Financial Times Europe - 23.03.2020

Briefing

i‘Big short’ hurts AllianceBernstein

Wall Street’s “big short” against the US retail sector

has piled painful paper losses on mutual fund house

AllianceBernstein, which has insured debts owed by

shopping malls that face turmoil or closure.— PAGE 6

iStrong immune system key, study shows

Themostdetailedscientificstudyyetofapatient

withcoronavirushasproducedencouragingfindings

ontheimmunesystem’sabilitytofightthevirusand

helpthebodyrecover.— PAGE 4

iPutin seeks calm as crucial vote looms

Russia’spresidenthasplayed

downthevirusthreat,inan

efforttoensurethatanApril

publicvotethatcouldbringhim

12moreyearsinpowercanstill

goahead.— PAGE 2

iAfrican countries move quickly on virus

AfricaisactingearlierthanEuropedidtofighta

virusoutbreakthatmaybeimpossibletocontrolifit

takesholdincountriesthathavecrowdedinformal

settlementsandfragilehealthsystems.— PAGE 4

iDemand soars for plane storage sites

RemotedesertaircraftstoragefacilitiesintheUSare

rushingtomeetademandsurgeasthegroundingof

upto80,000passengeraircraftbecauseoftheglobal

pandemiccreatesabusinessopportunity.— PAGE 8

iBlackstone buys into online shopping

BuyoutfirmBlackstonehasagreeda£120mdeal

withClearbellCapitaltoacquire22logisticssites

acrossBritainasonlineshoppingsoarsinresponseto

thecoronaviruspandemic.— PAGE 7

iHollub set to stay as head of Occidental

VickiHollublookssettokeepherjobattheailingoil

groupdaysafterCarlIcahnurgedhersackingasthe

companyisfinalisingadealwiththeactivistinvestor

thatwouldgivehimtwoseatsontheboard.— PAGE 6

Datawatch

Risk Management

Financial institutions adapt to

a world in crisis— SEPARATE SECTION

Corona couples

Why we all respond differently to

a pandemic— PILITA CLARK, PAGE 18

Bail out the people

We must not repeat the mistakes

of 2008— RANA FOROOHAR, PAGE 17

MONDAY 23 MARCH 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE

World Markets

STOCK MARKETS

Mar 20 Mar 13 %Week

S&P 500 2304.92 2711.02 -14.

Nasdaq Composite 6879.52 7874.88 -12.

Dow Jones Ind 19173.98 23185.62 -17.

FTSEurofirst 300 1151.37 1167.94 -1.

Euro Stoxx 50 2548.50 2586.02 -1.

FTSE 100 5190.78 5366.11 -3.

FTSE All-Share 2837.05 2994.40 -5.

CAC 40 4048.80 4118.36 -1.

Xetra Dax 8928.95 9232.08 -3.

Nikkei 16552.83 18559.63 -10.

Hang Seng 22805.07 24309.07 -6.

MSCI World $ 1694.45 -

MSCI EM $ 766.41 -

MSCI ACWI $ 403.95 -

CURRENCIES

Mar 20 Mar 13

$ per € 1.069 1.

$ per £ 1.174 1.

£ per € 0.910 0.

¥ per $ 111.340 107.

¥ per £ 130.753 132.

SFr per € 1.054 1.

€ per $ 0.936 0.

Mar 20 Mar 13

£ per $ 0.852 0.

€ per £ 1.099 1.

¥ per € 119.012 118.

£ index 74.368 78.

SFr per £ 1.158 1.

COMMODITIES

Mar 20 Mar 13 %Week

Oil WTI $ 23.61 33.04 -28.

Oil Brent $ 27.38 34.97 -21.

Gold $ 1474.25 1570.70 -6.

INTEREST RATES

price yield chg

US Gov 10 yr 0.94 -0.

UK Gov 10 yr 0.56 -0.

Ger Gov 10 yr 101.79 -0.32 -0.

Jpn Gov 10 yr 0.09 0.

US Gov 30 yr 120.17 1.54 -0.

Ger Gov 2 yr 105.26 -0.69 0.

price prev chg

Fed Funds Eff 1.58 1.55 0.

US 3m Bills 0.04 0.02 0.

Euro Libor 3m -0.38 -0.39 0.

UK 3m 0.58 0.53 0.

Prices are latest for edition Data provided by Morningstar

LEO LEWIS— TOKYO

MURAD AHMED— LONDON

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is set to be

postponed by up to two years, as the

Japanese government and games

organisers respond to mounting pres-

sure to delay the world’s biggest sport-

ing event.

Although a formal announcement may

not come until next month, the Interna-

tional Olympic Committee yesterday

gave its first indication that a delay was

likely,sayingthatitwouldneedthe“full

commitment and co-operation” of Japa-

nese authorities, sports bodies, broad-

casters and sponsors. The IOC said that

“cancellationwasnotontheagenda”.

Under-fire IOC president Thomas

Bach and Japanese ministers have been

holding crisis talks in recent days about

how to respond to the global coronavi-

rus pandemic, even while remaining

adamant that the games would take

placeasplannedthissummer.

People familiar with the talks said the

two sides had reached a “gentleman’s

agreement” not to cancel the games and

were now engaged in discussions about

thelengthofapostponement.

They said the likely new date was the

summerof2021,althoughotheroptions

included the autumn of next year and

evenpushingthegamesto2022.

Senior executives at several of the

“gold” Japanese companies paying

about $100m in sponsorship said that

discussions over postponement began

in earnest in the first week of March —

the same point at which Shinzo Abe,

Japan’s prime minister, abruptly called

onlocalgovernmentstocloseschools.

One executive at a large Japanese

sponsor said that the IOC’s four-week

deadlinetoagreeadelaysoundedexces-

sive, arguing that it would extend the

“uncertaintyandpain”.

Tokyo organisers have been reluctant

toforestallorcancelthegamesgiventhe

enormous expense involved. But the

IOC has come under pressure from ath-

letes, sports federations and even its

ownofficialstodelaythegames.

The project has cost Japan $25bn,

according to some estimates. The IOC

made $5.7bn from the sale of global

broadcasting and sponsorship deals in

the four years that covered the Sochi

2014 Winter games and the Rio de

Janeiro2016summerOlympics.

The IOC said that a “final decision” on

postponement was premature because

thesituationinJapanhadimproved,but

added that the scale of coronavirus out-

breaks in other countries was causing

concern.

Olympics set to be postponed by up to

two years as organisers bow to pressure

ReportiPAGE 4

India faces widespread

closures as cases climb

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Austria €3.90 Malta €3.
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Bulgaria Lev7.50 Norway NKr
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North Macedonia Den

Aquarter of US

workers, or about

33.6m people, have

no access to paid

sick leave, which is

nearly universal

for high earners

but which becomes

scarcer the less

money one makes.

Among the lowest-

earning 10 per cent

under a third have

paid sick leave.

Sick leave entitlement

 of US employees

 

Highest paid 

Highest 

Lowest 

Lowest 

Sources: National Compensation Survey ,

Pew Research

Average

across workforce

DANIEL DOMBEY— MADRID
GUY CHAZAN— BERLIN
SAM FLEMING— BRUSSELS

SpainhascalledonEUfinanceministers
this week to draw up a “Marshall plan”
to help Europe’s economy recover from
the devastating effects of the coronavi-
rus pandemic, as pressure builds on the
bloctoact.
As the death toll in Spain rose by
almost 700 over the weekend, Pedro
Sánchez, prime minister, called for the
“biggest mobilisation of economic and
materialresourcesinhistory”.
“Europe is at war with the coronavi-
rus, so we have to respond with all our
weapons and all our instruments; there

is no excuse not to mobilise all these

resources,”hesaid.

In Germany, Angela Merkel placed

herself in quarantine last night after her

doctor tested positive for the virus. Just

moments earlier, the German chancel-

lor announced a tightening of social

restrictions across the country, includ-

ing a ban on meetings of more than two

people. “Do something right for our

country, show some heart and some

commonsense,”MsMerkelsaid.

Italy also took extra measures to slow

the spread of the virus, including a ban

on running and cycling, as the death toll

in Europe’s worst-hit country rose to

5,746overtheweekend.

Ms Merkel’s cabinet is expected to

agree a supplementary budget when it

meets today, paving the way for

Europe’s largest economy to rip up the

fiscal rule-book that has guided it for a

decade.

As part of a sweeping package of

measures designed to bolster the econ-

omy, Germany will take on more than

€150bn of new debt, marking an abrupt

departure from Berlin’s long-held com-

mitmenttobalancedbudgets.

As the outbreak worsens across the

continent, support within the EU for a

co-ordinated plan to combat the eco-

nomic impact is growing. Paolo Gen-

tiloni, the bloc’s economics chief, said

that there was appetite to strike a deal

within days. “The consensus is growing

day by day that we need to face an

extraordinary crisis with extraordinary

tools,”hesaid.

Ahead of a meeting of EU finance

ministers later this week, Mr Sánchez

called on them “to articulate a big Mar-

shall plan — a big public investment

plan for the whole EU — and begin this

process of reconstruction that we are

going to need in the economic domain

whenallthisisover”.

The original Marshall plan was a

$13bn US initiative — worth perhaps 10

times that amount at today’s rates — to

aidtherecoveryofpostwarEurope.

Spain calls for new Marshall plan

from EU states to drive recovery

3 Historic mobilisation of resources sought 3 Merkel in quarantine 3 Finance ministers to meet

3 Reports

Pages 2-4 & 15

3 Corporate

fallout

Pages 6-

3 Work &

Careers

Pages 12 & 13

3 Editorial

Comment and

LettersPage 16

3 Opinion

Page 17

3 LexPage 18

Inside

A temporary hospital is set up at an exhibition centre in Madrid as the coronavirus death toll in Spain rose by almost 700 over the weekend— Comunidad de Madrid/AFP/Getty

MARCH 23 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 22/3/2020 - 18: 51 User: karen.crawcour Page Name: 1FRONT USA, Part,Page,Edition: EUR, 1, 1