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BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY Thursday 2 april 2020
Stocks skid worldwide as coronavirus infections keep soaring

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. closed out its worst quarter cording to Rhea Thomas, can cause more severe ill- for 2020 so far to nearly 73%.
TROISE and ALEX VEIGA since 2008 with a 20% loss. senior economist at Wilm- ness, including pneumonia, So much of the company's
AP Business Writer “The challenge for inves- ington Trust. Small business- and death. market value has vanished
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. tors is you don't know how es are seeing the sharpest Stocks had cut some of that it's getting removed
stocks joined a worldwide deep and how wide this declines in employment, their severe losses in re- from the S&P 500 index of
downdraft Wednesday as downturn may be," said and some closed firms may cent weeks as Washington big U.S. companies. S&P
more signs piled up of the Rob Haworth, senior invest- not be responding to the swooped in with aid for the Dow Jones Indices is skip-
economic and physical ment strategist at U.S. Bank survey. economy and markets. ping its index of medium-
pain being caused by the Wealth Management. “It's The government's week- The S&P 500 jumped nearly sized stocks and placing
coronavirus outbreak. very hard, for us at least, to ly jobless claims report 18% in just three days last Macy's into its index of small
The S&P 500 was down have a view of what and may offer a better view. week as Congress struck a stocks, the S&P 600, effec-
more than 3.5% in early af- where the value is being The next batch of num- deal on a $2.2 trillion rescue tive on Monday.
ternoon trading after Presi- created.” bers comes Thursday, and package for the economy The market's hardest-hit ar-
dent Donald Trump warned “Yes, there should be an Thomas said it could blow and the Federal Reserve eas included banks, utilities
Americans to brace for economic rebound, and past last week's total of 3.3 promised to buy as many and other dividend payers.
“one of the roughest two there should be winners,” million initial claims, which Treasurys as it takes to get “There are more worries
or three weeks we’ve ever he said. “The hardest part itself was quintuple the prior lending markets running now about this rippling
had in our country." The of that is, in doing that, record. smoothly. through dividend pay-
White House is project- you're trying to leap over Another report on Wednes- House Democrats are al- ments and cutting back on
ing that 100,000 to 240,000 a canyon of undetermined day showed that U.S. ready collecting ideas for the income investors are
people in the U.S. could die width and depth. It ends up manufacturing activity a possible fourth round of getting,” said Jeffrey Klein-
from COVID-19. being a true leap of faith contracted in March, re- aid for the economy, and top, chief global invest-
Japanese stocks took some that the forecast and the versing after two months of Trump has tweeted his ment strategist at Charles
of the world’s heaviest loss- duration of the pandemic slight growth. The reading, support for a $2 trillion in- Schwab.
es, down 4.5%, after a sur- will be accurate.” though, was not as bad as frastructure package. But The Dow Jones Industrial
vey of business sentiment A report on Wednesday economists expected. top Republicans in Con- Average lost 754 points,
there fell to its worst result said that private U.S. em- The number of infections gress say they first want to or 3.4%, to 21,162, and the
in seven years. Britain’s FTSE ployers cut 27,000 jobs last keeps rising, which worsens see how well their just-ap- Nasdaq dropped 3.2%.
100 fell 3.8% after big banks month, which was actu- the uncertainty. proved programs do. The yield on the 10-year
there scrapped dividend ally much milder than the The United States has more The S&P 500 was down Treasury dropped to 0.58%
payments, part of a world- 200,000 that economists than 189,000 cases, ac- 3.7%, as of 12:10 p.m. East- from 0.70% late Tuesday. A
wide effort by companies were expecting. The survey cording to a tally by Johns ern time. bond’s yield drops when
and households alike to from payroll processor ADP Hopkins University. That All 11 sectors that make up its price rises, and investors
conserve cash. used data from the week leads the world, which has the index lower. Among the buy long-term Treasurys
Stocks have tumbled this ending March 14, which more than 877,000 con- few gainers were Kroger, when they’re fearful be-
year as the coronavirus was before the number of firmed cases. Dollar General and other cause they see U.S. govern-
pandemic forces econo- people seeking unemploy- For most people, the coro- companies selling day-to- ment bonds as having virtu-
mies into what is expect- ment benefits exploded to navirus causes mild or mod- day essentials that house- ally no risk of default
ed to be a steep, sudden a record. erate symptoms, such as holds are stocking up on to Benchmark U.S. crude oil
recession. Businesses are Even Friday's more compre- fever and cough that clear ride through stay-at-home held relatively steady slight-
shutting down, people are hensive jobs report from the up in two to three weeks. orders. ly above $20 per barrel, af-
staying at home in hopes government may not show For some, especially older On the losing end was ter it dropped by roughly
of slowing the spread of the the full scale of the layoffs adults and people with Macy's, whose 4.9% drop two thirds in the first three
virus and the S&P 500 just sweeping the country, ac- existing health problems, it Wednesday brought its loss months of the year.q

Sprint and T-Mobile merge,

creating new wireless giant

Eds: UPDATES: Replaces The Federal Communica- Sprint's spectrum, the air-
deal value with updated tions Commission and the waves that carry phone
version. Adds T-Mobile Department of Justice ap- calls and data signals, will
stock. Adds photo.; With AP proved the deal last year, boost its network and make
Photos. with DOJ telling the com- its service available to con-
NEW YORK (AP) — Mobile panies that they must set sumers at lower prices. It
carrier T-Mobile has com- up satellite TV company had promised regulators
pleted the takeover of Dish as a new wireless car- not to raise prices for three
smaller rival Sprint, creating rier — an unusual arrange- years.
a new wireless giant that ment — in order to win T-Mobile also said Wednes-
rivals AT&T and Verizon in approval. Public-interest day that its CEO, John
size. groups said this was insuffi- Legere, is stepping down a
The companies an- cient to correct the harms month earlier than expect- FILE - This combination of April 30, 2018, file photos shows sig-
nounced the deal, valued from the merger. ed, handing the job off to nage for a Sprint store in New York's Herald Square, top, and
at $31.6 billion based on T- State attorneys general COO Mike Sievert. He will signage at a T-Mobile store in New York. Mobile carrier T-Mobile
Mobile's closing stock price sued to block the deal, say- remain a board member. has completed its takeover of smaller rival Sprint, creating a
Tuesday, two years ago. ing it would add billions to As of Wednesday, Sprint new wireless giant that rivals AT&T and Verizon in size. The deal
It has taken a long time consumers' wireless bills. A shares are no longer trad- was announced two years ago and has taken a long time to
to close because of push- federal judge ruled for the ing. T-Mobile shares added close because of pushback from state and federal regulators.
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
back from state and fed- companies in February. 2.8% to $86.23 in midday Associated Press
eral regulators. T-Mobile says that adding trading.q