The coronavirus epidemic has forced governments to make difficult choices. One of the hardest — and perhaps most symbolic — is whether to shut down schools to contain the contagion. Any generalised lockdown would inevitably take a toll on the children and their working parents. The limited evidence we have, however, shows that this measure can be effective in slowing ...

Healthcare stocks took their own victory lap on Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday comeback in the Democratic presidential primary. Shares of health insurers, providers, and drugmakers all outperformed the broader market on March 04. It’s not an entirely unreasonable move. The former vice president’s health policies would be substantially less disruptive to the industry than Bernie Sanders’s “Medicare for All” single-payer ...

The coronavirus outbreak has been turning a lot of us into amateur epidemiologists. Just listen to Mick Mulvaney, the former real estate developer and member of Congress from South Carolina who is now acting White House chief of staff. “The flu kills people,” he said. “This is not Ebola. It’s not Sars, it’s not Mers. It’s not a death sentence, ...

Europe’s lenders are staring at yet another possible crisis, this time not of their own making, and the brutal reality is that the European Central Bank can do very little to help them. That’s bad news for the real economy too. The economic hit from the rapid spread of the coronavirus will probably mean another spate of loans turning bad, ...

Even Richard Branson couldn’t provide the spark needed to save struggling Flybe. The UK’s largest domestic airline collapsed into administration on March 05 after failing to secure a last-ditch bailout from the government. There is no doubt that the coronavirus played a part in Flybe’s demise. The spread of the deadly disease is having a devastating effect travel and tourism. ...

Bloomberg After a decade-long uphill battle against passive investing, active funds are getting a rare moment of respite, courtesy of the worst equity sell-off since 2018. About 60% of large-cap mutual funds beat their benchmarks as the S&P 500 tumbled into a correction in February, the best hit rate in two years, according to data compiled by Bank of America ...

Bloomberg A second hit could be coming for China’s economy after its initial shock from the coronavirus, said Joe Davis, chief economist at fund giant Vanguard Group. While China has seen new cases of the virus slow, its spread is intensifying in the US and Europe. Should that trend keep hammering the economies of both regions, it could knock a ...

Bloomberg Global central bankers enter a new week under fresh pressure to outline the next steps in their battle to address the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Policy makers got a wakeup call last week as the Federal Reserve’s emergency interest rate cut did little restore confidence, leaving officials hunting for innovative ways to add stimulus that can have a ...

Bloomberg Intesa Sanpaolo SpA will go ahead with its plan to take over smaller rival UBI Banca SpA if at least 50.1% of its shareholders adhere to the offer, Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. “Given the value of the deal for the country, as well as for Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI itself, ...

Bloomberg The fallout from the global spread of coronavirus may be starting to affect credit and funding markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Supply-chain disruptions and demand shock from the virus fallout could already be causing cash-flow problems for businesses, JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. That’s probably even more true for smaller companies and those in ...