adnoc will remain focused on its core pillars of efficiency, profitability, performance and people, reinforce ...

Bloomberg The world’s workers are reeling from the initial shock of the coronavirus recession, with job losses and welfare claims around the globe already running into the millions this week. As the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warns of almost 25 million layoffs if the virus isn’t controlled, the cuts from Austria to the US reflect the deepest peacetime recession since ...

Bloomberg The Opec+ meeting to try to end the oil price war is unlikely to go ahead of Monday as previously expected, as Riyadh and Moscow engaged on a war of words about who’s to blame for the collapse in oil prices. The Opec+ alliance needs more time for negotiations, a delegate familiar with the matter said, noting the meeting ...