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Your Evening Briefing

Your Evening Briefing

(Bloomberg) --

The U.S. State Department raised its travel alert to Level 4 for the entire world, an unprecedented move aimed at keeping Americans from going overseas. As the coronavirus pandemic worsens, engulfing Europe and Italy in particular, other places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan seem to have gotten a handle on the cases that first spread outward from China. But now, as the global death toll approaches 10,000, they may be facing a second wave

Bloomberg is mapping the spread of the coronavirus globally and in the U.S. For the latest news on the outbreak, sign up for our daily newsletter.

Here are today’s top stories

Hubei, the Chinese province where Covid-19 first emerged, reported no new coronavirus infections for the first time in two months, marking a turning point in the nation. Italy, with 3,405 dead, is now the global center of the pandemic. There are 233,250 cases worldwide.

Younger adults aren’t as impervious to the novel coronavirus as previously thought, according to new data from Europe and the U.S.

Congress and the White House are racing to develop an economic rescue plan that could exceed the size and scope of measures taken during the 2008 financial crisis. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he supports cash payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 per child.

Profit over public: Some traders at the biggest banks have been trying to work while sick, putting others at risk. Elsewhere, U.S. company employees aren’t being told to work remotely, even though they could.

Wall Street’s wealthiest, from Carl Icahn to Warren Buffett, have spent more than $1 billion to boost their stakes in companies whose shares have been crushed by the coronavirus crash. 

This crisis is different, Peter Coy writes in Bloomberg Businessweek. Past market meltdowns, like 1987 and 2008, were caused by an imbalance in balance sheets. This time, Coy says, it's a life-and-death struggle.

What’s Lorcan Roche Kelly thinking about? The Bloomberg cross-asset editor says back in 2008, it was possible for central banks to work out roughly how big the crisis would be, and respond accordingly. The current pandemic doesn’t allow for that kind of certainty. Nobody knows how long it will go on, how much economic activity will be curtailed or how much permanent damage will be done. As a result, Lorcan contends, we can’t rightly judge central bank and government actions until it’s all over.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Pursuits

Breaking up fights over Dr. Seuss books while on a conference call. Trying to limit screen time while banging out a memo. And so it goes in white collar homes across America, where some employees lucky enough to be working remotely must manage their stuck-at-home children. Parents are creating schedules with “academic time” and “creative time” to guide their kids, or flocking to virtual learning programs that promise precious hours of kid distraction. But parents are panicking over how to sustain workloads and round-the-clock child care in the weeks, or months, to come.

Your Evening Briefing

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