The Wall Street Journal - 20.03.2020

A2| Friday, March 20, 2020 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

dustry, which accounts for

about 11% of nonfarm payrolls,

particularly hard.

States, including large ones

such as New York, experienced

a sudden rush for unemploy-

ment benefits, though it isn’t

clear what percentage of

Americans seeking benefits

were unemployed, furloughed

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

(USPS 664-880) (Eastern Edition ISSN 0099-9660)

(Central Edition ISSN 1092-0935) (Western Edition ISSN 0193-2241)

Editorial and publication headquarters:1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036

Published daily except Sundays and general legal holidays.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and other mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Wall Street Journal,

200 Burnett Rd., Chicopee, MA 01020.

All Advertising published in The Wall Street Journal is subject to the applicable rate card,

copies of which are available from the Advertising Services Department, Dow Jones & Co. Inc.,

1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036. The Journal reserves the right not to

accept an advertiser’s order. Only publication of an advertisement shall constitute final

acceptance of the advertiser’s order.

Letters to the Editor:Fax: 212-416-2891; email: [email protected]

Need assistance with your subscription?

By web: customercenter.wsj.com; By email: [email protected]

By phone: 1-800-JOURNAL (1-800-568-7625)

Reprints & licensing:

By email: [email protected]

By phone: 1-800-843-

WSJ back issues and framed pages:wsjshop.com

Our newspapers are 100% sourced from sustainably certified mills.

GOT A TIP FOR US? SUBMIT IT AT WSJ.COM/TIPS

U.S. WATCH

There are courses, including

the famous Augusta National

Golf Club, that have closed

down out of precaution be-

cause of the virus. Profes-

sional golf has seen its calen-

dar torpedoed by the

coronavirus. Augusta National

postponed perhaps the game’s

most prominent major, The

Masters, which was set for

April.

That hasn’t stopped duffers

like Jim Damron, a 72-year-old

who admits his handicap is

pretty high. “I’m working on

it, though,” he says.

Mr. Damron retired a year-

and-a-half ago and now works

part-time at a golf course in

the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

He also plays two-to-three

days a week, and he feels the

proper steps have been taken

to ensure it remains a healthy

outlet.

In the clubhouse at North-

west Golf Course in Silver

Spring, Md., there is a sign

pointing toward marks on the

floor that show people how

“to keep safe social distance.”

People also have to pay with

credit cards, to avoid the

transfer of cash, and the jugs

of water between holes are

gone.

By his judgment, the mea-

sures are working. “People are

just really grateful to have a

place to get out and be in con-

tact—but not too close con-

tact,” he says.

—Louise Radnofsky

contributed to this article.

POLITICS

Gabbard Ends Her

Bid for Presidency

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii

congresswoman and Iraq war vet-

eran, has ended her bid for the

Democratic nomination for presi-

dent after a campaign in which

she had notable debate moments

but failed to break through with

voters, earning just two of the

delegates awarded so far.

She said Thursday that she

was offering her full support to

Joe Biden “in his quest to bring

our country together,” adding

“it’s clear” that Democratic pri-

mary voters have chosen the

former vice president to chal-

lenge President Trump.

Mr. Biden won three more

states this week and is the

front-runner in the Democratic

contest, outpacing Sen. Bernie

Sanders of Vermont. In a tweet,

Mr. Biden said he was grateful

to have Ms. Gabbard’s support,

saying she “has put her life on

the line in service of this country

and continues to serve with

honor today.”

Ms. Gabbard, 38 years old,

made pulling the U.S. out of

overseas conflicts a pillar of her

campaign. Ms. Gabbard has said

she wouldn’t seek re-election to

her House seat.

—Eliza Collins

WASHINGTON STATE

Lieutenant Governor

To Join Priesthood

Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus

Habib said Thursday that he

wasn’t running for re-election

and would join the Jesuit order

of the Catholic Church to start

the process of becoming a priest.

Mr. Habib, the state’s first blind

lieutenant governor, said the deci-

sion comes after “two years of

careful and prayerful discernment.”

A Democrat who has served

in the position since 2017, Mr.

Habib, 38, previously served in

the state House and Senate.

—Associated Press

MINNESOTA

Jury Acquits Deputy

In Shooting Death

A Minnesota sheriff’s deputy

was acquitted of second-degree

manslaughter on Thursday in the

2018 fatal shooting of a suicidal

man who held a gun to his own

head as he knelt in the street

during a standoff with police.

Prosecutors said Washington

County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian

Krook acted with culpable negli-

gence when he shot Benjamin Ev-

ans. Defense attorneys said Mr.

Evans knew he would live if he

just put down his weapon.

—Associated Press

Golfers played this week in Palm Harbor, Fla. Because of the coronavirus. socially acceptable outdoor activities are harder to find.

CHRIS URSO/TAMPA BAY TIMES/ZUMA PRESS

leagues. Fitness classes are off

the table. People have been

forced to work from home and

putter around with their

spouses and children to avoid

crowded, outdoor spaces.

This has left golf courses—

wide expanses where people

don’t need to come into close

contact—as a rare escape dur-

ing this unprecedented mo-

ment. The sport that has wor-

ried about how its aging

demographic threatens its fu-

ture is oddly all the rage.

“Every single call is, ‘Oh

thank God, we’re so happy to

be able to get out of the

house, the kids are driving us

insane,’” said Seth Balasny,

general manager of New York

Country Club in New Hemp-

stead. “People are so happy to

be able to come out and be

able to play golf.”

Mr. Balasny says the club’s

numbers this year are actually

up—though that can’t neces-

sarily be attributed to eager

golfers looking to escape their

children. Golf is also weather

dependent, and in prior years,

these months had been bogged

down by snow, with courses

ContinuedfromPageOne

Golfers

Play

Through

A Coronavirus Pandemicar-

ticle Wednesday about growing

concern over millennial push-

back against social-distancing

measures incorrectly featured a

photo of Colorado College se-

niors at a crowded celebration

to mark the end of classes. The

photo was taken March 11, be-

fore many government officials

started strongly recommending

social distancing.

Readers can alert The Wall Street Journal to any errors in news articles by

[email protected] by calling 888-410-2667.

CORRECTIONSAMPLIFICATIONS

hardly open. Meanwhile, as

coronavirus concerns have

ramped up and sent people in-

doors, it has been cruelly nice

outside in some places.

A spokesman for GolfNow, a

popular online booking site,

says it is too early to deter-

mine any true impact on the

industry as a whole but recent

data shows “the number of

rounds of golf booked through

our distribution channels re-

mains strong.”

Golf doesn’t have the same

problems as so many of the

options that have closed their

doors.

People don’t have to share

equipment or cram into

closely confined spaces. They

play in small

groups, typi-

cally four-

somes, and

spread out over

the span of

hundreds of

yards.

“I believe

that adequate

social distancing can be per-

formed with golfing,” said

Amesh A. Adalja, senior

scholar at Johns Hopkins Cen-

ter for Health Security. “If

people can remain 6 feet apart

and not touch common sur-

faces the game is likely safe.”

Courses around the world

are taking steps to ensure

that. Some of these steps, such

as increased sanitization ef-

forts to clean golf carts after

every round, are standard. It

just so happens that some of

the others might make Ben

Hogan snap a pitching wedge

over his knee in disgust.

In its email to members,

Pinehurst told players to com-

pletely skip the main golf shop

and instead check in at the

starters shack. It also in-

structed players to manicure

bunkers with their feet, so a

bunch of dirty hands don’t

keep touching the same rake.

To golf sticklers, this is

roughly the equivalent of driv-

ing a cart onto the green.

The memo added that Pine-

hurst patrons could replace

hand shakes with a “head

nod” or “club tap.”

Putting with the flagstick in

the hole used to

be grounds for

a potential pen-

alty, but the

USGA changed

that rule not

long ago. In tra-

ditional circles,

though, it is

still as taboo as

playing in sweatpants.

Other courses have devised

an even bolder solution: they

have raised the cups an inch

out of the ground on the

greens, telling golfers to putt

until their ball simply knocks

into the elevated cup.

Some golf clubs have also

closed their dining rooms or

scaled back their food options.

Playing 18 might still be avail-

able, but the 19th hole—the

bar—is now off limits.

or working reduced hours.

New York’s website to regis-

ter for unemployment benefits

is averaging 250,000 logins a

day, a 400% increase over its

typical average, according to a

department spokesperson.

Ohio’s four-day total for job-

less claims through Wednesday

was 111,055, compared with

“It certainly looks like we’ll

have a significant increase

next week,” said Josh Wright,

chief economist at iCIMS Inc.

“This is a national disaster

that is already morphing into a

financial and economic crisis.”

The trajectory of jobless

claims in the medium term de-

pends on how many compa-

U.S. NEWS

nies have a cash buffer to help

weather the crisis, he said.

Earlier this week, many

states ordered businesses in

public places, such as restau-

rants and bars, to temporarily

close to protect against the

spread of coronavirus. The

mandates hit employment in

the leisure-and-hospitality in-

about 4,000 for the same pe-

riod last week. Connecticut fil-

ers submitted more than

30,000 new claims between

Monday and Wednesday, com-

pared with just 2,500 all last

week. Michigan and Kentucky

also reported jumps in volume.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of Cali-

fornia, a state with one of the

highest number of coronavirus

cases, said in a Wednesday

briefing that the state received

80,000 unemployment insur-

ance applications Tuesday,

compared with an average of

2,000 claims a day typically.

Washington, another state

with a large number of coro-

navirus cases, is hiring more

than 100 workers to handle

unemployment applications,

and extending its customer

service to seven days a week.

Just a couple of weeks ago

the labor market appeared ro-

bust, underscoring how

quickly the virus has roiled

the U.S. economy.

—Nick Timiraos

contributed to this article.

WASHINGTON—The num-

ber of Americans applying for

first-time unemployment ben-

efits increased sharply last

week, the front end of a surge

in jobless claims tied to the

new coronavirus pandemic.

Initial jobless claims in-

creased by 70,000 in the week

ended Saturday to a seasonally

adjusted 281,000, marking the

fourth-biggest jump for jobless

claims on record back to 1967.

It also brought claims to the

highest level since September

2017, following Hurricane Har-

vey, which struck the U.S. and

disrupted business activity.

Several states specifically

cited coronavirus-related lay-

offs last week, the report said.

Many states have reported

higher layoffs in services indus-

tries, particularly restaurants.

The survey period for

Thursday’s Labor Department

release was before many

states started reporting higher

numbers of claims this week

related to business closures

because of the coronavirus.

BYSARAHCHANEY

ANDAMARAOMEOKWE

Jobless Claims Soar in Harbinger of Upheaval

Initialclaimsforunemploymentbenefits,

changefrompriorweek

Source: Labor Department via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Note: Seasonally adjusted

30

• 
  


• 
  

0

10

20

%

2017 ’18 ’19 ’

Lastweek’sU.S.

joblessclaims

jumped33%.

mortgage securities in three

separate rounds of bond buying,

dubbed quantitative easing or

QE, between 2008 and 2014.

To get a sense of the scale of

recent purchases, the current

round is on pace to exceed in

just weeks the $600 billion in

the second round of bond buy-

ing, called QE2, that the Fed

conducted between November

2010 and June 2011.

Those programs were criti-

cized by some Republican law-

makers, conservative econo-

mists and some Fed officials.

They warned it would lead to

runaway inflation, which it

didn’t, or that it represented an

improper incursion by the cen-

tral bank into fiscal policy.

Thus far, the new purchases

have met with few, if any, objec-

tions from lawmakers on Capi-

tol Hill.

While an initial round of pur-

chases was focused on improv-

ing market functioning during

the height of the 2008 financial

crisis, most of the purchases

were aimed at helping stimulate

economic growth by pushing

down long-term yields and en-

couraging investors to buy risk-

ier assets like corporate bonds

and stocks.

The current purchases are fo-

cused squarely on reducing tur-

moil in financial markets, rather

than on stimulating economic

activity.

For the Fed and the Trump

administration, the purchases

could prove to be one of the

most powerful tools deployed by

the U.S. government. Not only

do the purchases pump money

into the financial system and

avert higher borrowing costs,

but they could facilitate the

large federal budget deficits that

will be needed to fight the virus

and the economic toll it takes on

the nation.

The Federal Reserve is likely

to significantly boost its govern-

ment-bond purchases beyond

the $500 billion minimum it

committed Sunday to buy amid

market strains that sent interest

rates higher in recent days.

The Fed took a significant

step in that direction Thursday,

announcing it would purchase

$150 billion in securities on

Thursday and Friday—on top of

$125 billion in purchases earlier

this week.

This means the Fed will have

bought more than half of the

$500 billion in Treasury securi-

ties in one week with little sign

of restored market functioning,

pointing to a growing likelihood

for a much more aggressive

round of purchases than ap-

peared likely just a few days

ago. The central bank on Sunday

also approved purchases of at

least $200 billion in mortgage

bonds.

Notably, the Fed didn’t limit

itself from additional purchases.

Instead, the quantities an-

nounced Sunday, which it said

would be executed over coming

months, are minimum amounts

the New York Fed has been di-

rected to buy.

The rapid pace of bond buy-

ing suggests Fed officials will

need to consider in the coming

days how to communicate their

intentions about even-larger

quantities of purchases amid a

full-throated effort to prevent

strains in financial markets

from undermining national ef-

forts to fight the coronavirus

pandemic.

Mortgage bond markets have

also shown severe strains in re-

cent days, and the New York

Fed said Thursday it would pur-

chase $20 billion in those assets

later in the day and $32 billion

more on Friday.

The Fed purchased more

than $3 trillion in Treasury and

BYNICKTIMIRAOS

FedLikelytoBuy

Even More Bonds

 Heard on the Street: Job

market to get scarier still... B

 Bank of England cuts rate,

plans to buy bonds................ A

States Are Asked

To Hold Back Data

The Trump administration

asked states to abstain from re-

leasing unemployment-claims

figures before the publication of

a national compilation of weekly

U.S. jobless claims, according to

a state labor department official.

The official cited an email

sent on Wednesday by Gay Gil-

bert, an administrator at the

U.S. Labor Department. The

message, sent as states across

the nation started reporting

surges in claims tied to the cor-

onavirus pandemic, said jobless

claims are closely watched by

policy makers and financial

markets during a time of fast-

changing economic condi-

tions. The email asked states to

keep the numbers embargoed

until the national claims figures

are released each Thursday, the

state official said.

Jobless claims could surpass

2 million in next Thursday’s re-

port, an unprecedented level, a

note from Goldman Sachs said.

“I’ve never seen anything like

this,” the state labor depart-

ment official said, noting states

convened a call on Thursday to

discuss the federal guidelines.

A U.S. Labor Department

spokesman didn’t respond to a

request for comment.

—Sarah Chaney