March, 2020

• 15 March

  Airports in US struggle to cope with crowds

  

  Bloomberg Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was among those overwhelmed on March 14 with passengers, including many returning from Europe, who faced new screening measures hastily announced last week. The crowds of anxious travelers were a stark contrast to the increasingly loud calls for people to practice “social distancing” as a way to get ahead of the spread of the coronavirus …

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• 15 March

  UK’s biggest grocers ask their shoppers to stop stockpiling

  

  Bloomberg British food retailers have written a joint letter to their customers asking them to “buy responsibly” in the wake of shoppers stockpiling over fears about the new coronavirus. In an extraordinary development, 12 of Britain’s biggest grocers will publish advertisements in national newspapers on Sunday and Monday. Entitled “Working to Feed the Nation,” the letter reassures shoppers about steps …

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• 15 March

  Walmart cuts store hours to give workers time to restock

  

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc, the biggest US retailer, was expected to cut its store operating hours starting from Sunday to give its workers time to restock shelves as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies. The pandemic is prompting Americans to buy more groceries and other daily necessities including cleaning products, often emptying shelves in anticipation of an extended period of so-called social distancing …

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• 15 March

  ‘Mall owner Intu may struggle to keep going’

  Bloomberg UK mall landlord Intu Properties Plc may struggle to continue operating due to high debts and plunging asset values, its auditors warned. Intu shares declined as much as 16% last week, bringing their loss for the year to 83%. Its unsecured bonds due in 2022 fell 7 pence on the pound to 30 pence, the lowest level on record, …

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• 15 March

  Venezuela plans to suspend more flights

  Bloomberg Venezuela will temporarily suspend flights from Panama and the Dominican Republic, essentially cutting off the nation from most of the world, Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said. Flights from Europe and neighboring Colombia were already suspended earlier this week, narrowing the country’s remaining air connections to about a handful, including Turkey and Cuba. Rodriguez pleaded with Venezuelans to remain home …

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• 14 March

  Oil price war erases $196bn from energy stocks in a week

  

  Bloomberg Record lows, trading halts, capitulation and spending cuts made for a wild week in the energy sector after Saudi Arabia and Russia embarked on a war for market share, sending crude and equity prices in a downward spiral. The S&P 500 energy index never recouped the stunning losses it saw at the beginning of the week, despite the late-day …

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• 14 March

  Coronavirus tally may be tip of iceberg as sick go untested

  

  Bloomberg Nizana Brautmann found out her 6-year-old son had been exposed to coronavirus via a note on the locked door of his Berlin daycare center. It told parents to take their kids home and wait. As the focus of the new pandemic shifts to Europe, authorities there have been slower to embrace the aggressive testing credited with helping to curb …

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• 14 March

  ‘Virus more damaging than financial crisis’

  

  Bloomberg The economic fallout from the coronavirus could be more serious than the damage done by the 2008 global financial crisis for Singapore, according to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. “We can’t tell when the pandemic will end, but it will likely last at least this year, and quite possibly longer,” Lee said in a Facebook post. “The economic hit …

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• 14 March

  PG&E supports California proposal for oversight

  

  Bloomberg PG&E Corp said it largely supports a proposal from California’s top that would allow for greater oversight of the power giant if it fails to reform itself and causes another catastrophic fire after exiting bankruptcy. The company said it agrees with the establishment of a six-step enforcement process proposed by California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer. That would …

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• 14 March

  Driverless cars look like ‘loaves of bread’

  

  Bloomberg Do automakers investing billions in the self-driving cars of tomorrow risk repeating the same mistake they made with electric cars a decade ago? Cutting-edge robotic people-movers from the likes of General Motors Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Jaguar Land Rover all share similarly rectangular dimensions with more of an eye towards engineering practicality. Even Waymo, the self-driving arm of …

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