April, 2020

• 8 April

  Hong Kong’s airport eyes $2.6b loan to help fund third runway

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s Airport Authority is in talks with banks for a HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion) loan to help fund the city’s third runway, according to people familiar with the matter. The five-year facility, which is also meant for general corporate purposes, offers an interest margin of 72 basis points over the Hong Kong interbank offered rate and a top-level ...

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• 8 April

  TJ Maxx adds to retail toll of furloughs in US

  

  Bloomberg Employee furloughs in the retail industry are now well over 1 million after the owner of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, one of America’s biggest clothing store chains, suspended its store workers. TJX Companies Inc said that it would furlough the majority of its US workforce at stores and distribution centres. It employs about 286,000 people worldwide, with most based ...

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• 8 April

  Boeing finds new flaws on grounded 737 Max

  Bloomberg Boeing Co has identified two new software problems with the grounded 737 Max that must be fixed before the jetliner can carry passengers again. The issues involve the flight-control computer and don’t affect the plane’s estimated return to service in mid-2020, Boeing said. The Max’s software has been undergoing a redesign after being linked to two fatal crashes that ...

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• 8 April

  Macy’s CFO Paula Price steps down

  Bloomberg Macy’s Inc, in the middle of navigating a broad US shutdown of nonessential businesses, said that Chief Financial Officer Paula Price is leaving her role. Price, who has been in the position for less than two years, “has made the decision to leave the company as of May 31,” the department-store operator said in a statement. She will remain ...

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• 8 April

  Low-cost carriers get break on ‘flight rule’

  Bloomberg The federal government ordered airlines accepting financial aid to maintain minimal service levels to cities they served before the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the transportation system, but made adjustments for low-cost carriers and those that fly to some destinations only part of the year. The US Department of Transportation eased some requirements it made in a proposal after airlines and ...

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• 8 April

  Coronavirus: Deflation could be the next threat

  

  Just what kind of economic slump will this be? It’s too early to know, but it’s not too early to speculate. I’ve done a totally unscientific survey of economic forecasts. Some were solicited by me; others I received from regular emails. What follows is a quick summary of what I found. It doesn’t attempt to forecast peak unemployment or the ...

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• 8 April

  Lesson on how to lift virus lockdown

  

  We are seeing glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel that is the Covid-19 crisis. China, where the pandemic first struck, had its first day with no new deaths to report. Europe’s worst hit countries, Italy and Spain, are recording a slowing of their respective death tolls. And governments are now talking openly about lifting draconian lockdowns that ...

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• 8 April

  Retooling factories for ventilators to take time

  In the face of a global health emergency, automakers are stepping in — or being summoned — to make ventilators. Can they manufacture at the scale required, with the world needing a 10-fold increase in production to cope with the surge in coronavirus infections? It will be a severe challenge. Car companies such as Ford Motor Co, General Motors (GM) ...

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• 8 April

  This is not the time to fight over ‘poison pills’

  In an ordinary April, Corporate America would now be gearing up for proxy season, preparing for annual meetings and arguing with activist investors over strategy. Instead, companies find themselves on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis, facing difficult choices about how best to protect workers, investors, and their businesses from the virus and its fallout. Among the issues normally ...

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• 8 April

  Density isn’t destiny in fight against Covid-19

  

  As a Manhattan resident, I’ll be the first to admit that New York City in general and Manhattan in particular are not optimally designed for social distancing. People here tend to get around not in their own automobiles but on foot or by bus, subway, taxi or ride-share. We buy our groceries mostly not in giant wide-aisled supermarkets but in ...

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