The Washington Post - 27.03.2020

A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAy, MARCH 27 , 2020

Economy & Business

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

UAW criticizes plans

to restart production

Ford a nd Fiat Chrysler drew
heated language from the
United Auto Workers by issuing
plans to restart production at
U. S. plants as the union
confirmed two more of its
members have died.
After halting North American
output last week as the
coronavirus spread across the
United States, the carmakers
said Thursday that they will
keep their factories shut until at
least April 14. Ford announced
several key facilities it plans to
reopen on that date, while Fiat
Chrysler said its decisions will
depend on states’ stay-at-home
orders and plant r eadiness.
“We are reviewing with great
concern and caution today’s
announcement,” the UAW said
within 40 minutes of Ford
releasing its statement. Rory
Gamble, the union’s president,
added later: “The only guideline
in a boardroom should be
management asking themselves,
‘Would I send my family — my
own son or daughter — into that
plant and be 100 percent certain

they are safe?’”

Te nsion between the UAW

and carmakers is likely to

remain high as Ford, Fiat

Chrysler and General Motors

seek to get assembly lines

running again. Two union

members who worked at

separate Fiat Chrysler plants in

Michigan died after contracting

covid-19, a union spokesman

confirmed Thursday, after two

others in Michigan and Indiana

died last week.

The two Fiat Chrysler

employees who died this week

worked at two facilities north of

Detroit: its truck factory in

Warren and a transport

operation in Sterling Heights.

The two who died last week

were on staff at the Sterling

Heights pickup assembly plant

and a facility in Kokomo, Ind.

GM doesn’t have firm return-

to-work dates at this time, a

spokesman said.

Ford said it will put in place

additional safety measures to

protect returning workers as it

brings factories back online.

The company has had

employees at plants in Wayne,

Mich., and Louisville test

positive for the virus.

— Bloomberg News

RETAIL

K entucky Amazon

facility ordered closed

Amazon says its returns

warehouse in Kentucky where

three workers tested positive for

covid-19 has been closed by the

order of the state’s governor,

and the online retailer aims to

reopen the facility next week.

Amazon on Monday evening

had informed employees of the

Shepherdsville, Ky., warehouse

that the facility would be closed

for 48 hours for cleaning after it

identified three workers

sickened by the disease caused

by the coronavirus. (Amazon

CEO Jeff Bezos owns The

Washington Post.)

On Wednesday, hours before

the warehouse — called SDF9 —

was scheduled to reopen,

Amazon told workers it would

be idled until further notice for

more cleaning, the first known

case of Amazon shutting a U. S.

facility due to the pandemic

without a scheduled end date.

In an emailed statement on

Thursday, Amazon said that the

facility remains closed at the

order of G ov. Andy Beshear (D).

An executive order set to take

effect Thursday evening

requires all businesses in

Kentucky to close unless they

provide life-sustaining services,

or meet certain other

exceptions. Amazon, however,

said SDF9 was closed by a

separate order specific to the

site. The governor’s office didn’t

immediately comment.

— Bloomberg News

ALSO IN BUSINESS

The Metropolitan Opera , one

of New York City’s cultural

icons, had its credit rating cut to

junk after canceling its season

because of the coronavirus

epidemic. Moody’s Investors

Service downgraded $89 million

of the opera’s taxable

municipal debt two levels, to

Ba1, and revised its outlook

to negative. The opera, one of

the largest cultural institutions

in the United States, has

launched a campaign to raise

$60 million to offset box office

losses.

Major Google services

including YouTube, video-

calling and Gmail were hit by

partial outages Thursday while

the Internet giant’s

infrastructure is experiencing

record usage during the

coronavirus pandemic. Urs

Holzle, who overseas Google’s

data centers, said the problem

came from a router failure in

Atlanta and wasn’t virus-

related.

COMING TODAY

8:30 a.m.: Commerce

Department releases personal

income and spending for

February.

— From news services

DIGEST

COLE BURSTON/BLOOMBERG NEWS

“Stay Home” is displayed on a sign over an empty road in To ronto.

The unemployment rate in Ontario, which accounts for almost

40 percent of Canada’s output, was running at close to a record low

before the province ordered all but essential businesses to shut down

in an effort to contain the coronavirus. Ontario is now projecting zero

growth for the year.

BY RACHEL SIEGEL

AND THOMAS HEATH

A dismal unemployment re-

port failed to pop Wall Street’s

buoyant mood Thursday, with

stocks running to their third

straight day of gains following

the federal government’s pledge

to shower trillions of dollars on

U.S. residents and commerce.

The Dow Jones i ndustrial aver-

age soared 1,352 points, or

6.4 percent, t o cap its second-best

three-day run in history; the top

spot occurred in 1931. With

Thursday’s close of 22,552.17, t he

blue chips have bounced 21.3 per-

cent since Monday, though

they’re still 23.7 percent from

their Feb. 12 high.

The index’s rally has been p ow-

ered by Boeing, which has seen a

resurrection of its stock price this

week on word that federal help is

on the way. The aerospace giant’s

shares jumped 13 percent, to

$180 a share. Its shares were

trading below $100 on Monday.

Chevron, Walgreens Boots Alli-

ance a nd UnitedHealth Group

also paced the Dow’s perfor-

mance.

“It’s proof that greed isn’t

dead, and neither is optimism,”

said Michael Farr, p resident of

Farr, Miller & Washington, a n

investment management firm.

“Investors a re anxious to have the

worst behind us, but with 3 mil-

lion unemployed and the number

likely to go higher, it’s premature

to say this market has made its

lows.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500-

stock index ended up 6.2 percent,

155 points, to close at 2,630.07.

The broad index is up more than

15 percent since Monday, its best

three days since 1933. The S&P

remains 22 percent off its Feb. 19

peak, according to Howard Sil-

verblatt o f S&P Dow Jones Indi-

ces.

The Nasdaq composite index

jumped 5.6 percent, c losing at

7,797.54.

The coronavirus-relief bill the

Senate passed Wednesday night

is the largest economic interven-

tion in U.S. history. I t will provide

checks to more than 150 million

American households, launch

massive loan programs for busi-

nesses and direct spending to

unemployment insurance pro-

grams, hospitals, localities and

more.

The relief cannot come soon

enough for those who have al-

ready l ost jobs and business own-

ers who have closed down. There

is near-universal agreement that

the country’s economic system

faces months, if not years, of

difficulties. A record 3.3 million

Americans applied for unem-

ployment benefits last week, the

Labor Department said Thurs-

day.

Some investors have a simple

explanation for the market’s big

gains this week.

“The easy answer is that this

always happens,” said Dan Niles,

manager of the Satori Fund. “ You

always see vicious rallies in the

midst of bear markets. The best

example is the Great Depression,

when the S&P rallied eight sepa-

rate times, on average 24 percent

each, on its way to losing 86 per-

cent from peak to trough.”

Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones

Indices said investors are going

to have to live with severe fluctu-

ations for months as Wall Street

sorts out the financial implica-

tions of the coronavirus. “This

has been an amazing three days,

but remember we are still way

down from where we started and

the volatility remains.”

The expectation of a break-

through in the Senate and the

scope of the Federal Reserve’s

unprecedented intervention had

already propelled markets to

their first back-to-back stock

gains in more than a month. On

Wednesday, the Dow Jones in-

dustrial average climbed

495.64 points, or 2.4 percent, to

close at 21,200.55. That extended

Tuesday’s massive rally that lifted

the Dow 11.4 percent to its best

finish in 87 years.

Ye t the pandemic, at once an

economic nightmare and public

health crisis, continues to wreak

havoc w orldwide. In a n interview

Thursday morning with NBC’s

“Today” show, Fed Chair Jerome

H. Powell said the country “may

well be in a recession” already.

“This $2 trillion stimulus

package is just round one,” said

Chris Brightman, c hief invest-

ment officer at Research Affili-

ates, w hich has more than

$130 billion under management.

“Debt and deficits will be mind-

boggling, not just here but

around the world. It’s too soon to

worry about inflation, but that

coming complication can’t b e put

off forever. Expect extreme mar-

ket volatility to continue.”

European markets closed up

across the board. Britain’s FTSE

100 jumped 2.24 percent, a nd the

German DAX rose 1.3 percent o n

the day. The benchmark Stoxx

600 index, Europe’s v ersion of the

S&P 500, gained 2.55 percent.

The story was different i n Asia,

where markets posted some of

their steepest losses of the past

few days. Japan’s Nikkei 225

plummeted 4 .5 percent, and

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped

0.7 percent. The Shanghai com-

posite fell 0.6 percent.

In his “Today” interview, Pow-

ell emphasized that the U.S. econ-

omy wasn’t facing a typical

downturn as the outbreak pushes

people to shutter businesses and

withdraw from normal activity.

Once the virus is contained and

consumer confidence returns,

Powell said, “There can also be a

good rebound on the other side.”

Until then, the Fed will contin-

ue to step in “aggressively and

forthrightly, as we have been.”

“When it comes to this lend-

ing, we’re not going to run out of

ammunition,” Powell said.

“That’s not going to happen.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

Stocks roar as investors

cheer on stimulus bill

Prospect of $2 trillion

infusion keeps m arket’s

big winning streak going

○

DOW 22,552.

UP 1,351.62, 6.4% ○

NASDAQ 7,797.

UP 413.24, 5.6% ○

S&P 500 2,630.

UP 154.51, 6.2% ○

GOLD $1,660.

UP $26.00, 1.6% ○

CRUDE OIL $22.

DOWN $1.89, 7.7% ○

10-YEAR TREASURY

UP $2.60 PER $1,000, 0.84% YIELD

CURRENCIES

$1=109.49 Y EN, 0.91 EUROS

BY HEATHER KELLY

san francisco — The social
network known for sniping neigh-
bors and obsessive concern about
package theft is finding its more
helpful side.
Nextdoor, a site for people who
live in proximity to one another, is
filling up with posts from neigh-
bors who want to help. There are
offers to go on grocery runs for
senior citizens, people bartering
for in-demand goods such as toilet
paper and fresh veggies, unsolicit-
ed advice on social distancing,
and attempts to coordinate musi-
cal numbers.
The company said there’s been
an 80 percent increase in the
number of people using the tool
daily around the world in March
compared with the previous
month.
In Oakland, Calif., this week, a
man posted an update of what
was in stock at the local grocery
store and passed along a message
from the owners that anyone in
need could buy staples on credit.
In Portland, Ore., the Low Bar
Chorale o rganized a sing-along-
from-home using Nextdoor, belt-
ing classics such as “Free Fallin’ ”
by To m Petty and “Time After
Time” by Cyndi Lauper out of
windows. In San Francisco, multi-
ple people posted that they had
seen others walking or running
too close together in parks.
And in the District, a woman
who was recently laid off in the
coronavirus downturn used the
site to crowdsource medical sup-
plies and advice for her senior
dog, who had tumbled off a sofa.
Numerous neighbors offered left-
over pet meds, a doggy stroller
and even to donate toward any vet
bills.
San Francisco lawyer Galen

Luk says he’s noticed a big change

on Nextdoor, with more uplifting

and encouraging posts.

“Since the City’s shelter-in-

place, neighbors are doing a much

better job of self-filtering. Many of

the neighbors appear fully aware

of the unprecedented nature of

the coronavirus and the direct

short term and long term impact

it will have on our immediate

neighborhood, the city and our

country,” Luk said in an email.

Faced with unprecedented

time at home while self-isolating

to minimize the spread of the

coronavirus, people across the

United States have turned to so-

cial media to pass the time and

feel less alone. On Facebook, peo-

ple are sharing recipes, crafts and

coping mechanisms alongside the

usual conspiracy theories. The so-

cial network is trying to crack

down on the latter trend.

I nstagram has added a Stay

Home story section to show peo-

ple finding contentment in their

homes and is coming out with a

feature for browsing posts togeth-

er over video.

TikTok continues to be a feed of

mostly soothing and happy weird-

ness to distract from the real

world — w ith coronavirus content

that reminds you to wash your

hands. Twitter is, well, still Twit-

ter.

And much of Nextdoor’s enor-

mous increase in usage has been

friendlier in nature.

Jenn Ta kahashi, who runs the

popular Best of Nextdoor Twitter

account, says she’s receiving triple

the usual number of submissions.

For nearly three years, the ac-

count has highlighted posts peo-

ple find in their own neighbor-

hoods, such as epic petty argu-

ments and mysteries about lawn

gnomes.

She’s been sharing the exam-

ples she thinks will bring people

the most joy while they are home.

The biggest trend she’s noticed

over the past few weeks is varia-

tions of people offering to help

each other in relation to the coro-

navirus, or coming up with ways

to cheer up local children, such as

making decorations or drawing

on sidewalks.

“A nother thing I’ve seen is

Christmas lights. People want to

put Christmas lights up to make

the kids happy,” Takahashi said.

San Francisco Nextdoor user

Shelia Keating says the viral out-

break, while potentially devastat-

ing to local businesses and resi-

dents in many ways, has brought

out a positive side of her city and

community she hadn’t seen much

of before.

“My neighbors now smile, wave

and say hello. We are coming

together to check on each other to

make sure everything is okay. We

are trying to help each other

through this difficult time,” Keat-

ing, a vice president of immunolo-

gy at a biotech company, said in a

message. “I am not sure I was

ready for this bitter pill; SF need-

ed something to shake it out of its

complacency, and maybe this is it.

I don’t think we can ever be the

same.”

Meanwhile, Nextdoor has add-

ed a feature to help people coordi-

nate all their offers of help. The

Help Map, launched over the

weekend, lets people say where

they are and whether they need or

can offer help such as picking up

groceries or taking a dog for a

walk for an elderly neighbor.

Still, some Nextdoor users are

sticking with their precrisis hab-

its. The crisis has even given rise

to a popular new type of post that

combines classic Nextdoor tut-

tutting with a coronavirus twist.

People are social-distance

shaming others, such as joggers

outside their windows or kids on

the street who aren’t staying far

enough from each other.

In the District, one post ad-

dressed to the “10 girls that con-

gregated and then ran around the

perimeter of Meridian Park at

6:30am this morning” asked peo-

ple to practice better social dis-

tancing and to consider the im-

pact of their actions on others.

In Oakland, someone com-

plained about people playing soc-

cer, throwing Frisbees, climbing

on play structures and taking a

boxing class at the city’s central

Lake Merritt.

“Coming together to prevent

panic and the spread of misinfor-

mation is critical and therefore

requires the assistance of all

neighbors, including members,

local businesses, and public agen-

cies, which includes health offi-

cials,” said Nextdoor spokeswom-

an Edie Campbell-Urban.

Ta kahashi, who runs the Next-

door-focused Twitter account,

said some of the usual bad behav-

ior is still mixed in — although

she’s choosing not to share it.

“It still really is Nextdoor. It’s

the good stuff, people trying to be

more lighthearted. All of those

topics that are synonymous with

Nextdoor are still there but kind

of amplified,” Takahashi said. “I

wish I could say everything is very

warm and fuzzy.”

[email protected]

On Nextdoor, kindness — and shaming

More neighbors are being helpful, but some are

shaming people over social-distancing breaches

MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST

Hearing the vuvuzela horn played by Tom Culbertson at 6 p.m. last Friday, families in Palo Alto, Calif., come out onto Amarillo Avenue to
meet their neighbors while practicing t he s ocial distancing that has been recommended to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.