By Gina Lee, Peter Nurse and Kim Khan
Investing.com – Certain areas of New York state will reopen in the middle of next month, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) has suspended its quarterly cash dividend, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is delaying the production ramp-up of its flagship iPhones, as the coronavirus hits corporate America.
The European Central Bank will step up its emergency stimulus measures this week to combat the pandemic’s economic hit in the absence of a more solid fiscal response, according to strategists at Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS).
Americas:
U.S. Areas of New York state will start to reopen on May 15, Cuomo said. But others will remain on lockdown. Hospitalizations continue to decline, he added.
U.S. New York canceled its presidential primary, which was already delayed, due to the coronavirus.
U.S. General Motors has suspended its quarterly cash dividend on its common stock and its share buybacks to save cash in the face of the coronavirus crisis that has severely hurt global automobile sales.
U.S. Apple is delaying the production ramp-up of its flagship iPhones coming later this year by about a month as the coronavirus pandemic has weakened global consumer demand and disrupted manufacturing across Asia, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
U.S. The shuttering of the country’s economy due to the coronavirus pandemic is a shock of historic proportions that will likely push the national unemployment rate to 16% or higher this month and require more stimulus to ensure a strong rebound, President Donald Trump's economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said on Sunday.
U.S. The Trump administration is focusing on protocols to keep U.S. factories open as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, including screening workers for potential cases, White House adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday.
U.S. New York governor Andrew Cuomo said overnight that the state will eventually re-open in phases once the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says state and regional hospitalization rates have been in decline for 14 days. He also reported that total hospitalizations in New York were down to levels seen on March 31, nearly a month ago.
Argentina extended its nationwide lockdown until May 10.
Europe:
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has returned to Downing Street for the first time since he was admitted to hospital with the coronavirus on April 6, and will chair Monday’s cabinet meeting.
This comes as the country reported its lowest daily rise in the death toll since the end of March on Sunday, an increase of 413 to 20,732 in the last 24 hours.
U.K. It will take three years for the country’s economy to fully recover from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the EY Item Club, a leading forecasting group.
Italy has outlined plans to ease the strict restrictions imposed seven weeks ago to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The country has registered 26,644 deaths, Europe's highest official toll, but recorded only 260 new virus-related deaths on Sunday, the lowest daily figure since March 14.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said curbs would be relaxed from May 4, with people being allowed to visit their relatives in small numbers, in masks. Parks will reopen, but schools will not restart classes until September.
Germany The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 1,018 to 155,193, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The death toll rose by 110 to 5,750.
Germany Sportswear firm Adidas (DE:ADSGN) expects to take a bigger hit from the coronavirus lockdowns in the second quarter, predicting that sales will fall more than 40% after it reported a decline of 19% in the first quarter.
Germany Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p), the world's largest carmaker by sales, resumed work at its biggest factory in Wolfsburg, to give its workers time to adapt to new hygiene measures to combat the coronavirus.
Belgium Hospitals admitted the lowest number of Covid-19 patients since the start of the lockdown almost seven weeks ago, figures showed on Monday, a week before the country starts to ease restrictions.
Netherlands The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen by 400 to 38,245 health authorities said on Monday, with 43 new deaths. The country's death toll stands at 4,518, the Netherlands' Institute for Public Health said in its daily update.
Switzerland will reopen selected shops and retail outlets on Monday, including hairdressers, garden centers and florists.
Asia:
Japan The Bank of Japan on Monday pledged at its monetary policy meeting to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic. It also ramped up its scope for buying corporate bonds and commercial paper by raising its ceiling on holdings to 20 trillion yen ($186 billion).
China Companies continued to report falling profits as business activity struggled to recover from the aftermath of the coronavirus. Industrial profits dropped 34.9% from a year earlier in March, improving slightly from a 38.3% decline in the first two months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.
Hong Kong is reported to be considering relaxing mandatory quarantine controls on mainland Chinese visitors, allowing civil servants to return to the office and easing restrictions on some business sectors if the number of new cases continues to be low.
Taiwan is also looking to ease measures after 14 consecutive days of no local confirmed cases for 14 consecutive days.
North Korea Speculation surrounding the health of leader Kim Jong Un intensified as it was reported that a Chinese medical and diplomatic team had visited Kim. Satellite images showed a train resembling Kim’s parked near his compound in the coastal city of Wonsan.
That said, South Korean officials stated that they have detected no unusual movements in North Korea.
New Zealand will downgrade its restriction level from alert 4 to alert 3 from Tuesday, allowing most businesses to re-open.