WARC (July 21)
“High levels of concern over COVID-19 come as countries struggle to contain virus outbreak in tandem with the slow reopening of their economies. While 77% of respondents in China were worried, 90% of respondents were also confident about their country’s ability to deal with the virus compared the global percentage of 36%. In India, 53% of respondents were confident, down from a high of 64% in previous surveys, while Japan had the lowest confidence level at 19% but was up from a low of 11%.”
Tags: China, Concern, Confident, Contain, COVID-19, India, Outbreak, Reopening, Struggle, Virus, Worried
The Plain Dealer (July 1)
“Ohio experienced a decrease in the mortality rate for the coronavirus over the past three months” as more new infections are attributed to young people. That’s not the only reason, however, as the mortality rate for those over 60 has dropped from 23% in April to 7.4% in June. Factors likely include “earlier testing for the virus and steroid treatments that have helped hospitalized patients.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Decrease, Hospitalized, Infections, Mortality rate, Ohio, Patients, Steroid treatments, Testing, Virus, Young
Washington Post (May 13)
As countries around the world “explore ways to end stay-at-home orders, countries that had already opened up are closing down again after renewed spikes in infections. Lebanon on Tuesday became the latest country to reimpose restrictions after experiencing a surge of infections, almost exactly two weeks after it appeared to contain the spread of the virus and began easing up.”
Tags: Closing down, Infections, Lebanon, Open up, Restrictions, Spikes, Spread, Stay-at-home, Surge, Virus
Reuters (April 29)
“There’s an end to everything except, apparently, central bankers’ creativity. Virus-damaged economies will need lots of help to heal, and more downturns are inevitable in the future. The monetary-policy bigwigs will keep coming up with more new ways to stimulate growth.” The Fed and BoE may “eventually overcome their aversion to negative interest rates” and/or “copy Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda’s yield-curve control policy of targeting specific levels for 10-year government bond yields.”
Tags: BOE, BOJ, Creativity, Damaged, Downturns, Economies, Fed, Growth, Heal, Kuroda, Monetary policy, Negative interest, Virus, Yield curve
Wall Street Journal (April 16)
“Can we please stop talking about “reopening” the U.S. economy?… There is no on-off switch. Swaths of the economy—restaurants, travel, retail shops—were already shrinking before governments ordered them shut, because people were afraid to dine, travel or shop. These fears will abate gradually, with the pace dictated by the course of the virus, not by anybody’s decree.”
Tags: Economy, Fears, Governments, Pace, Reopening, Restaurants, Retail, Travel, U.S., Virus
Seeking Alpha (April 6)
Recovery is not just a matter of overcoming the virus. In fact, the world faces an overhanging economic challenge. “We’re likely in the later stages of a global debt supercycle. The sheer amount of debt in the world makes temporary income disruptions a lot more financially impactful than they would be in a system with less leverage. As of 2019, global debt surpassed $250 trillion, which is more than 250% of the world’s GDP.”
Tags: Disruptions, Economic challenge, Global debt, Income, Leverage, Recovery, Supercycle, Virus
New York Times (March 17)
The U.S. economy is shutting down “as pandemic measures take hold. The fast-spreading virus has put an end to movies, date nights and other economic activity, prompting some economists to call a U.S. recession.” By Monday, “it was clear everywhere that most of the American economy was grinding to an unparalleled halt and would remain that way for months.”
New York Times (March 13)
“China bought the West time. The West squandered it.” In the U.S. and Europe, the attitude has largely “been bizarrely reactive, if not outright passive… governments in those regions have let pass their best chance to contain the virus’s spread.” Why did “so many countries watch the epidemic unfold for weeks as though it was none of their concern?”
Tags: Bizarre Reactive, China, Epidemic, Europe, Governments, Passive, Spread, Squandered, Time, U.S., Virus
Washington Post (March 10)
The lack of candor “is now causing confusion and panic as Trump and his political lieutenants paint a picture of the spreading coronavirus that is utterly at odds with what the nation’s public health experts are saying…. As global markets plunged on Monday and the virus continued its inexorable spread, Trump continued comparing the virus to the ‘common Flu,’ during which ‘nothing is shut down.’”
Tags: Candor, Confusion, Coronavirus, Experts, Flu, Global markets, Panic, Plunged, Public health, Trump, Virus
Bloomberg (March 7)
“A second hit could be coming for China’s economy after its initial shock from the coronavirus…. While China has seen new cases of the virus slow,” growing cases in “the U.S. and Europe…could knock a half percentage point off of China’s gross domestic product for the year as demand for Chinese goods slows.”
