The coronavirus is carrying not just sickness but also the anxiety and paralysis that can smother economic growth. AP’s PaulWisemanAP explains why businesses are reeling -- raising the risk of a recession:
FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020, file photo, a staff member blocks the view as a person is taken by a stretcher to a waiting ambulance from a nursing facility where people are sick and being tested for the COVID-19 virus in Kirkland, Wash. From Miami to Seattle, nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly are stockpiling masks and thermometers, preparing for staff shortages and screening visitors to protect a particularly vulnerable population from the deadly new coronavirus.
Capital Economics expects the Chinese economy to shrink 2% in the January-March quarter and to grow as little as 2% for the year. That would be a disastrous and humiliating comedown for an economy that delivered a sizzling 9% average annual growth rate from 2000 through last year. Yet the new virus has spread far faster and more widely than expected. Between November 2002 and early August 2003, SARS infected 7,400 people in 32 countries and territories and killed 916. By contrast, COVID-19 has infected more than 100,000 people and killed more than 3,400 in 90 countries. And the toll is growing.
In Europe, Germany’s largest airline, Lufthansa, says it will cut up to 50% of its flights in the next few weeks, having suffered a drastic drop in reservations. The struggling British airline Flybe collapsed last week as the outbreak quashed ticket sales. Air France and Scandinavian Airlines are freezing hiring and offering unpaid leave and shorter work hours as they endure a drop in passengers and cargo.
Last week, the Federal Reserve announced a surprise half-point cut in its key interest rate to try to aid the economy in the face of the coronavirus. The Fed is expected to cut rates further in coming weeks, though economists question whether that will do much to bolster investor or consumer confidence. Central banks in Australia, Canada, China and Japan have also acted to support their economies. The European Central Bank is expected to announce its next steps this week.
Executives of Salus Brands, a company in Tempe, Arizona, that sells swimming-pool floats and bottles of slime, fear that deliveries from its Chinese factories won’t arrive in time for summer vacation.
日本 最新ニュース, 日本 見出し
Similar News:他のニュース ソースから収集した、これに似たニュース記事を読むこともできます。
The creep of coronavirus is changing daily lives, inspiring panic and shrugsAfter weeks of watching the spread of the coronavirus, the anxiety of a global threat has started to settle in across Southern California, creating a strange amalgam of emotions.
続きを読む »
Coronavirus | ReutersTwo federal health screeners at Los Angeles International Airport have tested positive for coronavirus, according to an email sent to their colleagues today and seen by Reuters
続きを読む »
Six die at collapsed China quarantine site; virus spread slows ex-WuhanSix people have died and 28 remain trapped after the collapse of a hotel that wa...
続きを読む »